quote

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And what's that?
My short term memory is going out.
what was happening is that your brain was shutting down
The streets of Port Townsend are paved with sand, and the public squares are curiously ornamented with dead horses and the bones of many dead cows. This of course gives a very original appearance to the public pleasure grounds and enables strangers to know when they arrive in the city, by reason of the peculiar odor, so that, even admitting the absence of lamps, no person can fail to recognize Port Townsend in the darkest night Morgan, “J. Ross Browne …”
The Question Isn’t Who Is Going to Let Me, It’s Who Is Going to Stop Me (quoteinvestigator.com)
I'm going to hell!
You're going to hell!
You are the dust.
If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. William H. McRaven
I am a survivor. I am like a cockroach, you just can’t get rid of me. Madonna
The little instrument used to draw up this catalogue. Lacaille writing about Reticulum
In the notes to his southern star catalogue published by the French Royal Academy of Sciences in 1756 Lacaille described it as ‘The little instrument used to draw up this catalogue.
Astronomers have mapped the cosmic watershed in which our Milky Way Galaxy is a droplet. The massive structure, which the research team dubs the Laniakea Supercluster, extends more than 500 million light-years and contains 100,000 large galaxies. Camille M. Carlisle, Sky and Telescope
UnitedHealth Group grew to serve more people more comprehensively but did not perform up to our expectations, and we are aggressively addressing those challenges to position us well for the years ahead, and return to our long-term earnings growth rate target of 13 to 16%. Andrew Witty, chief executive officer of UnitedHealth Group
The first use of network email announced its own existence. Ray Tomlinson, The First Network Email
LINUX is obsolete Andrew S. Tanenbaum, comp.os.minus (1992)
Consistently separating words by spaces became a general custom about the tenth century A.D., and lasted until about 1957, when FORTRAN 77 abandoned the practice. FORTRAN 77 4.0 Reference Manual
For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites
It is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you’re attempting can’t be done. Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites
They both savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things. Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites
Although the scythe isn’t pre-eminent among the weapons of war, anyone who has been on the wrong end of, say, a peasants’ revolt will know that in skilled hands it is fearsome. Terry Pratchett, Mort
“It would seem that you have no useful skill or talent whatsoever,” he said. “Have you thought of going into teaching?” Terry Pratchett, Mort
“You’re dead,” he said. Keli waited. She couldn’t think of any suitable reply. “I’m not” lacked a certain style, while “Is it serious?” seemed somehow too frivolous. Terry Pratchett, Mort
“A man could go far, knowing his rights like you do,” said Granny. “But right now he should go home.” Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters
The duke had a mind that ticked like a clock and, like a clock, it regularly went cuckoo. Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters
All assassins had a full-length mirror in their rooms, because it would be a terrible insult to anyone to kill them when you were badly dressed. Terry Pratchett, Pyramids
A good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read. Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
Rincewind had been told that death was just like going into another room. The difference is, when you shout, “Where’s my clean socks?”, no-one answers. Terry Pratchett, Eric
Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind. Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man
He’d never realized that, deep down inside, what he really wanted to do was make things go splat. Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man
Bishops move diagonally. That’s why they often turn up where the kings don’t expect them to be. Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
Gravity is a habit that is hard to shake off. Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
I used to think that I was stupid, and then I met philosophers. Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
Pets are always a great help in times of stress. And in times of starvation too, o’course Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
We’re philosophers. We think, therefore we am. Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
“What’s a philosopher ?” said Brutha. “Someone who’s bright enough to find a job with no heavy lifting,” said a voice in his head. Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
In the Beginning there was nothing, which exploded. Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies
Nanny Ogg looked under her bed in case there was a man there. Well, you never knew your luck. Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies
Sometimes it’s better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness. Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms
I AM DEATH, NOT TAXES. I ONLY TURN UP ONCE. Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay
Taxation, gentlemen, is very much like dairy farming. The task is to extract the maximum amount of milk with the minimum of moo. And I am afraid to say that these days all I get is moo. Terry Pratchett, Jingo
Some people are heroes. And some people jot down notes. Terry Pratchett, The Truth
The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret Terry Pratchett, The Truth
LET ME PUT FORWARD ANOTHER SUGGESTION: THAT YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A LUCKY SPECIES OF APE THAT IS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THE COMPLEXITIES OF CREATION VIA A LANGUAGE THAT EVOLVED IN ORDER TO TELL ONE ANOTHER WHERE THE RIPE FRUIT WAS? Death, Death and What Comes Next
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do. HAL 9000, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
It’s funny how the colors of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen. Alex, A Clockwork Orange (1971)
You can’t handle the truth! Col. Jessup, A Few Good Men
We’d better get back, ‘cause it’ll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night… mostly. Rebecca ‘Newt’ Jorden, Aliens (1986)
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure. Ripley, Aliens
Since you’re new here, I-I’m gonna cut you a break, today. So, why don’t you make like a tree and get outta here? Biff Tannen, Back to the Future
I’m sure that in 1985, plutonium is available in every corner drugstore, but in 1955, it’s a little hard to come by. Doc Brown, Back to the Future
Don’t fight it, son. Confess quickly! If you hold out too long you could jeopardize your credit rating. Guard, Brazil (1985)
When I made “Brazil” I’d never read [George Orwell’s] “1984” Terry Gilliam on Brazil
I know what you’re thinking – “Did he fire six shots or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But, being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do you, punk? Clint Eastwood, Dirty Harry
Groundhog Day, I’ve been watching it every day since it was released. d–b on Hacker News
Whoa-ho-ho! Watch out for that first step! It’s a doozy! Ned, Groundhog Day
This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather. Phil Conners in Groundhog Day
You want a prediction about the weather, you’re asking the wrong Phil. I’ll give you a winter prediction: It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be grey, and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life. Phil Conners in Groundhog Day
When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn’t imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter. Phil Conners in Groundhog Day
Ow, my balls! Ow My Balls! Guy, Idiocracy
Brawndo’s got what plants crave. It’s got electrolytes. Secretary of State, Idiocracy
Shit. I know shit’s bad right now. With all that starving bullshit. And the dust storms. And we’re running out of French Fries and burrito coverings. But I got a solution. President Camacho, Idiocracy
What’s the minus of 30 and 20? Frito Pendejo, Idiocracy
You’re going to need a bigger boat. Matthew Brody, Jaws
Don’t stomp your little last season Prada shoes at me, honey. Enrique Salvatore, Legally Blonde
I’m too old for this shit! Roger Murtaugh, Lethal Weapon
What did one shepherd say to the other shepherd? Let’s get the flock out of here! Martin Riggs, Lethal Weapon
What Jesus blatantly fails to appreciate is that it’s the meek who are the problem. Reg in Life of Brian
Why should Caesar get to stomp around like a giant, while the rest of us try not to get smushed under his big feet? What’s so great about Caesar? Hm? Brutus is just as cute as Caesar. Brutus is just as smart as Caesar. People totally like Brutus just as much as they like Caesar. And when did it become okay for one person to be the boss of everybody, huh? Because that’s not what Rome is about. We should totally just stab Caesar! Gretchen Wieners, Mean Girls
To prevent war, the galaxy is on Orion’s Belt. Gentle Rosenburg, Men in Black
Robocop was shot in Dallas from August through October of 1986, which is like the most humid and the hottest, steameist, nastiest time to be in that part of the world. Paul Samon, Behind the Scenes: RoboCop
We’re not just doing it for money…We’re doing it for a shitload of money! Lone Starr, Spaceballs
I’m a Mawg. Half-man, half-dog. I’m my own best friend. Barf, Spaceballs
So, Lone Starr, now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb. Dark Helmet, Spaceballs
You idiots! These are not them! You’ve captured their stunt doubles! Captain of the Guard, Spaceballs
Excuse me. I’m trying to conduct a wedding here which has nothing to do with love. Please be quiet! Druidian Priest, Spaceballs
I’m here to fight for truth, and justice, and the American way. Superman, Superman (1978)
You’re gonna end up fighting every elected official in this country! Lois Lane, Superman (1978)
He say plane fly overhead, drop value. I no care. In Beirut, plane fly over head, drop bomb. I like these planes better. Farouk, The Castle (1997)
Tell ’em he’s dreaming! Darryl Kerrigan, The Castle (1997)
Dad reckons fishing is 10% brains and 95% muscle, the rest is just good luck. Dale Kerrigan, The Castle (1997)
It’s not a house, it’s a home. Darryl Kerrigan, The Castle (1997)
Why did you let me survive the shame of my defeat? To defeat an enemy yet let him live may seem kind, but it’s cruel! General Hyoe Tadokoro, *The Hidden Fortress
Hide a stone among stones and a man among men. General Rokurota Makabe, The Hidden Fortress
I have enjoyed the journey. The happiness of these days, I would have never known living in the castle. I’ve seen people as they are, without pretense. I’ve seen their beauty and their ugliness with my own eyes. Princess Yuki, The Hidden Fortress
Life is just a dream.
