Notable Quotes
Nov. 12, 2006
"...there exists also in
the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt
to lower the powerful to their own level, and reduces men to prefer equality in
slavery to inequality with freedom.”
Alexis de Toqueville, the French philosopher and
historian commented in 1835:
“Irrationally
held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.”
Thomas Henry Huxley (1825‑1895)
“A
pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the
opportunity in every difficulty.”
Winston Churchill
(1874-1965), British statesman, writer.
“Drawing on my fine command of language, I
said nothing.”
Robert Benchley
(1889–1945), U.S. humorous writer.
“YES,” I answered you last
night,
“No,” this morning, Sir, I say.
Colours seen by candle-light,
Will not look the same by day.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
(1806-61), English Poet. The Lady’s “Yes,” 1st stanza.
“History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the
timid.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
(1890-1969), U.S. general, Republican politician, president. Inaugural address,
20 Jan. 1953.
“A man said to the universe:
‘Sir, I exist!’
‘The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.’ ”
Stephen Crane (1871-1900) – “A
Man Said to the Universe”.
"Inequality is not only natural, it
grows with the complexity of
civilization."
Excerpts: Will and Ariel Durant, Readers Digest, April
1968
Nov. 22, 2006
"It
takes centuries to create a civilization, and only a generation or a year to
destroy it."
Ariel Durant (1898-1981), U.S. historian and writer.
"May
you never meet a mouse in your cupboard with tears in his eyes!"
J. C. Furnas (1905-2001) American writer and
historian
"A government which robs
Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish
playwright, critic. Everybody’s Political What’s What, ch. 30 (1944).
"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered;
yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious
the triumph"
Thomas Paine
1737-1809 The American Crisis, No. 1 [December 23, 1776]
"It is a good thing for an uneducated man to
read books of quotations. . . . The quotations, when engraved upon the memory,
give you good thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look
for more."
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British statesman,
writer. My Eary Life, ch. 9 (1930).
Dec. 3, 2006
"The only certainty is that nothing is
certain."
Pliny The Elder (c. 23-79), Roman scholar. Historia
Naturalis, bk. 2, ch. 7.
"Myths which are believed in tend to become
true."
George Orwell (1903–50), British author. “The English
People”.
“Thank Heaven for Little Girls,”
From the Hollywood musical "Gigi" directed by
Vincente Minnelli and with
the music of Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay
Lerner.
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 -- a date which will
live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately
attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."
Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, 32nd president of the United States (1933-1945) in a speech to a
joint session of Congress, December 8,
1941.
Dec. 8, 2006
“My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees
with me.
Benjamin
Disraeli (1804-81), English statesman, author."
“Nothing is clearer in history than the adoption by
successful
rebels of
the methods they were accustomed to condemn in the
forces
they deposed."
Excerpts: Will
Durant (1885-1981), and Ariel Durant (1898-1981), U.S. historians. Readers Digest, April 1968
“Charity begins at home, and justice begins next
door."
Charles Dickens (1812-1870), English novelist.Tigg, in
Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. 27 (1844).
For
Cherie
"The
smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell
of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent! "
George
Gordon Lord Byron (1788- 1824). The
last 4 lines "She Walks in the Night".
"Be studious in your profession, and you will
be learned. Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich. Be sober and
temperate, and you will be healthy. Be in general virtuous, and you will be
happy. At least you will, by such conduct, stand the best chance for such
consequences."
Benjamin Franklin (1706–90), U.S. statesman, writer.
Letter, 9 Aug. 1768 (published in Complete Works, vol. 4, ed. by John Bigelow,
1887–88).
"If
the past sits in judgment on the present, the future will be lost."
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British statesman,
writer.
"Since
an intelligence common to us all makes things known to us and formulates them
in our minds, honorable actions are ascribed by us to virtue, and dishonorable
actions to vice; and only a madman would conclude that these judgments are
matters of opinion, and not fixed by nature."
Cicero (106–43 B.C.), Roman orator, philosopher.
"Nothing is clearer in history than the
adoption by successful
rebels of
the methods they were accustomed to condemn in the
forces they
deposed."
Excerpt: Will Durant (1885-1981), and Ariel Durant
(1898-1981), U.S. historians. Readers
Digest, April 1968
"Those who cannot remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana (1863-1952), U.S. philosopher, poet.
Life of Reason, “Reason in Common Sense”, Chapter 12.
"Let me assert my firm belief that the only
thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), U.S. Democratic
politician, president. Speech, 2 July 1932
"Not everything that is more difficult is more
meritorious."
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Italian philosopher,
theologian
"To the query, 'What is a friend?' his reply
was 'A single soul dwelling in two bodies.'”
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), Greek philosopher.
"Necessity never made a good bargain."
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), U.S. statesman, writer.
Jan. 29, 2007
"A person who can write a long letter with
ease, cannot write ill."
Jane Austen (1775-1817), English novelist. Pride and
Prejudice, (1813).
"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere
ages and ages hence:
Two roads
diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the
one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference."
Robert Frost (1874-1963), U.S. poet. The Road Not
Taken.
"He travels the fastest who travels
alone."
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), British author, poet. The
Winners.
"He who travels fastest travels without
children"
Christine E. Hendrickson (1968-) Mother. "Post
It", February 2007.
"The perplexity of life arises from there being
too many interesting things in it for us to be interested properly in any of
them."
G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), British author. “The
Secret of a Train”, 1909.
"There is no avoiding war; it can only be
postponed to the advantage of others."
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian political
philosopher, statesman. The Prince (1514).
"I am not responsible for what other people
think"
Actor Gregory Peck acting the part of James McKay while
speaking to his estranged fiancee, Pat Terrill played by the actress Carroll
Baker in the movie "The Big
Country", 1958.
Feb. 13, 2007
"Question with boldness even the existence of a
God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason,
than that of blind-folded fear."
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter,
10 Aug. 1787.
"The
passage of this legislation will signal a change in direction in Iraq that will
end the fighting and bring our troops home,"
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, Feb. 16, 2007
"I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in
the air."
Margaret Thatcher (b. 1925), British Conservative politician,
prime minister. Independent (London, 31 Oct. 1990.
"Inferiors
revolt in order that they may be equal, and equals that they may be superior.
Such is the state of mind which creates revolutions.
Aristotle
(384–322 B.C.), Greek philosopher.
Politics, 343 B.C.
"That
is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again"
A. E.
Housman (1859-1936), British poet, "A Shropshire Lad", no. 40.
"When
angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, a hundred."
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Decalogue
of Canons for observation in practical life, no. 10.
"Consensus
is what many people say in chorus but do not believe as individuals."
Abba Eban
(1915-2002), Israeli politician. New Yorker magazine, April 23, 1990.
"Society
is now one polished horde,
Formed of
two mighty tribes, the Bores and Bored."
George
Gordon Lord Byron (1788-1824), English poet. Don Juan.
"He knows nothing and he thinks he knows
everything. That points clearly to a political career."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish
playwright, critic. Undershaft, in Major Barbara, act 3.
"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he
wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.
Demosthenes (c. 384-322 B.C.), Greek orator. Third
Olynthiac, sct. 19 (349 B.C.).
"There is a harmony
In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,
Which through the summer is not heard or seen,
As if it could not be, as if it had not been!"
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), English poet. Hymn to
Intellectual Beauty (1816).
“Everybody
is ignorant, only on different subjects.”
Will Rogers (1879–1935), U.S. humorist. The Illiterate
Digest, “Defending My Soup Plate Position” (1924).
“I am now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it
country or town. A sensible man ought
to find sufficient company in himself.”
Emily Brontë (1818-1848), English novelist, poet. Mr.
Lockwood, in Wuthering Heights (1847).
"Oh yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final goal of ill!"
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), English poet. In
Memoriam.
"The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."
