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,” st. 1.
“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 Byroon (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.
"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.