Lose a war and plenty of women go on sale. Slave trader, The Hidden Fortress
I’d like to share a revelation that I’ve had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you’re not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You’re a plague and we are the cure. Agent Smith, The Matrix
Have fun storming the castle! Miracle Max, The Princess Bride
And you! Friendless, brainless, helpless, hopeless! Do you want me to send you back to where you were? Unemployed, in Greenland?! Vizzini, The Princess Bride
Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
Life is pain, Highness! Anyone who says differently is selling something. Man in Black, The Princess Bride
Now look, you people at the Justice Department cannot have it both ways! You hired me to entertain. If you want keep the people away from tax revolts, food riots, and bread lines and parked in front of their TVs you sure as hell are not going to do that with reruns of Gilligan’s Island! Damon Killian, The Running Man (1987)
Oh, Andy loved geology. I imagine it appealed to his meticulous nature. An ice age here, million years of mountain building there. Geology is the study of pressure and time. That’s all it takes, really. Pressure, and time. That and a big damn poster. Like I said, in prison, a man will do almost anything to keep his mind occupied. Turns out Andy’s favorite hobby was totin’ his wall out into the exercise yard, a handful at a time. I guess after Tommy was killed, Andy decided he’d been here just about long enough. Ellis Boyd, The Shawshank Redemption
There's harsh truth to face. No way I'm gonna make it on the outside. All I do in remorse is to think a way to break my parole, so they may send me back. Terrible thing to live in fear. Brooks Hatlen knew it. All I want is to be back where things make sense, where I won't have to be afraid all the time. Only one thing stops me. A promise I made to Andy.
Dear Warden; You were right. Salvation lay within. Andy Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption
Why, anybody can have a brain. That’s a very mediocre commodity. Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the Earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain. Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have. But they have one thing you haven’t got: a diploma. The Wizard, The Wizard of Oz
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! The Great Oz has spoken! The Wizard, The Wizard of Oz
There’s no place like home; there’s no place like home; there’s no place like home… Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz
Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore. We must be over the rainbow! Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz
Dead? No excuse for laying off work. Supreme Being, Time Bandits
Well I am the Supreme Being. I’m not entirely dim. Supreme Being, Time Bandits
You see, to be quite frank, Kevin, the fabric of the universe is far from perfect. It was a bit of botched job, you see. We only had seven days to make it. And that’s where this comes in. This is the only map of all the holes. Well, why repair them? Why not use them to get stinking rich? Randall, Time Bandits
If I am not me, then who the hell am I? Douglas Quaid, Total Recall (1990)
I expected it to hurt business, but if anything, business has been up. Tom Blakely, owner of Friar’s Tuck where a player died after playing Berzerk"
This is bad Tetris. It’s hateful Tetris. It’s Tetris according to the evil AI from “I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream”. Sam Hughes, HATETRIS
Just as all phenomena exist in time and thus have a history, they also exist in space and have a geography. United States National Research Council
Mission-critical activities of CMS will continue during the Democrat-led government shutdown. Please use this site as a resource as the Trump Administration works to reopen the government for the American people Centers for Medicare & Medicate Services website
Zero is the first of ten symbols — the digits — with which we are able to represent any of an infinitude of numbers. Zero is also the first of the numbers which we must represent. Yet zero, first of the digits, was the last to be invented; and zero, first of the numbers, was the last to be discovered. Constance reid, From Zero to Infinity
When the Moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars, then peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars. Opening song Aquarius in Hair
O wretched Man that I am, who shall deliver me from this turbulent Priest? Henry II of England
Who shall deliver me from this turbulent priest? Henry II of England
Will no one rid me of him? A priest! A priest who jeers at me and does me injury. Henry II in Becket (1959)
Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest? Henry II of England
Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest? Henry II of England
Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest? Henry II of England
Will none of these lazy insignificant persons, whom I maintain, deliver me from this turbulent priest? Henry II of England
the details are finally coming together Luigi Mangione, notebook entry of 15 August 2024
Composers want people to listen to their music, they don’t want them doing something else while their music is on. I’d like to get the guy who sold all those big businessmen the idea of putting music in the elevators, for he was really clever. What on earth good does it do anybody to hear those four or eight bars while going up a few flights. Aaron Copland, quoted in Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music
My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular. Adlai Stevenson II, Speech in Detroit (7 October 1952)
She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness, and her glow has warmed the world. Adlai Stevenson II, The New York Times (8 November 1962)
Those who corrupt the public mind are just as evil as those who steal from the public purse. Adlai Stevenson, Speeches of Adlai Ewing Stevenson (1952)
When strength is yoked with justice, where is a mightier pair than they? Aeschylus, Fragments, l, 298.
He is like a cat. And all cats are thieves. Agatha Christie, Murder for Christmas (1939)
Where large sums of money are concerned, it is advisable to trust nobody. Agatha Christie, Endless Night (1967)
I do not argue with obstinate men. I act in spite of them. Hecule Poirot in The Mystery of the Blue Train
How true is the saying that man was forced to invent work in order to escape the strain of having to think. Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile (1937)
Understand this, I mean to arrive at the truth. The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it. Hecule Poirot in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it’s a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from. Al Franken, Oh, the Things I Know (2003)
Here’s the thing you have to understand about Ted Cruz. I like Ted Cruz more than most of my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz. Al Franken in his autobiography Al Franken, Giant of the Senate (2017)
The guy who microwaves fish in the office. Al Franken, The Washington Post
I invented the internet. Al Gore
During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country’s economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system. Al Gore
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. Albert Einstein
I made one great mistake in my life—when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was some justification—the danger that the Germans would make them. Recorded by Linus Pauling, “Note to Self regarding a meeting with Albert Einstein. November 16, 1954
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. Albert Einstein
I was sitting in a chair in the patent office at Bern when all of sudden a thought occurred to me: If a person falls freely he will not feel his own weight. I was startled. This simple thought made a deep impression on me. It impelled me toward a theory of gravitation. Albert Einstein
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. Albert Einstein
The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle. Albert Einstein, Living Philosophies
Arrest each unloving thought; stamp out each critical action, and teach yourself to love all beings - not in theory but in deed and in truth. Alice Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age (1944)
EXTINCTION, n. The raw material out of which theology created the future state. Ambrose Bierce, “Decalogue”, The Devil’s Dictionary (1906).