John Milton (1608-1674), English poet. Satan, in
Paradise Lost.
"You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I
say 'Why not?"
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish
playwright, critic. The Serpent, in Back to Methuselah, “In the Beginning,” act
1.
(Concerning this quote, the Columbia Dictionary
of Quotations had the following explanation.
“These words are often associated with Robert Kennedy after they were
quoted by him in an address to the Irish Parliament in Dublin, June 1963, and
attributed to him by Edward Kennedy at Robert’s funeral service in 1968.” The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations is
licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright © 1993 by Columbia
University Press. All rights reserved.)
(Additional note by the webwright, C.
Michael Cowan. The address to the Irish
Parliament referred to above was not given by Robert Kennedy but by President
John F. Kennedy on June 28, 1963. In
his speech President Kennedy said: This is an extraordinary country. George
Bernard Shaw, speaking as an Irishman, summed up an approach to life: Other
people, he said "see things and . . . say 'Why?' . . . But I dream things
that never were-- and I say: 'Why not?'" )
"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a
pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), U.S. general,
Republican president. Speech, 25 Sept.
1956, Peoria, Ill.
"I know of no pursuit in which more real and
important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its
agriculture, its breed of useful animals, and other branches of a husbandman’s
cares."
George Washington (1732-1799), U.S. general, president.
Letter, 20 July 1794.
"Nothing comes from nothing: Nothing ever
could"
From the 'Sound of Music' by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by
Oscar Hammerstein.
Note: I include
this quote for those following the ongoing debates in quantum mechanics.
"Washington is a very easy city for you to
forget where you came from and why you got there in the first place."
Harry S Truman (1884-1972), U.S. Democratic politician,
president. Merle Miller, Plain
Speaking: Conversations with Harry S. Truman, ch. 11 (1973).
"I am extraordinarily patient provided I get my
own way in the end."
Margaret Thatcher (1925-), British Conservative
politician, prime minister. The
Observer (London, 2 Jan. 1983).
"Who
knows...what evil...lurks in the hearts of men?"
Introduction to the old radio program "The
Shadow" (1937-1954)
Mutual Broadcasting System.
"Why
don’t we just stop playing games here, okay? I mean you probably don’t know a
feather duster from a duck’s ass, do you?
Agent Fox
Mulder played by David Duchovny to the blind woman Marty Glenn (actress Lili
Taylor). "The X Files"
(1993-2002), "Minds Eye", 1998, Episode 16.
"Every
generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.
Henry David
Thoreau (1817-1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. Walden, “Economy” (1854).
"We
cannot play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.
Ronald
Reagan (1911-2004), U.S. Republican politician, president. Speech, 6 Feb. 1985
(published in Speaking My Mind, “The Wit and Wisdom of Ronald Reagan,” 1989).
"Never
attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity"
[Anonymous]
"I
wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the
strenuous life.
Theodore
Roosevelt (1858-1919), U.S. Republican politician, president. Speech, 10 April
1899, Chicago, Ill.
May 8, 2007
"The belief in a supernatural source of evil is
not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness."
Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), Polish-born English
novelist. The “dame de compagnie,” in Under Western Eyes, pt. 2, ch. 4 (1911).
"This
above all: to thine own self be true,/And it must follow, as the night the
day,/Thou cans't not be false to any man"
William
Shakespeare (1564-1616). Hamlet, Act
II.
May 21, 2007
"I
believe it because I want to believe it"
Lord
Gainsford (actor Hugh Buckler) to members of his club concerning the existence
of the mythical city of Shangri-La.
From the movie "Lost Horizon", directed by Frank Capra. 1937.
"Any coward can fight a battle when he’s sure
of winning, but give me the man who has pluck to fight when he’s sure of
losing. That’s my way, sir; and there
are many victories worse than a defeat."
George Eliot (1819-1880), English novelist (pen name
for Mary Anne or Marian Evans).
Mr. Dempster, in Janet’s Repentance, ch. 8.
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile,
hoping it will eat him last."
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British statesman,
writer. The Reader’s Digest, December, 1954.
"Sherif, is there not one thing in your life
that is worth losing everything for?”
The Mulay Achmed Mohammed el-Raisuli the Magnificent
(actor Sean Connery) to the Sherif of Wazan (actor Nadim Sawalha) in the movie
"The Wind and the Lion", 1975.
John Milius, director.
"We have no more right to consume happiness
without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish
playwright, critic. Morell, in Candida, act 1.
"I would rather have peace in the world than be
President."
Harry S Truman (1884-1972), U.S. Democratic politician,
president. Christmas Message, 24 Dec. 1948.
"Golf is a good walk spoiled."
Mark Twain (attributed to) (1835-1910), U.S. author.
Quoted in: Greatly Exaggerated, “Golf”.
"He that fails in his endeavours after wealth
or power will not long retain either honesty or courage."
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English author,
lexicographer. Adventurer, no. 99 (16 Oct. 1753; repr. in Works of Samuel
Johnson, vol. 2, ed. by W. J. Bate, John M. Bullitt, and L. F. Powell, 1963).
"The genius of democracies is seen not only in
the great number of new words introduced but even more in the new ideas they
express."
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), French social
philosopher. Democracy in America, vol. 2, pt. 1, ch. 16 (1840).
"Most of the change we think we see in life
Is due to truths being in and out of favor."
Robert Frost (1874-1963), U.S. poet. Black Cottage.
"Oh yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final goal of ill!"
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), English poet.
"I’m not confused, I’m just well mixed."
Robert Frost (1874-1963), U.S. poet. Quoted in: Wall
Street Journal, Aug. 5, 1969.
"In these times you have to be an optimist to
open your eyes when you wake in the morning."
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), U.S. poet. Quoted from the New York Post, September 9,
1960).
"For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'"
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), U.S. poet. Maud
Muller.
"The urge to save humanity is always a false front
for the urge to rule it"
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), U.S. Journalist
"The object in life is not to be on the side of
the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
Marcus Aurelius (121–180 A.D.), Roman emperor,
philosopher.
“They also serve who only stand
and wait.”
John Milton (1608–74), English poet. Sonnet 16, On His
Blindness.
“Forgive your enemies, but never forget their
names."
Attributed to John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), U.S.
Democratic politician, 35th president of the United States.
"Perhaps one of the most
important accomplishments of my administration has been minding my own
business."
Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), 30th U.S. president and
Republican politician. March 1, 1929,
Washington, D.C, as quoted by reporters.
“If you believe everything you read, better not read”.
Japanese proverb
“To
be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be
forty years old."
Oliver
Wendell, Sr. Holmes (1809-94), U.S.
writer, physician. Letter, 27 May 1889, to Julia Ward Howe on her seventieth
birthday.
"It
is possible to believe that all the past is but the beginning of a beginning,
and that all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn. It is
possible to believe that all the human mind has ever accomplished is but the
dream before the awakening."
H.
G. Wells (1866-1946), British author. “The Discovery of the Future,” Lecture at
the Royal Institute in London. (Published in Nature, no. 65, 1902).
“If there were no bad people there would be no good
lawyers.”
Charles Dickens (1812-1870), English
novelist. Mr. Brass, in The Old Curiosity Shop, ch. 56 (1841).
"I
don’t know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his
grandson will be."
Attributed
to Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), Sixteenth President of the United States.
"Every
immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English
or leave the country."
Theodore
Roosevelt (1858-1919), (R), 26th president of the United States. Kansas City Star (27 April 1918).
“We
must not always judge of the generality of the opinion by the noise of the
acclamation.”
Edmund
Burke (1729-97), Irish philosopher, statesman.
The Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke, vol. 9, ed. by Paul Langford,
1991).
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night
only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf"
George Orwell (1903-1950) British author and futurist.
"Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood
from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually
record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise
children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of
what happened on the banks. Historians
are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river."