Men were singing the praises of Justice. “Not so loud,” said an angel; “if you wake her she will put you all to death.” Ambrose Bierce, The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce (1911)
But now I have no strength left—that is the problem Last diary entry of Andrei Tarkovsky
I am not a comic, I have never told a joke. The comedian’s promise is that he will go out there and make you laugh with him. My only promise is that I will try to entertain you as best I can. Andy Kaufman
All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass — “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” Archibald Alexander
Eureka! Archimedes
Do not disturb my circles Archmimedes
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. Aristotle Onassis
Simplicity is very complicated. Armen Agop
Going through the pain barrier, that’s what makes the muscles grow. There’s this pain, this aching, and going on and on and on. That’s what divides a champion from a non-champion - having the guts to go through the pain barrier. Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Guardian (May 2009)
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. Arthur C. Clarke, clarkefoundation.org
Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying. Arthur C. Clarke
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future (revised edition, 1973)
As wild a spot as any on Earth Arthur Denny on Alki Point
Survival is not an academic skill. It is learning how to take our differences and make them strengths. Audre Lorde, The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House
The skyline of New York is a monument of a splendor that no pyramids or palaces will ever equal or approach. Ayn Rand The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)
The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. Ayn Rand
Even if smog were a risk to human life, we must remember that life in nature, without technology, is wholesale death Ayn Rand, The Objectivist (February 1971)
I have never seen anyone burn a flag. And if I did, it would take every ounce of restraint I had not to haul off and hit them. Barack Obama quoted in “The Constitution, Designed to Change, Rarely Does” (4 December 2008), by Jennifer S. Forsyth, The Wall Street Journal
I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage. But when you start playing around with constitutions, just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that’s not what America’s about. Usually, our constitutions expand liberties, they don’t contract them. Barack Obama Answers Your Questions About Gay Marriage, Paying For College, More" at MTV News (1 November 2008)
So today, let me say: Sisters and brothers of India — my confidence in what our nations can achieve together is rooted in the values we share. For we may have our different histories and speak different languages, but when we look at each other, we see a reflection of ourselves. Remarks by Barack Obama in Address to the People of India (January 27, 2015)
Let me be absolutely clear: Iran is a grave threat. Barack Obama, campaign rally in Billings, Montana (19 May 2008)
I honor — we honor — the service of John McCain, and I respect his many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny mine. My differences with him are not personal; they are with the policies he has proposed in this campaign. Barack Obama, speech following the Minnesota primary (3 June 2008)
Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. Barack Obama, Remarks on death of Osama bin Laden (May 2011)
Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien – but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit. He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most – from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets. The Obama family offers our condolences to Robin’s family, his friends, and everyone who found their voice and their verse thanks to Robin Williams. Barack Obama, in “Statement by the President on the Passing of Robin Williams” (11 August 2014)
Now let me be clear: I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power.… The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him. But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors…and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history. Barack Obama, Remarks Against Going to War with Iraq (2 October 2002)
Every person do mistake every day, otherwise, if you deny the mistakes, we deny the human nature of the people Bashar al-Assad, interview with Jeremy Bowen (9 February 2015)
Is Donald Trump the best Republican candidate for president out there? It would be tough to argue otherwise. He’s got all the makings of a breakout star; he’s got bravado and the cash to back it up. Ben Shapiro, The Magic of Donald Trump
Occupy Wall Street is just like the Arab Spring. Both are run by people who don’t shower, hate American capitalism, and despise Israel. Ben Shapiro, Twitter
There was a national apology for slavery. It was called the Civil War where 700,000 Americans died. Ben Shapiro, The Daily Wire
Sir, I say that justice is truth in action. Benjamin Disraeli, Agricultural Distress
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Benjamin Franklin
We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. Benjamin Franklin
Are the doctors here? Doctor, my lungs… Last words of Benjamin Harrison
It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.
I don’t care for the applause one gets by saying what others are thinking; I want actually to change people’s thoughts. Power over people’s minds is the main personal desire of my life; and this sort of power is not acquired by saying popular things. Bertrand Russell, letter to Lucy Martin Donnelly, February 10, 1916
I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong. Bertrand Russell
From India to Spain, the brilliant civilization of Islam flourished. What was lost to Christendom at this time was not lost to civilization, but quite the contrary… To us it seems that West-European civilization is civilization; but this is a narrow view. Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy
Some part of life – perhaps the most important part – must be left to the spontaneous action of individual impulse, for where all is system there will be mental and spiritual death. Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society (1962)
I should say that the universe is just there, and that is all. Bertrand Russell
You know, I have repeatedly defended President Bush against the left on Iraq, even though I think he should have waited until the U.N. inspections were over. I don’t believe he went in there for oil. We didn’t go in there for imperialist or financial reasons. We went in there because he bought the Wolfowitz-Cheney analysis that the Iraqis would be better off, we could shake up the authoritarian Arab regimes in the Middle East, and our leverage to make peace between the Palestinians and Israelis would be increased. Bill Clinton, Interview with Time, June 2004
Love the life you live. Live the life you love. Bob Marley
All types of knowledge, ultimately mean self knowledge. Bruce Lee: The Lost Interview (1971)
I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. Bruce Lee
Truth has no path. Truth is living and, therefore, changing. Awareness is without choice, without demand, without anxiety; in that state of mind, there is perception. To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person. Awareness has no frontier; it is giving of your whole being, without exclusion. Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975)
For six years that man has given me unsolicited advice—all of it bad. Calvin Coolidge, referring to Herbert Hoover
Your assertion that the Commissioner was wrong cannot justify the wrong of leaving the city unguarded. That furnished the opportunity; the criminal element furnished the action. There is no right to strike against the public safety by anyone, anywhere, any time. … I am equally determined to defend the sovereignty of Massachusetts and to maintain the authority and jurisdiction over her public officers where it has been placed by the Constitution and laws of her people. Telegram from Governor Calvin Coolidge to Samuel Gompers, September 14, 1919
According to my principles, every master has his true and certain value. Praise and criticism cannot change any of that. Only the work itself praises and criticizes the master, and therefore I leave to everyone his own value. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
I never used my fingernail for drugs. I used dollars or tiny spoons like any other respectable former drug addict. Carrie Fisher on Twitter (10 October 2012)
The United States, delighting in her resources, feeling that she no longer had within herself sufficient scope for her energies, wishing to help those who were in misery or bondage the world over, yielded in her turn to that taste for intervention in which the instinct for domination cloaked itself. Charles de Gaulle, The War Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle (1959), trans. Richard Howard, vol. 2, p. 88.
If there is an underlying oneness of all things, it does not matter where we begin, whether with stars, or laws of supply and demand, or frogs, or Napoleon Bonaparte. One measures a circle, beginning anywhere. Charles Fort, Lo! (1931)
My liveliest interest is not so much in things, as in relations of things. I have spent much time thinking about the alleged pseudo-relations that are called coincidences. What if some of them should not be coincidences? Charles Fort, Wild Talents (1932)
Upon the whole, the tribe inhabiting Penn Cove are more advanced than any others in civilization. Charles Wilkes, U.S. Exploring Expedition 1841
You’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down. Charlie Chaplin
Almost no one dances sober, unless he is insane. Cicero, Pro Murena (Chapter VI, sec. 13)
Extreme justice is extreme injustice. Cicero, De Officiis (44 BC)
There is nothing so absurd that it has not been said by some philosopher. Cicero
The beginnings of all things are small. Cicero, De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum
Whatever you do, do with all your might. Cicero
Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance. Coco Chanel, interview in Harper’s Bazaar (1923)
You see, this is how you die. Coco Chanel, last words before her death
Simplify, then add lightness Colin Chapman, Lotus philosophy
The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same. Colin Davis
I believe that I’ve made good judgments in the past, and I think I’ve made good judgments in the future. Dan Quayle
I believe we are on an irreversible trend towards more freedom and democracy, but that could change. Dan Quayle
I was known as the chief graverobber of my state. Dan Quayle
People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history. Dan Quayle
This is what I say about the scorn of the media elite: I wear their scorn as a badge of honor. Dan Quayle, Speech to the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis (June 9, 1992)
We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur. Dan Quayle, Cleveland Plain Dealer (September 27, 1990)
A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls. Dan Quayle, allegedly
If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure. Dan Qyale, allegedly
It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it. Dan Qyale, allegedly
Jefferson refused to pin his hopes on the occasional success of honest and unambitious men; on the contrary, the great danger was that philosophers would be lulled into complacence by the accidental rise of a Franklin or a Washington. Any government which made the welfare of men depend on the character of their governors was an illusion. Daniel J. Boorstin, The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson (1948)
I still live. Last words of Daniel Webster
The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster. David Hume, On Suicide
Once you set up a covert operation to supply arms and money, it’s very difficult to separate it from the kind of people who are involved in other forms of trade, and especially drugs. There is a limited number of planes, pilots and landing strips.
[Mike Pence has] got good experience and solid judgment and great background. Dick Cheney, introductory speech opening for Pence at the annual leadership meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, 2017
I never wanted to be an actor, and to this day I don’t. I can’t get a handle on it. An actor wants to become someone else. I am a song-and-dance man and I enjoy being myself, which is all I can do. Dick Van Dyke, as quoted in Halliwell’s Who’s Who in the Movies
Home-growns are next. The home growns. You gotta build about five more places. It’s not big enough. Donald Trump to Nayib Bukele
My motto is: Always get even. When somebody screws you, screw them back in spades. Donald Trump, Think Big: Make It Happen in Business and Life
Anthony Scaramucci is a major loser who was fired from the Administration after only 11 days for his insane “brother from another mother” interview with Chris Cuomo, then with CNN! GREAT JOB BY JOE K. Donald Trump, Truth Social (11 Nov 2024)
President Obama has weakened our military by weakening our economy. He’s crippled us with wasteful spending, massive debt, low growth, a huge trade deficit and open borders. Donald Trump, Foreign Policy Speech, 27 April 2016
I know the Chinese. I’ve made a lot of money with the Chinese. I understand the Chinese mind. Donald Trump
Hillary Clinton refuses to say the words radical Islam, even as she pushes for a massive increase in refugees coming into our country. After Secretary Clinton’s failed intervention in Libya, Islamic terrorists in Benghazi took down our consulate and killed our ambassador and three brave Americans. Then, instead of taking charge that night, Hillary Clinton decided to go home and sleep. Incredible. Clinton blames it all on a video, an excuse that was a total lie, proven to be absolutely a total lie. Our ambassador was murdered and our secretary of state misled the nation. Donald Trump, Foreign Policy Speech, 27 April 2016
Hillary Clinton was the worst Secretary of State in the history of the country. The world came apart under her reign… I will be the one to beat Hillary. Donald Trump Explains All, Time, 20 August 2015
This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction and weakness. Donald Trump, 2016 Republican National Convention (21 July 2016)
I was not a fan of Jeffrey Epstein. And you watched people yesterday saying that I threw him out of a club. I didn’t want anything to do with him. That was many, many years ago. It shows you one thing: that I have good taste. President Donald Trump quoted by the Whitehouse.gov website (July 12, 2019)
I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life. Donald Trump, New York magazine, 2002
Thank you again. Thank you again. Won’t forget it. Donald Trump to Chief Justice John Roberts
Monster .. Communist .. Horrible .. Totally unlikeable Donald Trump on Kamala Harris, 8 October 2020.
I blame myself for Lindsey Graham, because the only reason he won in the Great State of South Carolina is because I Endorsed him! Donald Trump on Lindsey Graham
The Democrats made a BIG mistake in getting Crazy Liz Chaney, and her father, Dick, involved in their campaign for President. It made the Republicans angry, and the Democrats just plain scratching their heads in amazement. It is always a bad idea to bring “losers”into a political campaign! Donald Trump, Truth Social (10 Nov 2024)
I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, has been nominated to be The United States Ambassador to Israel. Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, and Leader in Faith for many years. He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring about Peace in the Middle East! Donald Trump, 𝕏 (12 Nov 2024)
He (Mike Pence) is a man of character and accomplishment. He is the right man for the job. Donald Trump, 2016 Republican National Convention (21 July 2016)
So what? Donald Trump when told by an aide that Vice President Mike Pence was in peril as the rioting on Capitol Hill escalated on Jan. 6, 2021 according to Judge Unseals New Evidence in Federal Elections Case against Trump (October 2, 2024)
Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again. He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country. Donald Trump statement (16 February 2021)
Saddam Hussein was a bad guy. Right? He was a bad guy, really bad guy. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn’t read them the rights—they didn’t talk, they were a terrorist, it was over. […] Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism. You want to be a terrorist, you go to Iraq. It’s like Harvard. Okay? So sad. Donald Trump at a campaign rally (July 5, 2016)
Ted Cruz lies. He’s a liar. And that’s why nobody likes him, that’s why his Senate people won’t endorse him. That’s why he stands on the middle of the Senate floor and can’t make a deal with anybody. He looks like a jerk. He’s standing all by himself. And you know, there’s something to say about having a little bit of ability to get other people to do things. You can’t be a lone wolf and stand there. That’s sort of what we have right now as a president. Donald Trump, Morning Joe (26 January 2016)
The truth is, he’s a nasty guy. He was so nice to me. I mean, I knew it. I was watching. I kept saying, ‘Come on Ted. Let’s go, okay.’ But he’s a nasty guy. Nobody likes him. Nobody in Congress likes him. Nobody likes him anywhere once they get to know him. He’s a very –- he’s got an edge that’s not good. You can’t make deals with people like that and it’s not a good thing. It’s not a good thing for the country. Very nasty guy. Donald Trump in an interview on This Week, January 17, 2016
Congratulations on being named Time magazine’s ‘Man of the Year’ — you definitely deserve it. As you have probably heard, I’m a big fan of yours! Donald Trump letter to Vladimir Putin
Don’t forget China’s great, and Xi is a great gentleman. He’s now president for life. President for life. And he’s great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday. Donald Trump, fundraiser in Mar-a-Lago, 3 March 2018
We have a very good relationship. People say we have the best relationship of any President-President, because he’s called President also. Now some people might call him the King of China, but he’s called President. Donald Trump Interviewed by Lou Dobbs on Fox Business on the subject of Xi Jinping (25 October 2017)
Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY! Additionally, no Judges should be approved during this period of time because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. THANK YOU! Donald Trump, Truth Social (10 Nov 2024)
Don’t bring that up again. Donald Trump
All I’m saying about Liz Cheney is that she is a War Hawk, and a dumb one at that, but she wouldn’t have “the guts” to fight herself. It’s easy for her to talk, sitting far from where the death scenes take place, but put a gun in her hand, and let her go fight, and she’ll say, “No thanks!” Her father decimated the Middle East, and other places, and got rich by doing so. He’s caused plenty of DEATH, and probably never even gave it a thought. That’s not what we want running our Country!
Governor Gavin Newscum is trying to KILL our Nation’s beautiful California. For the first time ever, more people are leaving than are coming in. He is using the term “Trump-Proof” as a way of stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to “Make California Great Again,” but I just overwhelmingly won the Election. People are being forced to leave due to his, & other’s, INSANE POLICY DECISIONS, like the ridiculously rerouting of MILLIONS OF GALLONS OF WATER A DAY FROM THE NORTH OUT INTO THE PACIFIC OCEAN, rather than using it, free of charge, for the towns, cities, & farms dotted all throughout California. They are making it impossible to build a reasonably priced car, the unchecked and unbalanced homeless catastrophe, & the cost of EVERYTHING, in particular “groceries,” IS OUT OF CONTROL. Also, as an “AGENT” for the United States of America on Voting & Elections, I will be DEMANDING THAT VOTER I.D., AND PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP, ARE A NECESSARY PART AND COMPONENT OF THE VOTING PROCESS! Donald Trump, Truth Social (08 Nov 2024)
I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration, which is currently in formation. I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border. We also talked about what can be done to stop the massive drug inflow into the United States, and also, U.S. consumption of these drugs. It was a very productive conversation!
As a mark of respect for the memory of His Holiness Pope Francis, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, on the day of interment. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations. Donald Trump, Truth Social (21 April 2025)
This is the man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, that the Courts are trying to save from being deported? He was supposed to be, according to the Judge and the Democrats, a wonderful father from Maryland, but then they noticed he had “MS-13” tattooed onto his knuckles (and lots of really bad stories about his past!). This is the gang that is, perhaps, the worst of them all. What is wrong with our Country? Donald Trump, Truth Social (21 April 2025)
This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden “Overhang.” This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!! Donald Trump, Truth Social (30 April 2025)
I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by. Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt
The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas-covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think that this to be the normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be. Douglas Adams in The Scientific Indian Science Fiction Anthology
Should any party attempt to abolish social security and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group of course, that believes you can do these things […] Their number is negligible and they are stupid. Dwight D. Eisenhower, private letter
Better a thousand innocent men are locked up than one guilty man roam free. Dwight Kurt Schrute III
All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream Edgar Allan Poe, A Dream Within a Dream
They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. Edgar Allan Poe, Eleonora
It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration. Edsger W. Dijkstra, How do we tell truths that might hurt? (18 June 1975)
Testing can only prove the presence of bugs, not their absence. Edsger W. Dijkstra
For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad. Edwin Way Teale, Autumn Across America.