Will Durant (1885-1981), U.S. historiographer. Life
(Oct. 18, 1963).
“That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be
good for the bees.”
Marcus Aurelius (121-80), Roman emperor, philosopher.
Meditations, Book 6.
"New opinions are always suspected, and usually
opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common."
John Locke (1632-1704), English philosopher. Dedicatory
Epistle to An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1690).
"Curiosity is one of the most permanent and
certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect."
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English author,
lexicographer. Rambler, No. 103 London, March 1751.
Nov. 21, 2007
"Victory has a hundred fathers but defeat is an
orphan."
Galeazzo Ciano (1903-1944), Italian Fascist leader.
Diario 1939-1943, entered Sept. 9,
1942. President John Kennedy is quoted
as having made the same remark in the wake of the Bay of Pigs invasion in April
1961.
"The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils himself in many ways."
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), English poet. King
Arthur, in The Idylls of the King.
"For ‘tis not in mere death that men die
most."
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861), English
poet. Aurora Leigh (1857).
"Every immigrant who comes here should be
required within five years to learn English or leave the country."
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), U.S. Republican
politician, president. Kansas City Star (27 April 1918).
"Destiny is not a matter of chance; but a
matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, It is a thing to be
achieved”
William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), U.S. Democratic
politician.
"Ha, ha, my ship! thou mightest well be taken
now for the sea-chariot of the sun. Ho,
ho! all ye nations before my prow, I bring the sun to ye! Yoke on the further billows . . . I drive
the sea!"
Herman Melville (1819-1891), U.S. author. Words of
Captain Ahab in "Moby-Dick or "The Whale" (1851).
"In preparing for battle I have always found
that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), U.S. general,
Republican politician, president. Attributed to Eisenhower in Richard M.
Nixon's book "Six Crises", “Krushchev” (1962).
“We predict the future. And the best way to predict
it, is to invent it.”
The well-manicured man (actor John Neville) to Agent
Scully (actress Gillian Anderson) in “The X Files”, “The Blessing Way”,
September 1995. Chris Carter creator/writer.
“I'm not interested in character, Baroness. I plan
to become a lady, and for that, no character is necessary."
The maid Jane Hoskins (actress Greer Garson) speaking
to Lady Sybil Minden (actress Phyllis Stanley) in the movie "The Law and
the Lady" directed by Edwin H. Knopf, 1951.
"When I, sitting, heard the astronomer,
Where he lectured with such applause in the lecture
room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by
myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to
time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars."
Walt Whitman (1819-1892), U.S. 19th century poet.
"When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer."
Men speak of natural rights,
but I challenge any one to show where in nature any rights existed or were
recognized until there was established for their declaration and protection a
duly promulgated body of corresponding laws.
Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), U.S. Republican politician,
president. Speech, 27 July 1920.
"The nation which forgets its defenders will be
itself forgotten."
Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), U.S. Republican
politician, president. Speech, 27 July 1920.
"Civilization is a movement and not a
condition, a voyage and not a harbor."
A. J. Toynbee (1889-1975), British historian and
educator. The Reader’s Digest (Oct. 1958).
"All animals are equal but some animals are
more equal than others."
George Orwell (1903-1950), British author. Animal Farm
(1945).
"The difference between
genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
Attributed to
Albert Einstein (1879–1955), German-born U.S. physicist.
"Men stumble over the truth from time to time,
but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened."
Sir Winston
Churchill (1874-1965), British statesman, writer.
"The punishment which the wise suffer who
refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse
men."
Plato (428-347 B.C.), Greek philosopher.
"If life doesn't have
that little bit of danger, you'd better create it. If life hands you that
danger, accept it gratefully."
Sir Anthony Quayle, British actor and producer.
“The doctrine of equality! . .
. There exists no more poisonous poison: for it seems to be preached by justice
itself, while it is the end of justice.”
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), German philosopher.
Twilight of the Idols, “Expeditions of an Untimely Man,” (1889).
“After
observing planet earth and its minions for many years it is my belief that it
is far more likely that nature will survive man but less likely that man will survive
nature”
Anonymous (I don’t know the origin of this wonderful
quote to give it proper attribution.)
Mar. 2, 2008
"It was one of the deadliest and heaviest
feelings of my life to feel that I was no longer a boy. From that moment I began to grow old in my
own esteem -- and in my esteem age is not estimable.''
George Gordon Lord Byron (1788-1824), English poet.
Detached Thoughts, no. 72.
"I cannot fiddle, but I can make a great state
from a little city"
Themistocles (525-460 B.C.) Athenian statesman and philosopher. Used in the movie "Lawrence of Arabia" 1962, directed
by David Lean. T. E. Lawrence (played
by Peter O'Toole) speaking to General Sir Archibald Murray (played by Donald
Wolfit).
“Justice
consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offence.”
Cicero (106-43
B.C.), Roman orator, philosopher. De Officiis, Book 1, Chapter 28.
“Remember, democracy never
lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a
democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”
John Adams (1735-1826), U.S. statesman, president.
Letter, 15 April 1814 (The Works of John Adams, vol. 6, 1851).
“Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when
you have forgotten your aim."
George Santayana (1863-1952), U.S. philosopher, poet.
The Life of Reason, Introduction, “Reason in Commonsense”.
"Christopher Columbus, as everyone knows, is
honoured by posterity because he was the last to discover America."
James Joyce (1882-1941), Irish author. “The Mirage of
the Fisherman of Aran,” in Piccolo della Sera (Trieste, Sept. 5, 1912).
“All men whilst they
are awake are in one common world: but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a
world of his own.”
Plutarch (46-120 A.D.), Greek essayist, biographer.
Morals, “Of Superstition.”
“There is a natural
aristocracy among men. The grounds of
this are virtue and talents.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. In a letter, October 1813, to John Adams.
“Religion
and art spring from the same root and are close kin. Economics and art are
strangers."
Willa
Cather (1876-1947), Nebraskan and U.S. author. On Writing, “Four Letters:
Escapism” (1949).
“Since
it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be
loved when one of the two must be lacking."
Niccolo
Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian philosopher and statesman. “The Prince” (1514).
"Some
of the closest friends of my youth were the trees that bore me. “A strange statement indeed,” some might
reply. In response, I can only say that
I sought the solace of trees when I was sad, celebrated with them when I was
happy, and learned of nature, life, and death as they cradled me."
C. Michael Cowan (1938-), Scientist and writer,
"The Lake Street Chronicles" (2001)
"Since
when was genius found respectable?"
Elizabeth
Barrett Browning (1806-1861), English Poet. Aurora Leigh (1857).
"Histories
make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep;
moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend."
Sir
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, politician. Essays,
“Of Studies” (1597-1625).
May 3, 2008
"Every
time history repeats itself the price goes up."
Anonymous.
May 6, 2008
"All
my possessions for a moment of time."
Elizabeth
I Queen of England (1533-1603).
Supposedly uttered as she died.
"A
creditor is worse than a slave-owner; for the master owns only your person, but
a creditor owns your dignity, and can command it."
Victor
Hugo (1802-1885), French poet, dramatist, novelist. Les Misérables.
"Those who have knowledge, don't predict.
Those who predict, don't have knowledge. "
Lao Tzu, 6th Century BC Chinese Poet
"To
jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter."
Françoise Sagan (1935-2004), French novelist. "La Chamade", ch. 9 (1965).
"New
opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason
but because they are not already common."
John Locke (1632-1704), English philosopher. Dedicatory
Epistle to An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1690).
"Never
in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British Prime
Minister, statesman, writer.
"What
is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be
necessary."
James
Madison (1751-1836), U.S. president. Federalist Papers, no. 47 (Jan. 1788).
Scarecrow: I haven't got a brain... only straw.
Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?
Scarecrow: I don't know... But some people without brains do an awful
lot of talking... don't they?
Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right.
Dorothy
(Judy Garland) speaking to Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939),
directed by Victor Fleming.
"No
man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a
part of the main. . . . Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in
Mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for
thee."
John
Donne (ca. 1572-1631), English divine and metaphysical poet. Devotions Upon
Emergent Occasions, Meditation 17 (1624).
"What
is conservatism? Is it not adherence to
the old and tried, against the new and untried?"
Abraham
Lincoln (1809-1865), U.S. president. Speech, Feb. 27, 1860, New York City.
"I
will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed,
stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own. I
resign."
Number
6 (actor Patrick McGoohan) speaking to Number 2 (actor Guy Doleman) in the 1967
television series "The Prisoner", Season 1, Episode 0.
“Faithless is he that
says farewell when the road darkens.”
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973), British novelist,
medievalist. The dwarf Gimli, in The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 3, The Lord of the Rings (1954).
July 6, 2008
"Don't
approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back, or a fool from
any
side."
Yiddish proverb
"When
I speak I put on a mask. When I act, I am forced to take it off."
Claude
Adrien Helvetius (1715-1771) French
philosopher and Encyclopedist.
"I
do not know the American gentleman, God forgive me for putting two such words
together."
Charles
Dickens (1812-1870), English novelist.
"I
seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself
in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary,
whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."
Sir
Isaac Newton (1642-1727), English mathematician, physicist. Memoirs of Newton,
Vol. 2, 1855 (David Brewster, Editor).
“So
a prudent man should always follow in the footsteps of great men and imitate
those who have been outstanding. If his own prowess fails to compare with
theirs, at least it has an air of greatness about it.”
Niccolò
Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian political philosopher, statesman. The Prince,
1514.
July 31, 2008
“The urge to save
humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.”
H L Menken (1880-1956), U.S. Journalist.
“The
highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to
control our thoughts."
Charles Darwin (1809–82), English naturalist. The Descent
of Man, (1871).
Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940), British
Conservative politician, prime minister.
Words spoken in 1938 just before the start of World War II.
Aug. 23, 2008
“Shall I tell you
what I find beautiful about you? You are at your very best when things are
worst.”
The Starman (actor Jeff Bridges) speaking to the SETI
(Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) scientist (actor Charles Martin
Smith) in the movie “Starman”, 1984.
Directed by John Carpenter.
“What
do I know of man’s destiny? I could tell you more about radishes."
Samuel
Beckett (1906-89), Irish dramatist, novelist.
“There
is something fascinating about science”, observed Mark Twain. “One gets such
wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact”.
Mark
Twain (1835-1910), U.S. author.
“Washington
is a very easy city for you to forget where you came from and why you got there
in the first place.”
Harry
S Truman (1884-1972), U.S. Democratic politician, president.
“It is useless to hold a
person to anything he says while he's in love, drunk, or running for office.”
Shirley
MacLaine (Shirley MacLean Beaty, 1934-) American actress.
“Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone
may be looking.”
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), U.S.
journalist. “Sententiae: The Mind of
Men” (1914).
"I
find that prayers work better when you have big players."
Attributed
to Knute Rockne (1888-1931). Notre Dame
football coach (1918-1931).
“If you're an eel, sir, conduct yourself like one. If you're a man, control your limbs, sir!”
Aunt
Betsey Trotwood speaking to Uriah Heep.
In “David Copperfield” (1849-1850). Charles Dickens (1812-1870) British writer.
“It is no concern of ours how you run your
own planet -- but if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours
will be reduced to a burned-out cinder.
Your choice is simple. Join us and live in peace. Or pursue your present
course -- and face obliteration.”
The space alien Klaatu
(actor Michael Rennie) speaking to the Earth’s world leaders in the classic
science fiction movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, Director Robert Wise,
1951.
“The first think you have to know when you come to Nebraska is not to
kick a cow chip when it's warm"
A paraphrase of a quip attributed to Bob Devaney (1915-1997) University
of Nebraska head football coach (1962-1972).
“Man is the only creature that strives to surpass himself,
and yearns for the impossible.”
Eric Hoffer
(1902-1983). An American migrant worker
and longshoreman turned philosopher. The
quote occurred in the New York Times on July 21, 1969.
“Listen, I'm a politician which means I'm a cheat and a
liar, and when I'm not kissing babies I'm stealing their lollipops. But it also
means I keep my options open”.
National Security Adviser
Dr. Jeffery Pelt (actor Richard Jordan) in the movie “The Hunt for Red
October”. Director John McTierman. Based on the novel by Tom Clancy.
“When we believe ourselves in possession of the only truth,
we are likely to be indifferent to common everyday truths.”
Eric Hoffer (1902-83), An
American migrant worker and longshoreman turned philosopher. The Passionate
State of Mind (1955).
“O mischief, thou art
swift
To enter in the thoughts
of desperate men!”
William Shakespeare
(1564-1616), English dramatist, poet. Romeo, in Romeo and Juliet, act 5, scene
1.
"I said to the man
who stood at the gate of the year
'Give me a light that I
may tread safely into the unknown'
And he replied, 'go into
the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you
better than the light and safer than a known way'."
The famous first two stanzas
of a poem written in 1908 by Minnie Louise Haskins (1875-1957). King George VI included it in his famous
Christmas message in 1939 at the beginning of World War II.
“There is only one step from the sublime to the
ridiculous.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
(1769-1821) French General and Emperor.
A remark made in 1812 concerning his disastrous Russian campaign.
“The childhood shows the
man,
As morning shows the
day.”
John Milton (1608-1674),
English poet. Paradise Regained.
“Never,
Sire! A gentleman has better things to
do”
King
Henry II of England (actor Peter O’Toole) speaking to one of his barons (actor
Niall MacGinnis) in the movie “Becket” (1964).
Based on the play of the same name by Jean Anouilh.
“He is the best sailor who can steer within fewest points
of the wind, and exact a motive power out of the greatest obstacles.”
Henry David Thoreau
(1817-1862), American author and philosopher. A Week on the Concord and
Merrimack Rivers, “Friday” (1849).
“Give me a condor’s quill!
Give me Vesuvius’ crater for an inkstand!”
Herman Melville (1819-1891),
U.S. author. Moby-Dick, (1851).
“Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long
exist.”
Edmund Burke (1729-1797),
Irish philosopher and statesman. Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, April 1777.
“A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and cat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.”
William Shakespeare
(1564-1616) English dramatist and
poet. Hamlet speaking to King Claudius. Act IV, Scene III. Hamlet (1599-1601?).
"Only one thing
cannot be doubted: doubt itself. Therefore, the doubter must exist."
“I think, therefore I
am.”
René Descartes (1596-1650)
French mathematician and philosopher.
Father of analytical geometry and formulator of the Cartesian system of
coordinates.
Government is the great
fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody
else.
Frédéric Bastiat
(1801-1850), French political economist. Essays on Political Economy (1846).
"A man calumniated
is doubly injured-first by him who utters the calumny, and then by him who
believes it."
Herodotus (ca. 484 - ca. 425
B.C.), Greek historian. Artabanus, in Histories, book 7 (ca. 430 B.C.).
“In the arts of life man invents nothing; but in the arts
of death he outdoes Nature herself, and produces by chemistry and machinery all
the slaughter of plague, pestilence, and famine.”
George Bernard Shaw
(1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright and critic. The Devil, in Man and Superman.
“ I know of no country in which there is so little
independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.”
Alexis de Tocqueville
(1805-1859), French philosopher and writer.
Democracy in America, Vol. 1, (1835).
“History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once
they have exhausted all other alternatives.”
Abba Eban (1915-2002),
Israeli politician. In a speech, Dec. 16, 1970, London.
“Our constitution works.
Our great republic is a government of laws, not of men.”
Gerald R. Ford (1913-2006),
38th U.S. president. In a speech, (Aug. 1974) on succeeding Richard
Nixon as president.