With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts Eleanor Roosevelt
The American people deserve to know the truth, that Nancy Pelosi bears responsibility as the Speaker of the House for the tragedy that occurred on January 6th Elise Stefanik on the January 6
The CEO of an aircraft company should know how to design aircraft, not spreadsheets. Elon Musk, Business Insider, June 26, 2024
Next I’m buying Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in Elon Musk, (27 April 2022)
We need to expand the scope and scale of consciousness so that we’re better able to understand the nature of the universe and understand the meaning of life. Elon Musk on the Lex Fridman Podcast (28 December 2021)
If somebody wants to stay in their house, that’s great. They should be allowed to stay in their house, and they should not be compelled to leave. But to say that they cannot leave their house, and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist. This is not democratic. This is not freedom. Elon Musk, New York Times (30 April 2020)
The reason the Democratic Party is so soft on criminals is that criminals vote overwhelmingly Democrat – they don’t want to offend their customers! Democrat Party is literally the party of criminals.
A lot of people still don’t believe me when I say that the Dems will do everything in their power to destroy me if they win on Nov 5th
Sooner or later, we must expand life beyond our little blue mud ball–or go extinct. Elon Musk, Esquire
You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity. Elon Musk, Twitter (15 May 2023)
I find history fascinating. There’s a lot of incredible things that have been done, good and bad, that they help you understand the nature of civilization and individuals. Elon Musk on the Lex Fridman Podcast (28 December 2021)
NBC basically saying Republicans are Nazis … Same org that covered up Hunter Biden laptop story, had Harvey Weinstein story early & killed it & built Matt Lauer his rape office. Lovely people. Elon Musk, Twitter (2 May 2022)
Population of Mars is still zero people! Elon Musk, Twitter (2 May 2022)
Every person in your company is a vector. Your progress is determined by the sum of all vectors. Elon Musk
Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader!
Congratulations @RealTomHoman on being given responsibility for enforcing our borders!
I still very much support Ukraine, but am convinced that massive escalation of the war will cause great harm to Ukraine and possibly the world. Elon Musk, Twitter (3 October 2022)
Do something worth remembering. Elvis Presley
The image is one thing and the human being is another…it’s very hard to live up to an image. Elvis Presley, 1972 press conference
Everything is only a dream. Émile Zola, Le Rêve [The Dream] (1888).
Existence is so bitter for every one of us! Ought we not forgive others much, my friend, if we wish to be forgiven ourselves? Émile Zola, Nana (1880)
Paris flared — Paris, which the divine sun had sown with light, and where in glory waved the great future harvest of Truth and of Justice. Émile Zola, Paris (1898)
I am little concerned with beauty or perfection. I don’t care for the great centuries. All I care about is life, struggle, intensity. I am at ease in my generation. Émile Zola, My Hates (1866)
I would rather die of passion than of boredom. Émile Zola
If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, I will answer you: I am here to live out loud! Émile Zola quoted in Writers on Writing (1986) by Jon Winokur
One forges one’s style on the terrible anvil of daily deadlines. Émile Zola, Le Figaro (1881)
The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work. Émile Zola as quoted in Wisdom for the Soul by Larry Chang
There are two men inside the artist, the poet and the craftsman. One is born a poet. One becomes a craftsman. Émile Zola, Letter to Paul Cézanne (16 April 1860)
If you will send for a doctor, I will see him now. Last audible words of Emily Brontë
God is sitting here, looking into my very soul to see if I think right thoughts. Yet I am not afraid, for I try to be right and good; and He knows every one of my struggles. Emily Dickinson, letter to Abiah Root (29 January 1850)
If I read a book [and] it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way? Emily Dickinson, letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1870)
The Dyings have been too deep for me, and before I could raise my Heart from one, another has come. Emily Dickinson, 1884
Sometimes I can’t figure designers out. It’s as if they flunked human anatomy. Erma Bombeck
The grass is always greener over the septic tank. Erma Bombeck
When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen. Ernest Hemingway
When you go to war as a boy you have a great illusion of immortality. Other people get killed; not you … Then when you are badly wounded the first time you lose that illusion and you know it can happen to you. Ernest Hemingway
I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from the ranks. Eugene V. Debs, Speech in Canton, Ohio (1918)
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. F. Scott Fitzgerald, from The Crack-Up, February 1936.
Let justice be done, though the world perish. Motto of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
Capitalism has neither the capacity, nor the moral, nor the ethics, nor the will to solve the problems of poverty. Fidel Castro, speech (1991-07-26)
I propose the immediate launching of a nuclear strike on the United States. The Cuban people are prepared to sacrifice themselves for the cause of the destruction of imperialism and the victory of world revolution. Fidel Castro as quoted in “Castro Wanted a Nuclear Strike” in The New York Times (October 23, 1992)
A revolution is not a trail of roses…. A revolution is a fight to the death between the future and the past. Fidel Castro, speech on the second anniversary of the triumph of the revolution (2 January 1961)
The figure of Lenin is a giant in history and his luminous ideas represents the common heritage of revolutionary fighters in every corner of the Earth. Fidel Casto, speech on 22 December 1972
Xi Jinping is one of the strongest and most capable revolutionary leaders I have met in my life. Fidel Castro, Holocausto palestino en Gaza (2014)
A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. Francis Bacon
What Jim wanted to do, and it was totally his vision, was to get back to the darkness of the original Grimm’s fairy tales. He thought it was fine to scare children. He didn’t think it was healthy for children to always feel safe. Frank Oz talking about The Dark Crystal
If you don’t know the guy on the other side of the world, love him anyway because he’s just like you. He has the same dreams, the same hopes and fears. It’s one world, pal. We’re all neighbors. Frank Sinatra, Playboy interview (1963)
The best revenge is massive success. Frank Sinatra
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Franklin D. Roosevelt
When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on. Franklin D. Roosevelt
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Frederick Douglass
Please forgive me dear Katte, in God’s name, forgive me. Frederick the Great witnessing the execution of Hans Hermann von Katte
“The two testicles were in their natural position without the slightest defect; the spermatic cord could be clearly felt up to the entrance of the abdominal ring without the least hardening or distention; the male member was of natural size; there was not the slightest bit in the soft parts of the pubic region characteristic of a scar or induration, or of any disease ever involving these parts.” Ollenroth, Rosenmeyer and Liebert, the three surgeons of the 1st Life Guards Battalion, reporting on Frederick the Great
If you could see the earth illuminated when you were in a place as dark as night, it would look to you more splendid than the moon. Galileo Galilei, Salviati, p. 88
He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career. George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara (1905), Act III
It’s called the American Dream, ‘cause you have to be asleep to believe it. George Carlin, Life Is Worth Losing (2005)
In the bullshit department, a businessman can’t hold a candle to a clergyman. George Carlin, You Are All Diseased
Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac? George Carlin, Carlin on Campus (1984)
Some people try to get out of jury duty by lying. You don’t have to lie. Tell the judge the truth. Tell him you’d make a terrific juror because you can spot guilty people [snaps fingers] just like that! George Carlin, What Am I Doing in New Jersey? (1988)
Hansel and Gretel discovered the ginger bread house about 45 minutes after they discovered the mushrooms. George Carlin, Toledo Window Box (1974)
I, George Carlin, being of sound mind, do not wish, upon my demise, to be buried or cremated. I wish to be BLOWN UP. George Carlin, Last Words (2009)
It’s a big club and you ain’t in it. George Carlin, Life Is Worth Losing (2005)
the Mediterranean ends where the olive tree no longer grows George Duhamel
All models are wrong; some models are useful. George E. P. Box, William Hunter and Stuart Hunter, Statistics for Experimenters, second edition, 2005, page 440.
Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Britain. George III, speech to Parliament (18 November 1760)
Acting is therefore the lowest of the arts, if it is an art at all. George Moore, Mummer-Worship
In a town like London there are always plenty of not quite certifiable lunatics walking the streets, and they tend to gravitate towards bookshops, because a bookshop is one of the few places where you can hang about for a long time without spending any money. George Orwell, “Bookshop Memories” in Fortnightly (November 1936)
At 50, everyone has the face he deserves. “Extracts from a Manuscript Notebook” (17 April 1949), The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, vol. 4 (1968)
The essential job is to get people to recognise war propaganda when they see it, especially when it is disguised as peace propaganda. Review of The Men I Killed by Brigadier-General F. P. Crozier, CB, CMG, DSO, in New Statesman and Nation (28 August 1937)
I have always thought there might be a lot of cash in starting a new religion. George Orwell, The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell, Volume 1: An Age Like This, 1920-1940 (1968), edited by Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus Orwell, p. 304
To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle. George Orwell, “In Front of Your Nose”, Tribune (22 March 1946)
Totalitarianism demands, in fact, the continuous alteration of the past, and in the long run probably demands a disbelief in the very existence of objective truth. George Orwell, The Prevention of Literature. Polemic, No. 2 (January 1946)
It is quite possible that we are descending into an age in which two plus two will make five when the Leader says so. George Orwell, review of Power: A New Social Analysis by Bertrand Russell in The Adelphi (January 1939)
War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it. George Orwell
I consider Xi Jinping the most dangerous enemy of open societies in the world. George Soros, Tweet 16 August 2021
My patience ran out on President Assad a long time ago. The reason why is because he houses Hamas, he facilitates Hezbollah, suiciders go from his country into Iraq, and he destabilises Lebanon. George W Bush, as quoted in Bush ’loses patience’ with Syria, BBC News (20 December 2007)
The state can do what they want to do. Don’t try to trap me in this state’s issue like you’re trying to get me into. Governor Bush on gay marriage, Larry King Live
I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country. And I appreciated so very much the frank dialogue. George W. Bush press conference with Vladimir Putin
This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while. George W. Bush
‘Tis well George Washington’s last words
I have tried so hard to do right. Grover Cleveland, last words
There is nothing to forgive, I die for you with joy in my heart! Last words of Hans Hermann von Katte to Frederick the Great
The two most common elements in the Universe are Hydrogen and Stupidity. Harlan Ellison
To know the land, one must feel it out inch by inch with the feet. Harvey Manning
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope. Helen Keller, Optimism (1903)
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. Helen Keller, Let Us Have Faith (1940)
Believe, when you are most unhappy, that there is something for you to do in the world. So long as you can sweeten another’s pain, life is not in vain. Helen Keller, We Bereaved (1929)
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. Helen Keller
The bulk of the world’s knowledge is an imaginary construction. Hellen Keller, The World I Live In
Simplicity is the most deceitful mistress that ever betrayed man. Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams (1907)
An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day. Henry David Thoreau
Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify. Henry David Thoreau
This whole earth which we inhabit is but a point in space. How far apart, think you, dwell the two most distant inhabitants of yonder star, the breadth of whose disk cannot be appreciated by our instruments? Why should I feel lonely? Is not our planet in the Milky Way? Henry David Thoreau
Money is only a tool in business. It is just a part of the machinery. You might as well borrow 100,000 lathes as $100,000 if the trouble is inside your business. More lathes will not cure it; neither will more money. Only heavier doses of brains and thought and wise courage can cure. A business that misuses what it has will continue to misuse what it can get. Henry Ford and Samuel Crowther, My Life and Work, Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., (1922), p. 157
Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. Henry Ford
You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do. Henry Ford
He felt there was a central processing core of life that went on and on. That was his conclusion. We talked of it many times together . . . Call it religion or what you like, Mr. Edison believed that the universe was alive and that it was responsive to man’s deep necessity. It was an intelligent and hopeful religion if there ever was one. Mr. Edison went away expecting light, not darkness. Henry Ford on Thomas Edison
What miserable drones and traitors have I nurtured and promoted in my household who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric! Henry II of England
It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. Herman Melville
There’s a different leader in Syria now. Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, CBS Face The Nation interview (27 March 2011)
If any man seeks for greatness, let him forget greatness and ask for truth, and he will find both. Horace Mann Journal entry (29 October 1838)
Curiosity, the overwhelming desire to know, is not characteristic of dead matter. Nor does it seem to be characteristic of some forms of living organism, which, for that very reason, we can scarcely bring ourselves to consider alive. Isaac Asimov, Gaither’s Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, 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.
We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances. Isaac Newton
If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants. Isaac Newton, letter to Robert Hook
It is the perfection of God’s works that they are all done with the greatest simplicity. He is the God of order and not of confusion. And therefore as they would understand the frame of the world must endeavor to reduce their knowledge to all possible simplicity, so must it be in seeking to understand these visions. Isaac Newton
Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things. Isaac Newton
It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be. J. K. Rowling
The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights. J. Paul Getty
The stars are words and all the innumerable worlds in the Milky Way are words, and so is this world too. And I realize that no matter where I am, whether in a little room full of thought, or in this endless universe of stars and mountains, it’s all in my mind. Jack Kerouc, Lonesome Traveler
Who will take care of me now? Jack Parsons, rocket scientist and occultist
Oh, Swaim, can’t you stop this? Oh, oh, Swaim! James A. Garfield, last words on September 19, 1881
I’m going away tonight. Last words of James Brown
Say it loud. I’m black and I’m proud! James Brown
When I’m on stage, I’m trying to do one thing: bring people joy. Just like church does. People don’t go to church to find trouble, they go there to lose it. James Brown
Nothing more than a change of mind, my dear. James Madison
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. James Madison, Political Observations (20 April 1795)
Chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutan shave been living for hundreds of thousands of years in their forest, living fantastic lives, never overpopulating, never destroying the forest. I would say that they have been in a way more successful than us as far as being in harmony with the environment. Jane Goodall in response to: “If chimps are so much like us, why are they endangered while humans dominate the globe?” Discover Magazine interview with Virginia Morell (28 March 2007)
If you want to know what you think of yourself, then ask yourself what you think of others, and you will find your answer. Jane Roberts, The Early Sessions: Book 8
You do not leave a sick child in the night, and you do not leave children at a time like this. Janusz Korczak refusing offers of sanctuary
Have you said thank you once? VP JD Vance to Volodymur Zelenskyy
Hitler didn’t snub me. It was our president who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram. Jesse Owens, in Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics
It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler… You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn’t be a plating on the 24-karat friendship I felt for Lutz Long at that moment. Jesse Owens about Lutz Long
tribute of Jesse Owens (Wikipedia) Jimmy Carter on Jesse Owens
Comedic actors can be looked at as a lower form because we have to put ourselves in a lower place than most of the audience. I think lofty emotions are somehow considered more special. The best stories in the world to me are the ones that elicit a real emotion, but have humour. Jim Carrey, This much I know by Tony Horkins in The Observer
Untold American lives have been ruined by the presidency of Donald Trump. The rule of law is imperiled, our unity has been shattered, the service sector has been obliterated, and major cities are suffering. Black Americans, who have endured half a millennium of wickedness and brutality, now face more injustice and death.