“The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the
appeal of rhetoric than to any other force.”
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945),
German dictator, founder and leader of
National Socialism (Nazi Party) in Germany. Mein Kampf, (1925).
“History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of
their ends.”
Karl Marx (1818-1883) and
Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), German socialist revolutionaries. The Holy Family
(1844-1845).
“Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes.”
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956),
German dramatist, poet. Galileo, in “Life of Galileo”.
“Out of timber so crooked as that from which man is made
nothing entirely straight can be carved.”
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804),
German philosopher. Quoted in: Isaiah Berlin, Crooked Timber of Humanity,
epigraph (1990).
“It is the interest of
the commercial world that wealth should be found everywhere.”
Edmund Burke (1729-1797),
Irish philosopher and statesman. Letter, 23 April 1778, to Samuel Span, Esq.
“Our greatest foes, and whom we must chiefly combat, are
within.”
Miguel de Cervantes
(1547-1616), Spanish writer. Don Quixote, in Don Quixote, 1615.
“No one is so old as to think he cannot live one more
year.”
Cicero (106-43 B.C.), Roman
orator and philosopher. De
Senectute, 44 B.C.
“Perhaps one day this too will be pleasant to remember.”
Virgil (70-19 B.C.), Roman
poet. Aeneid, book 1.
“It is indeed a desirable thing to be well-descended, but
the glory belongs to our ancestors.”
Plutarch (46-120), Greek
essayist and biographer in Moralia, “On the Training of Children” (ca. 100
A.D.).
“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”
George Washington
(1732-1799), U.S. general, 1st president of the United States.
Letter, 17 Aug. 1779.
"Fame has robbed me
of my freedom and shut me up in prison and because the prison walls are gilded,
and the key that locks me in is gold, does not make it any more
tolerable."
Ronald Colman (1891-1958),
English and American actor describing his loss of freedom that accompanied his
fame as an actor.
“I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity.”
Cicero
(106-43 B.C.), Roman orator, philosopher. De Oratore, (55 B.C.).
“We do not really feel grateful toward those who make our
dreams come true; they ruin our dreams.”
Eric
Hoffer (1902-1983), U.S. philosopher. The Passionate State of Mind, (1955).
“For
what were all these country patriots born?
To
hunt, and vote, and raise the price of corn?”
George
Gordon Lord Byron (1788-1824), English poet. The Age of Bronze.
“An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells
better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.”
H.
L. Mencken (1880-1956), U.S. journalist and critic. A Book of Burlesques, “Sententiae” (1920).
“It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact.”
Edmund
Burke (1729-1797), Irish philosopher, statesman. Speech to the House of Commons, 1774.
“I sincerely believe . . . that banking establishments are
more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money
to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity
on a large scale.”
Thomas
Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president.
In a letter to political philosopher and senator John Taylor, 1816.
“Sir,
more than kisses, letters mingle souls.
For,
thus friends absent speak.”
John
Donne (ca. 1572-1631), English poet. In
a letter to Sir Henry Wotton.
In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream--
Lingering in the golden gleam--
Life, what is it but a dream?
Lewis
Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832-1898), English writer,
mathematician. The last two stanzas of
“A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky”
“As he was valiant, I honour him. But as he was ambitious, I slew him.”
William
Shakespeare (1564-1616), English dramatist, poet. The words of Brutus, in the
play Julius Caesar.
“The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we
recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.”
Charles
Darwin (1809-1882), English naturalist. The Descent of Man, 1871.
“When you get to be President, there are all those things,
the honors, the twenty-one gun salutes, all those things. You have to remember
it isn’t for you. It’s for the Presidency.”
Harry
S Truman (1884-1972), U.S. Democratic politician, president. Plain Speaking:
Conversations with Harry S Truman, 1973.
“No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers
of acting and reasoning as fear.”
Edmund
Burke (1729-1797), Irish political writer and statesman. The Origin of our
Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, 1756.
"The
great strength of the totalitarian state is that it forces those who fear it to
imitate it."
Adolph
Hitler (1889-1945), German dictator who
founded National Socialism (Nazi) and led Germany from 1934 to 1945.
About
Smoking:
“A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose,
harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fume
thereof nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is
bottomless.”
James
I of England (1566–1625). Reigned as
king of England from 1603-1625 and as King James VI of Scotland from 1567-1625.
In “A Counter-blaste to Tobacco”, (1604).
“Communism is not love.
Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.”
Mao
Zedong (1893-1976), or Mao Tse-tung.
Communist revolutionary leader and founder of the Chinese Communist
Party. Time Magazine, Dec. 18, 1950.
“To be or not to be is not a question of compromise. Either you be or you don’t be.”
Golda
Meir (1898-1978), Israeli Prime
Minister (1969-1974). Discussing the
future of Israel. In the New York Times
(Dec. 12, 1974).
“Logical consequences are the scarecrows of fools and the
beacons of wise men.”
Thomas
Henry Huxley (1825-1895), English biologist/writer. Science and Culture, “On
the Hypothesis that Animals are Automata” (1881).
July
1, 2009
“The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself
forgotten.”
Calvin
Coolidge (1872-1933), 30th U.S. president and Republican politician. In an acceptance speech for vice-president
July 27, 1920.
“When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the
Citizen.”
George
Washington (1732-1799), U.S. general and first president. June 26, 1775. Address to the New York legislature.
“Every man is as heaven made him, and sometimes a great
deal worse.”
Miguel
de Cervantes (1547-1616), Spanish satirist, poet and writer. Don Quixote, Part II, Ch. 4. Published in
1615.
“Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a
soldier, or not having been at sea.”
Samuel
Johnson (1709-1784), English author, lexicographer.
“People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward
to their ancestors.”
Edmund
Burke (1729-1797), Irish political writer and statesman. Reflections on the
Revolution in France (1790).
“The
love of learning, the sequestered nooks,
And
all the sweet serenity of books.”
Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), 19th Century American poet. Morituri
Salutamus.
“You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his
friends.”
Joseph
Conrad (1857-1924), Polish-born English novelist. Marlow, in Lord Jim, (1900).
“One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of
the other.”
Jane
Austen (1775-1817), English novelist. Emma (1816).
“When I was as you are now, towering in the confidence of
twenty-one, little did I suspect that I should be at forty-nine, what I now
am.”
Samuel
Johnson (1709-1784), English author, lexicographer. Letter, 9 Jan. 1758.
“Musick
has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
To
soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.”
William
Congreve (1670-1729), English playwright and poet. In the first two lines of The Mourning Bride, 1697.
Sept.
3, 2009
“Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every
citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who
would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage.”
Dwight
D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), 34th president of the U.S., general,
Republican politician. In a speech, 1954.
Concerning
hypocrites (test your Middle English)
“The
smylere with the knyf under the cloke.”
“That all men are equal is a proposition to which, at
ordinary times, no sane human being has ever given his assent.”
Aldous
Huxley (1894-1963), British author, essayist, and poet. Proper Studies, “The
Idea of Equality” (1927).
“Just
because a cat has her kittens in the oven doesn't make em biscuits”
Frasier
Crane, in the TV comedy series Frasier.
Frasier speaking to Niles in the episode 'Something about Mary' (2000).
“Only man is not content to leave things as they are but
must always be changing them, and when he has done so, is seldom satisfied with
the result.”
Elspeth
Huxley (1907-1997), British author. The Mottled Lizard (1962).
“When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become
President. I’m beginning to believe it.”
“History shows that there are no invincible armies.”
Josef Stalin (1879-1953), Soviet communist dictator in a radio broadcast
declaring war on Germany (1941) only weeks before Germany invaded Russia.
Sept. 30, 2009
“Thy fate is the common fate of all;
Into each life some rain must fall.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882), American
poet. The Rainy Day.