I like people. They’re entertaining. I just may laugh at different things than most people. I laugh at mistakes. I laugh at how you recover from mistakes. Jim Carrey, An Interview with Jim Carrey by Jeff Otto
Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes. Jim Carrey
We have to say yes to socialism — to the word and everything […] Medicare for all, ending student debt, a different approach to the war on terror, ending mass incarceration. Jim Carrey says “stop apologizing” and “say yes to socialism” (September 2018)
Either you run the day or the day runs you. Jim Rohn
Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The idea he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that. And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there’s a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit. The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. Biden at the 2008 Vice Presidential debate
When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.’ Joe Biden, Interview with CBS Evening News
It was that hard; I still feel that way. But I believe that President Bush failed to lead. History will judge him harshly not for the mistakes he made- we all make mistakes- but for the opportunities he squandered. Joe Biden, Promises to Keep (2008)
Given Iraq’s strategic location, its large oil reserves, and the suffering of the Iraqi people, we cannot afford to replace a despot with chaos. It would be a tragedy if we removed a tyrant in Iraq only to leave chaos in its wake. Joe Biden, Promises to Keep (2008)
The truth is, every major crime bill since 1976 that’s come out of this Congress, every minor crime bill, has had the name of the Democratic senator from the State of Delaware: Joe Biden. Joe Biden (1994)
Saddam Hussein’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, in my view, is one of those clear dangers. Even if the right response to his pursuit is not so crystal clear, one thing is clear. These weapons must be dislodged from Saddam Hussein, or Saddam Hussein must be dislodged from power. US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 2002-07-31, quoted in Tara Golshan and Alex Ward (15 October 2019), “Joe Biden’s Iraq problem”, Vox
I think you’re a damn war criminal and you should be tried as one. Joe Biden, Promises to Keep (2008)
Putin knows that when I am president of the United States, his days of tyranny and trying to intimidate the United States and those in Eastern Europe are over Joe Biden, Promises to Keep (2008)
Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Geometry has two great treasures: one is the Theorem of Phythagoras, the other the division of a line in extreme and mean ratio. The first we can compare to a mass of gold; the other we may call a precious jewel. Johannes Kepler
I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses. Johannes Kepler
I used to measure the heavens, now I measure the shadows of Earth. Although my mind was heaven-bound, the shadow of my body lies here. Johannes Kepler
Thomas Jefferson survives. John Adams, unaware that Jefferson had died several hours before.
The South, the poor South! Last words of John C. Calhoun
And should you hear any one in the public thoroughfare, or in the midst of the forum, blaspheming God; go up to him and rebuke him; and should it be necessary to inflict blows, spare not to do so. Smite him on the face; strike his mouth; sanctify thy hand with the blow… John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Statues, Homily I
For Christians above all men are forbidden to correct the stumblings of sinners by force…it is necessary to make a man better not by force but by persuasion. We neither have authority granted us by law to restrain sinners, nor, if it were, should we know how to use it, since God gives the crown to those who are kept from evil, not by force, but by choice. John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood, Book II
Nothing does so much turn our life upside down, as delay and procrastination in the performance of our good works. Nay, this has often caused us to lose all. John Chrysostom, OHomily 16 on Matthew, 13
Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did. John Ehrlichman interviewed by Dan Baum
The mind is furnished with ideas by experience alone. John Locke
What worries you, masters you. John Locke
When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. John Miur
This is the last of Earth. I am content. Last words of John Quincy Adams
Theoretical physicists live in a classical world, looking out into a quantum-mechanical world. John Stewart Bell
Perhaps it is best. John Tyler, last words on his deathbed
The calculus was the first achievement of modern mathematics and it is difficult to overestimate its importance. I think it defines more unequivocally than anything else the inception of modern mathematics, and the system of mathematical analysis, which is its logical development, still constitutes the greatest technical advance in exact thinking. John von Neumann, in James R. Newman The World of Mathematics
There probably has to be a God. Many things are easier to explain if there is than if there isn’t. John von Neumann to his mother
Young man, in mathematics you don’t understand things. You just get used to them. John von Neumann
The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models. By a model is meant a mathematical construct which, with the addition of certain verbal interpretations, describes observed phenomena. The justification of such a mathematical construct is solely and precisely that it is expected to work. John von Neumann, “Method in the Physical Sciences”, in The Unity of Knowledge (1955), ed. L. G. Leary (Doubleday & Co., New York), p. 157
While cutting a way through the bamboos we suddenly stumbled upon a block of lava (andesite). I was delighted to see it, for I had not previously seen as much as a pebble since we left Laikipia. As I examined it, my interest was roused. John Walter Gregory, The Great Rift Valley
Follow your bliss Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (1988)
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy. Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (1988)
Our life evokes our character and you find out more about yourself as you go on. Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (1988)
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. Joseph Campbell
Adolf Hitler, I love you because you are both great and simple at the same time. What one calls a genius. Jospeh Goebbels diary entry
There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking. Joshua Reynolds
from animals to man there is no abrupt transition Julien Offray de La Mettrie
And you, son? Julius Caesar
I came, I saw, I conquered. Julius Caesar
Veni, vidi, vici Julius Caeser
George Bush doesn’t care about black people. Kanye West, live on NBC’s A Concert for Hurricane Relief
Theologian — the only kind of scholar who has no knowledge whatsoever of his supposed object of study. Karlheinz Deschner, Bissige Aphorismen, S. 29
Long as you been living, you ain’t NEVER heard of a mother-fucker overdosin’ on marijuana. You might-a thought that nigga was dead. He ain’t dead. He gonna wake up in 30 minutes hungry enough to eat up everything in your house. That’s the side effects: hungry, happy, sleepy." That’s it. Katt Williams, The Pimp Chronicles, Pt. 1 (2006)
I don’t think I need to apologize for being pro-American. Katt Williams
The councilmember money can't buy
If @KamalaHarris wins, the White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center and the American people will only be able to convey their feedback through a customer satisfaction survey at the end of the call that nobody will understand. Laura Loomer on X/Twitter
I’ve fallen in love or imagine that I have; went to a party and lost my head. Bought a horse which I don’t need at all. Leo Tolstoy
The further you progress, the higher the ideal of perfection toward which you strive rises. Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom, P. Sekirin, trans. (1997)
To Bach, notes were not just sounds but the very stuff of creation. Leonard Bernstein
The proper definition of a man is an animal that writes letters. Lewis Carroll
If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed… and we will deserve it. Lindsey Graham (5 May 2016)
Good. This was the right call. The regime deserves it. Well done, President @realDonaldTrump. Lindsey Graham
If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you. Lindsey Graham, Washington Press Club dinner in February 2016
For a man to become a poet (witness Petrarch and Dante), he must be in love, or miserable. Lord Byron, Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron by Thomas Medwin (1823)
Bach is the immortal God of Harmony Ludwig van Beethoven
Certainly it is correct to say: Conscience is the voice of God. Ludwig Wittgenstein
We are asleep. Our Life is a dream. But we wake up sometimes, just enough to know that we are dreaming. Ludwig Wittgenstein
Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life. Ludwig Wittgenstein, last words
The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. Ludwig Wittgenstein
I am overwhelmed by - and grateful for - everyone who has written me to share their stories and express their support. Powerfully, this support has transcended political, racial, and even class divisions, as mail has flooded MDC from across the country, and around the globe. While it is impossible for me to reply to most letters, please know that I read every one that I receive. Thank you again to everyone who took the time to write. I look forward to hearing more in the future. Luigi Mangione
Art will remain the most astonishing activity of mankind born out of struggle between wisdom and madness, between dream and reality in our mind. Magdalena Abakanowicz
We are our own slaves, not of the British. This should be engraved on our minds. The whites cannot remain if we do not want them. If the idea is to drive them out with firearms, let every Indian consider what precious little profit Europe has found in these. Mahatma Gandi, Indian opinion
Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong. Mahatma Gandhi
Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary. Mahatma Gandi, Satyagraha Leaflet No. 13 (1919)
Prayer is the key of the morning, and the bolt of the evening. Mahatma Gandhi
In reality there are as many religions as there are individuals…. Religions are different roads converging to the same point. What does it matter that we take different roads, so long as we reach the same goal. Wherein is the cause for quarreling? Mahatma Gandi, Hind Swaraj (1909)
No, I’m not an American. I’m one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I’m not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver—no, not I. I’m speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don’t see any American dream; I see an American nightmare. Malcolm X
The future belongs to those who prepare for it today. Malcom X
A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything. Malcolm X
Stumbling is not falling. Malcolm X
Federal employees do not deserve their jobs. Federal employees do not deserve their paycheck, and these are jobs that can be fired at will Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene
Don’t quote me, and don’t quote me as not wanting to be quoted. Mark Hamill, @markhamillofficial.bsky.social
Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered — either by themselves or by others. But for the Civil War, Lincoln and Grant and Sherman and Sheridan would not have been discovered, nor have risen into notice. … I have touched upon this matter in a small book which I wrote a generation ago and which I have not published as yet — Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven. When Stormfield arrived in heaven he … was told that … a shoemaker … was the most prodigious military genius the planet had ever produced. Mark Twain
A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar. Mark Twain
Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest. Mark Twain
Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed. Mark Twain, Extracts From Adam’s Diary (1906)
The funniest things are the forbidden. Mark Twain
To create man was a fine and original idea; but to add the sheep was a tautology. Mark Twain
Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work. Mark Twain
Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please. Mark Twain
If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything. Mark Twain
Acting is the least mysterious of all crafts. Whenever we want something from somebody or when we want to hide something or pretend, we’re acting. Most people do it all day long. Marlon Brando, as quoted in The New York Times (2 July 2004)
il cessa de calculer et de vivre— … he ceased to calculate and to live. Marquis de Condorcet on the death of Euler
If Senate Republicans can’t say no to Gaetz, the Department of Justice as we know it will be gone, quite possibly forever. Mark Joseph Stern, Slate (13 Nov 2024)
He doesn’t have to be the funniest guy in the room. Now, he’s a guy who is much more secure. He’s not afraid to look in the mirror anymore. Underneath all the (stuff) that used to get in his way was a heart of gold. He’s really a super-compassionate human being. He’s so smart. He’s always got good advice. I’ve gotten free therapy from him for years. He’s very intuitive. Matt LeBlanc, interview in Donna Freydkin (April 1, 2004) “A brush with happiness”, USA Today, Gannett Co., Inc., p. 01D
I’m not as funny as Chandler is. Because Chandler has thirty people writing for him. Matthew Perry, GQ (November 2000)
Shoot me up with a big one. Matthew Perry’s last words, to his assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, instructing Iwamasa to administer a larger than usual, and ultimately fatal, dose of ketamine.