Oct. 2, 2009
"A classic is a book that has never finished saying
what it has to say."
Italo
Calvino (1923-1985), Italian author, critic. 1981. In L’Espresso, June 28, 1981.
“Though
lovers be lost love shall not;
And
death shall have no dominion.”
Dylan
Thomas (1914-1953), Welsh poet. (Partly
taken from St. Paul: “Death Hath No
More Dominion over him”).
“The
mockingbird can change its tune eighty-seven times in seven minutes.
Politicians regard this interesting fact with envy.”
Anonymous
“For here we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead,
nor to tolerate any error so long as
reason is left free to combat it.”
Thomas
Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president.
“My imagination is a monastery and I am its monk.”
John
Keats (1795-1821), English poet. In a
letter to Percy Bysshe Shelley , 1820.
“We
poets in our youth begin in gladness;
But
thereof comes in the end despondency and madness.”
William
Wordsworth (1770-1850), English poet.
From Resolution and Independence, 1807.
Oct. 27, 2009
“It
is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error;
it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into
error.”
Robert
H. Jackson (1892-1954), U.S. judge, May 1950.
Oct. 29, 2009
“Lonely
men around me, trying not to cry,
Till the day you found me, there among them was I.”
Two
lines from the lyrics of “There but for You Go I” from the Broadway musical
Brigadoon. Music by Frederick Loewe and
lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner.
(Webgeezeer’s note: What ever happened to our ability to write such
beautiful lyrics.)
Nov. 2, 2009
“We
judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what
we have already done.”
Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), U.S. poet, “Kavanagh” (1849).
Nov. 9, 2009
“One
of the extraordinary things about human events is that the unthinkable becomes
thinkable.”
Salman
Rushdie (1948-), Indian-born British author. Interview in the Guardian (1990).
Nov. 10, 2009
"General
Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet
Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate.
Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr.
Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Ronald
Reagan (1911-2004), 40th President of the United States. Republican politician. In a speech in front of the Berlin wall,
June 12, 1987.
Nov. 14, 2009
“A
heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by
others.”
The
Wizard of Oz (actor Frank Morgan) speaking to the Tin Man (actor Jack Haley)
“The Wizard of Oz” (1939), directed by Victor Fleming.
Nov. 18, 2009
"To
understand nothing is to understand everything."
Confucius
(551-479 B.C.) Chinese thinker and
philosopher.
Nov. 24, 2009
One
ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine
picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
Johann
Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832), German poet, dramatist.
Nov. 30, 2009
“We
must not always talk in the market-place of what happens to us in the forest.”
Nathaniel
Hawthorne (1804-1864), U.S. author. The Scarlet Letter, (1850).
Dec. 7, 2009
“When
I start out to make a fool of myself there's very little can stop me.”
The
character Michael O’Hara (actor Orson Welles) in the movie ‘The Lady from
Shanghai’ directed by Orson Welles, 1947.
Dec. 12, 2009
“Knowing
what you can not do is more important than knowing what you can do. In fact, that’s good taste.”
Lucille
Ball (1911-89), U.S. actor, producer, (1954).
Dec. 15, 2009
“The
greatest cunning is to have none at all.”
Carl
Sandburg (1878-1967), U.S. poet. ‘The People, Yes’, 1936.
Dec. 19, 2009
“To
jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter.”
Françoise
Sagan (1935-2004), French novelist. Lucile, in La Chamade, (1965).
Dec. 28, 2009
“I
know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as
their stringent execution.”
Ulysses
S. Grant (1822–1885), U.S. general, president. Inaugural address, March 4,
1869.
Jan. 4, 2010
Theoden:
“I will not risk open war.”
Aragorn:
“Open war is upon you whether you would risk it or not.”
Theoden
(actor Bernard Hill) speaking to Aragon (actor Viggo Mortensen). The Lord of
the Rings: The Two Towers, Director, Peter Jackson, 2002.
Jan. 8, 2010
“I
think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that.”
Lauren
Bacall (1924-), U.S. actress. UK Daily Telegraph (March 1988).
Jan. 10, 2010
“I
would much rather have men ask why I have no statue than why I have one.”
Jan. 18, 2010
About
liberals:
“I
sit on a man’s back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself
and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all
possible means—except by getting off his back.”
Leo
Tolstoy (1828–1910), Russian novelist, philosopher. What Then Must We Do?
(1886).
Jan. 22, 2010
“A
creditor is worse than a slave-owner; for the master owns only your person, but
a creditor owns your dignity, and can command it.”
Victor
Hugo (1802–1885), French poet, dramatist, novelist. Les Misérables, (1862).
Jan. 26, 2010
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over
and expecting different results.”
Albert
Einstein (1879-1955), German born American theoretical physicist.
Jan. 31, 2010
“There
is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.”
Feb. 3, 2010
“An
editor is someone who separates the wheat from the chaff and then prints the
chaff.”
Adlai
Stevenson (1900-1965), U.S. Democratic politician. Quoted in: The Stevenson Wit
(1966). Has also been attributed to Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915), American author
and essayist.
Feb. 7, 2010
“There
is a harmony
In
autumn, and a lustre in its sky,
Which
through the summer is not heard or seen,
As
if it could not be, as if it had not been!”
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), English poet. Hymn to
Intellectual Beauty (1816).
Feb. 11, 2010
“Beauty
is truth, truth beauty,”—that is all
Ye
know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
John
Keats (1795-1821), English poet. Ode on a Grecian Urn (1820).
Feb. 16, 2010
“The
theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of
private property.”
Karl
Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), German social philosophers,
revolutionaries. The Communist Manifesto, (1848).
Feb. 20, 2010
“Life
is obstinate and clings closest where it is most hated.”
Mary
Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851), English novelist. Frankenstein, (1818).
Feb. 24, 2010
“Life
is a series of sensations connected to different states of consciousness.”
Rémy
de Gourmont (1858–1915), French critic, novelist. “The Value of Education,” in
Le Chemin de Velours (1902).
Mar. 1, 2010
“Some
have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away.”
18th-Century
English Proverb
Mar. 5, 2010
“I’ve got
a little list….the idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone,
All centuries but this, and every country but his
own”
Mar. 7, 2010
“Human
sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!”
The
character Dr. Peter Venkman (played by actor Bill Murray) in the movie
Ghostbusters (1985) directed by Ivan Reitman.
Mar. 16, 2010
“What
freezings have I felt, what dark days seen,
What
old December’s bareness everywhere!”
William
Shakespeare (1564-1616), English dramatist, poet. Sonnet 97.
Mar. 22, 2010
“Sweet
are the uses of adversity
Which,
like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears
yet a precious jewel in his head.”
William
Shakespeare (1564-1616), English dramatist, poet. In act 2, scene 1 of As You Like It.
Mar. 26, 2010
“To
have great poets, there must be great audiences too.”
Walt
Whitman (1819-1892), U.S. poet and philosopher. Notes Left Over, “Ventures on
an Old Theme” (1881).
April 1, 2010
“He
who has a task to perform must know how to take sides, or he is quite unworthy
of it.”
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832), German poet,
dramatist. Propyläen, Introduction (1798).
Apr. 7, 2010
“The
cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least
once a month.”
Feodor
Dostoyevsky (1821–1881), Russian novelist.
In A Writer’s Diary (1873).
April 15, 2010
“The
power to tax is the power to destroy”
Daniel
Webster (1782-1852), U.S. lawyer and
statesman. In the Supreme Court case, McCulloch v. Maryland, (1819).
April 19, 2010
“A
woman can look both moral and exciting—if she also looks as if it was quite a
struggle.”
Edna
Ferber (1887–1968), U.S. writer. The Reader’s Digest (Dec. 1954).
April 25, 2010
“A
little kingdom I possess,
Where
thoughts and feelings dwell;
And
very hard the task I find
Of
governing it well.”
Louisa
May Alcott (1832–1888), U.S. author. My Kingdom, 1st stanza
May 1, 2010
"The
man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and
intends to be the master."
Ayn
Rand (1905-1982) Russian-born American writer.
May 4, 2010
Dr.
Steven Maturin: Jack, I fear you have
burdened me with a debt I can never fully repay.
Capt.
Jack Aubrey: Nonsense! Name a shrub
after me. Something prickly and hard to eradicate.
Dr.
Steven Maturin: A shrub? Nonsense! I
shall name a new species of tortoise after you: Testudo Aubreii!
From
the movie, Master and Commander, with Russell Crowe as Capt. Jack Aubrey and
Paul Bettany as Dr. Stephen Maturin . Directed by Peter Weir. (2003)
May
8, 2010
“The
ballot is stronger than the bullet.”
Abraham
Lincoln (1809–1865), 16th U.S. president. In a speech in
Bloomington, Illinois. (1856)
May 16, 2010
“My
pet, the world can forgive practically anything except people who mind their
own business.”
Margaret
Mitchell (1900–1949), U.S. novelist. Rhett Butler to Scarlett O’Hara, in Gone
with the Wind. (1936).
May 21, 2010
In
Describing liberals:
“Cosmopolitan
critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own.”
Benjamin
Disraeli (1804-1881), English statesman, author. In a speech (1877).
May 26, 2010
“I
was brought up in the great tradition of the late nineteenth century: that a
writer never complains, never explains and never disdains.”
James A. Michener (1907-1997), U.S. novelist, The Observer (London) 1989.
June 1, 2010
"If
everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking"
General
George S. Patton. (1885-1945). Led the
Third Army in its sweep across France during World War II.
June 7, 2010
“Civilization
is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor.”
A.
J. Toynbee (1889-1975), British author and historian. The Reader’s Digest (Oct.
1958).
June 12, 2010
“History
teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all
other alternatives.”
Abba
Eban (1915-2002), Israeli politician and writer. In a speech in London, 1970.
June 15, 2010
“Wine
makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more
tolerance.”
Benjamin
Franklin (1706-1790), U.S. statesman, inventor and writer.
June 20, 2010
“Fashion
is made to become unfashionable.”
Coco
Chanel (1883-1971), French fashion designer and entrepreneur. Life Magazine, (1957).
June 25, 2010
“I
must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics
and philosophy.”
John
Adams (1735–1826), U.S. statesman, president. Letter to his wife, May, 1780.
July 1, 2010
“Having
a good heart does not trump having common sense”
C.
Michael Cowan (1938-), scientist and writer.
Out of Thin Air. June, 2010.
July 6, 2010
“It
is always easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.”
Alfred
Adler (1870–1937), Austrian psychiatrist.
(This quote was used by Adlai Stevenson in a speech in 1952.)
July 12, 2010
“Bias
and impartiality is in the eye of the beholder.”
Lord
Barnett (1923- ), British Conservative politician. Independent (London, July
12, 1990).
July 19, 2010
“To
err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.”
Anonymous. BBC Radio, 1982.
July 28, 2010
“Every
man is a consumer, and ought to be a producer. . . . He is by constitution
expensive, and needs to be rich.”
Ralph
Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), U.S. essayist, poet, and philosopher. The Conduct of
Life (1860).
Aug. 2, 2010
“To
jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter.”
Françoise
Sagan (1935-2004), French novelist. Lucile, in La Chamade, (1965).
Aug. 7, 2010
“Of
all follies there is none greater than wanting to make the world a better
place.”
Jean
Baptiste Poquelin Molière (1622–1673), French dramatist. Le Misanthrope, Act 1,
Scene 1, 1666.
Aug. 16, 2010
“I
don’t try to describe the future. I try to prevent it.”
Ray
Bradbury (1920-), American science fiction author, 1992.
Aug. 21, 2010
“My luck is so bad
that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying.”
Rodney
Dangerfield (1921-2004), American comedian.
Aug. 24, 2010
“A
well-written life is almost as rare as a well-spent one.”
Thomas
Carlyle (1795-1881), Scottish essayist, historian, 1827.
Aug. 29, 2010
“We
make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric, but of the quarrel with
ourselves, poetry.”
W.
B. Yeats (1865–1939), Great Irish poet
and playwright. “Anima Hominis,”
(1924).
Sept. 4, 2010
“Truth
never damages a cause that is just.”
Mohandas
K. Gandhi (1869-1948), Indian political and spiritual leader. Non-Violence in
Peace and War, (1949).
Sept. 10, 2010
“We
do not quite forgive a giver. The hand
that feeds us is in some danger of being bitten.”
Ralph
Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), U.S. essayist, poet, philosopher. Essays, “Gifts”
(1844).
Sept. 14, 2010
“Be
thine own palace, or the world’s thy jail.”
John
Donne (c. 1572-1631), English poet. In
a letter to Sir Henry Wotton.
Sept.
20, 2010
“Government
proposes, bureaucracy disposes. And the
bureaucracy must dispose of government proposals by dumping them on us.”
P.
J. O’Rourke (1947-), U.S. journalist, political satirist. Parliament of Whores, “The
Bureaucracy” (1991).
Sept. 24, 2010
Success
is more dangerous than failure, the ripples break over a wider coastline.
Graham
Greene (1904-1991), British novelist and philosopher. Independent, London, April 4, 1991.
Sept. 30, 2010
“I
like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than
other things do.”
Willa
Cather (1876-1947), U.S. essayist, author. O Pioneers! (1913).
Oct. 6, 2010
“What
does education often do? It makes a
straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.”
Henry
David Thoreau (1817-1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. Journal
entry, (1850).
Oct. 13, 2010
“To
learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a
spark.”
Victor
Hugo (1802-1885), French poet, dramatist, novelist. Les Misérables, (1862).
Oct. 20, 2010
“When
you put down the good things you ought to have done, and leave out the bad ones
you did do—well, that’s Memoirs.”
Will Rogers (1879-1935), U.S. humorist and political commentator.
Oct. 24, 2010
“Doctors
bury their mistakes. Lawyers hang them. But journalists put theirs on the front
page.”
Anonymous.
Oct. 30, 2010
C.
S. Lewis (1898-1963), Irish born British writer, medievalist, and critic.
Nov. 3, 2010
“No
great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great
men.”
Thomas
Carlyle (1795–1881), Scottish essayist, historian. ‘The Hero as Divinity’
(1841).
Nov. 9, 2010
“Everybody
is so talented nowadays that the only people I care to honour as deserving real
distinction are those who remain in obscurity.”
Thomas
Hardy (1840–1928), English poet and novelist. ‘Neigh, in The Hand of
Ethelberta’ (1876).
Nov. 12, 2010
“whenever
it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul...”
Herman
Melville (1819-1891), U.S. author.
Excerpt from the opening paragraph of 'Moby Dick'
Webwright
note: It describes our present weather on Friday, Nov. 12, 2010.
Nov. 17, 2010
“Socialist
governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They [socialists] always
run out of other people's money. It's
quite a characteristic of them.”
Lady
Margaret Thatcher (1925- ), British Conservative politician, prime
minister. Television interview for
‘Thames TV This Week’, February 5, 1976.
Note:
This is often paraphrased as: “The
trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money
to spend.”
Nov.
20, 2010
“Honor
is a private matter within; it's an idea, and every man has his own version of
it.”
Thomas
Becket (played by actor Richard Burton) to his King, King Henry II (played by
actor Peter O'Toole). From the movie 'Becket', directed by Peter Glenville,
1964.
Nov. 24, 2010
“Necessity
hath no law.”
Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), Parliamentarian general, Lord Protector of England. Speech to Parliament, 1654.
Nov.
30, 2010
“A
functioning police state needs no police.”
William Burroughs (1914-1997), U.S. author. The Naked Lunch, “Benway” (1959).
Dec.
4, 2010
“The
young man who has not wept is a savage, and the old man who will not laugh is a
fool.”
George Santayana (1863-1952), U.S. philosopher, writer. Dialogues in Limbo, (1925).
Dec.
10, 2010
“The
point is that you can’t be too greedy.”
Donald
Trump (1946-), U.S. entrepreneur, businessman. Trump: The Art of the Deal (with
Tony Schwartz), 1987.
Dec. 14, 2010
“When
a nation is filled with strife, then do patriots flourish.”
Lao-Tzu (6th Century B.C.), Chinese philosopher.
Dec. 21, 2010
“Every
thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe
that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.”
Lord Acton (1834–1902), English historian. Letter, 23 Jan. 1861.
Dec.
26, 2010
”Thy
friendship oft has made my heart to ache
Do
be my enemy for friendship’s sake.”
William
Blake (1757-1827), English artist and poet. Manuscript Notebooks, No. 39
(1808-1811).
Jan. 1, 2011
“You
can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to
frighten you.”
Eric
Hoffer (1902-1983), An American migrant worker and longshoreman turned
philosopher. The Passionate State of Mind, (1955).
Jan. 10, 2010
“Discontent
is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.”
Oscar
Wilde (1854-1900), Anglo-Irish playwright, author. Lord Illingworth, in A Woman
of No Importance.
Jan. 14, 2011
“There
are no great men. Just great challenges which ordinary men, out of necessity,
are forced by circumstance to meet.”
Admiral
William Frederick Halsey (1882-1959), American naval officer who played a
prominent role in the Pacific during World War II.
Jan. 21, 2011
“Because
there is very little honor left in American life, there is a certain built-in
tendency to destroy masculinity in American men.”
Norman
Mailer (1923-2007), U.S. author. Cannibals and Christians, (1963).
Jan.
27, 2011
“Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why
Drink!
for you know not why you go, nor where.”
Omar
Khayyám (11-12th Century), Persian astronomer, poet. The Rubáiyát of Omar
Khayyám, (1879 translation by Edward FitzGerald).
Feb. 2, 2011
“If
you are cast in a different mould to the majority, it is no merit of yours:
Nature did it.”
Charlotte
Brontë (1816-1855), English novelist. Mr. Rochester in the novel Jane Eyre,
(1847).
Feb.
8, 2011
“You
don’t have to be old in America to say of a world you lived in: That world is
gone.”
Peggy
Noonan (1950-), U.S. author and presidential speechwriter (President Ronald
Reagan). What I Saw at the Revolution, (1990).
Feb. 14, 2011
“I can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness
of people.”
Sir
Isaac Newton (1643-1727), English physicist, mathematician, astronomer and
natural philosopher.
Feb.
22, 2011
“Tis
true my form is something odd,
But blaming me is blaming God;
Could I create myself anew
I would not fail in pleasing you.”
Joseph
Merrick (1862-1890) He was best known as Elephant Man.
Feb. 26, 2011
“On
the first day of a revolution he is a treasure; on the second he ought to be
shot.”
Anonymous
. Sometimes attributed to anarchist
Mikhail Bakunin during the Paris Revolt of 1848.
Mar. 3, 2011
“No
race can prosper till it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as
in writing a poem.”
Booker
T. Washington (1856-1915), After emancipation from slavery, became a well known
U.S. educator. Address at the Atlanta Exposition, (1895).
Mar. 8, 2011
“No
science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.”
Jacob
Bronowski (1908-1974), British scientist, author. Encounter, (1971).
Mar. 13, 2011
“Art
for art’s sake is a philosophy of the well-fed.”
Cao
Yu (1910-1996), Chinese dramatist and commentator, (1980).
Mar. 20, 2011
“Of
the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.”
Ronald
Reagan (1911-2004), 40th President of the United States, Republican
politician. The Observer, (London, June
1980).
Mar. 28, 2011
“The
hours of folly are measured by the clock, but of wisdom no clock can measure.”
William
Blake (1757–1827), English poet, artist, engraver. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,
Plate 7, “Proverbs of Hell” (1790).
Apr. 3, 2011
“There
is no comparing the brutality and cynicism of today’s pop culture with that of
forty years ago: from High Noon to Robocop is a long descent.”
Charles
Krauthammer (1950 - ), U.S. Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and commentator. International Herald Tribune, (1990).
Apr. 10. 2011
"Power is poison. It's effect on Presidents
had always been tragic."
Henry B. Adams (1838-1918), U.S. historian. The
Education of Henry Adams, (1907).
Apr. 17, 2011
"Power is poison. It's effect on Presidents
had always been tragic."
Henry B. Adams (1838-1918), U.S. historian. The
Education of Henry Adams, (1907).
Apr. 24, 2011
“Greed
is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy
the need without ever reaching satisfaction.”
Erich
Fromm (1900–1980), U.S. psychologist and philosopher. Escape from Freedom,
(1941).
May 1, 2011
“I
hate admitting that my enemies have a point.”
Salman
Rushdie (1948- ), Indian-born British author.
In, The Satanic Verses, (1988).
May 10, 2011
“Prediction
is very difficult, especially if it's about the future.”
Niels Bohr (1885-1962), Danish physicist.
May
17, 2011
“A
resolution to avoid an evil is seldom framed till the evil is so far advanced
as to make avoidance impossible.”
Thomas
Hardy (1840-1928), English novelist, philosopher and poet. Far from the Madding
Crowd, (1874).
May 25, 2011
“What
millions died that Caesar might be great!”
Thomas
Campbell (1777–1844), Scottish poet. Pleasures of Hope, (1799-1803).
June 1, 2011
“Courage
is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is always respected,
even when it is associated with vice.”
Samuel
Johnson (1709-1784), English lexicographer and author. (1791).
June 8, 2011
“I’m
very brave generally,” he went on in a low voice: “only today I happen to have
a headache.”
Lewis
Carroll (1832-98), English writer, mathematician. Through the Looking-Glass, (1872).
June 16, 2011
“In the long-run every Government is
the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to say,
Like People like Government.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), Scottish
essayist, historian. Past and Present, (1843).
June 24, 2011
“There comes a time in every rightly
constructed boy’s life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for
hidden treasure.”
Mark Twain (1835-1910), U.S. humorist, philosopher
and author. Tom Sawyer, (1876).
July 4, 2011
“Society in every state is a blessing, but
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst
state, an intolerable one.”
Thomas Paine (1737-1809), American writer
and political activist. Common Sense, (1776).
July 11, 2011
“Never make a defence or apology before
you be accused.”
Charles I King of England (1600-1649),
Reigned from 1625-1649. Beheaded by order of Oliver Cromwell. Letter, 3 Sept. 1636, to Lord Wentworth, Charles’s
chief Counselor.
July 18, 2011
“Science
is an integral part of culture. It’s
not this foreign thing, done by an arcane priesthood. It’s one of the glories of the human intellectual tradition.”
Stephen
Jay Gould (1941-2002), U.S. paleontologist, evolutionary biologist. Independent
(London, 1990).
July
27, 2011
“There
are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same.”
Chinese
Proverb
Aug. 2, 2011
“The
only thing that could spoil a day was people. . . . People were always the
limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring
itself.”
Ernest
Hemingway (1899-1961), U.S. journalist and author. A Moveable Feast, (1964).
Aug. 8, 2011
“It
is vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must
have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.”
Charlotte
Brontë (1816-1855), English novelist. Jane Eyre, (1847).
Aug. 15, 2011
“In
politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.”
Samuel
Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), English poet, (1830).
Aug. 23, 2011
“I
have often repented speaking, but never of holding my tongue.”
Attribued
sometimes to Xenocrates (396–315 B.C.), Greek philosopher but also to Simonides (556-468 B.C.), a Greek poet.
Sept. 1, 2011