There are metaphysical problems, which cannot be disposed of by declaring them meaningless. For, as I have repeatedly said, they are “beyond physics” indeed and demand an act of faith. We have to accept this fact to be honest. There are two objectionable types of believers: those who believe the incredible and those who believe that “belief” must be discarded and replaced by “the scientific method.” Max Born, Natural Philosophy of Cause and Chance (1964)
But science sets out confidently on the endeavor finally to know the thing in itself, and even though we realize that this ideal goal can never be completely reached, still we struggle on towards it untiringly. And we know that at every step of the way each effort will be richly rewarded. Max Planck
Natural science wants man to learn, religion wants him to act. Max Planck
Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve. Max Planck
I am no poet, but if you think for yourselves, as I proceed, the facts will form a poem in your minds. Michael Faraday
Maxwell’s equations… originally consisted of eight equations. These equations are not “beautiful.” They do not possess much symmetry. In their original form, they are ugly. …However, when rewritten using time as the fourth dimension, this rather awkward set of eight equations collapses into a single tensor equation. This is what a physicist calls “beauty,” because both criteria are now satisfied.
There’s a reason why people question the trustworthiness of Hillary Clinton, and that’s because they’re paying attention. Mike Pence, vice presidential debate
There is no room in this party for apologists for Putin. There is only room for champions of freedom. Mike Pence, 2022
An escalator can never break, it can only become stairs. You would never see an “Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order” sign, just “Escalator Temporarily Stairs”. Sorry for the convenience. We apologize for the fact that you can still get up there. Mitch Hedberg, Just for Laughs, 1998
If you lift up Khomeini’s beard, you will find MADE IN ENGLAND written under his chin Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
The bed has become a place of luxury to me! I would not exchange it for all the thrones in the world. Napoleon I
How can I return him to the United States? Am I going to smuggle him? Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous. Nayib Bukele on returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the US
The important achievement of Apollo was demonstrating that humanity is not forever chained to this planet and our visions go rather further than that and our opportunities are unlimited. Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 30th Anniversary Press Conference, NASA
Poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. And overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom. Nelson Mandela, Make Povery History
Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it. Niels Bohr
Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a question. Niels Bohr
Every valuable human being must be a radical and a rebel, for what he must aim at is to make things better than they are. Niels Bohr
Let the future tell the truth and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine. Nikola Tesla as quoted in A Visit to Nikola Tesla by Dragislav L. Petković in Politika (April 1927)
If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. … I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety percent of his labor. Nikola Tesla, as quoted in The New York Times (19 October 1931)
The Assad regime is absolutely monstrous and responsible for a large majority of the atrocities. Noam Chomsky, 8 June 2016
Dream big and dare to fail. Norman Vaughan
All art is quite useless. Oscar Wilde, preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), Mr. Dumby, Act III.
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist. Pablo Picasso
It’s sitting on my desk right now, to review. That’s been a directive by President Trump. I’m reviewing that and reviewing JKF files, MLK files. That’s all in the process of being reviewed… Pam Bondi, Fox News (21 February 2025)
Ireland unfree shall never be at peace. Patrick Pearse
The aim of science is to make difficult things understandable in a simpler way; the aim of poetry is to state simple things in an incomprehensible way. The two are incompatible. Paul Dirac on poetry
I was taught at school never to start a sentence without knowing the end of it. Paul Dirac to Neils Bohr
You are what you believe yourself to be. Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello
I don’t believe that the universe exists. I believe that the only thing that exists is God and he is more than the universe. The universe is an extension of God into space and time. That’s the premise I start from in my work, that so-called “reality” is a mass delusion that we’ve all been required to believe for reasons totally obscure. Philip K. Dick
My major preoccupation is the question, ‘What is reality?’ Many of my stories and novels deal with psychotic states or drug-induced states by which I can present the concept of a multiverse rather than a universe. Music and sociology are themes in my novels, also radical political trends; in particular I’ve written about fascism and my fear of it. Philip K. Dick, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 8, Part 1 (1981)
The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words. Philip K. Dick, How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later (1978)
There is one thing that the people of Ireland know how to do and that is to survive. Pierce Brosnan, RTE Interview (March 2011)
Read Euler, read Euler, he is the master of us all. Pierre-Simon Laplace
A beautiful face is a silent commendation. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
A good reputation is more valuable than money. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
Bitter for a free man is the bondage of debt. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
Confession of our faults is the next thing to innocence. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
For a good cause, wrongdoing is virtuous. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
Fortune is like glass—the brighter the glitter, the more easily broken. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
He doubly benefits the needy who gives quickly. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
If your parent is just, revere him; if not, bear with him. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
In knowing nothing, life is most delightful Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
It is a bad plan that admits of no modification. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
It is more easy to get a favor from Fortune than to keep it. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
Necessity gives the law without itself acknowledging one. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
Pardon one offence and you encourage the commission of many. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
Penitence follows hasty decisions. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
Poverty is the lack of many things, but avarice is the lack of all things. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
The judge is condemned when the guilty is absolved. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
Too much straightforwardness is foolish against a shameless person. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
When Fortune flatters, she does it to betray. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
Whom Fortune wishes to destroy she first makes mad. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae
A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals (1822-1863)
To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals (1822-1863)
Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Literary Ethics (1838)
I think, therefore I am. René Descartes
In order to seek truth, it is necessary once in the course of our life, to doubt, as far as possible, of all things. René Descartes (1644), Principles of Philosophy
I’d hate to die twice. It’s so boring. Last words of Richard Feynman
What I cannot create, I do not understand. Richard Feynman
Of the gladest moments in human life, methinks is the departure upon a distant journey to unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of habit, the leaden weight of Routine, the cloak of many Cares and the Slavery of Home, man feels once more happy. The blood flows with the fast circulation of childhood….afresh dawns the morn of life… Richard Francis Burton, Journal Entry (2 December 1856)
Without the American Dream, I wouldn’t be here today representing the great state of Florida. The disastrous Biden-Harris admin has tried to kill the American Dream, but working with President Trump, we will save it and Make America Great Again!
Less is more. Robert Browning, Andrea del Sarto (1855)
To be a poet is a condition rather than a profession. Robert Graves
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack. Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book (1894)
We are from Allah and to Allah we shall return. I am informing all brave Muslims of the world that the author of The Satanic Verses, a text written, edited, and published against Islam, the Prophet of Islam, and the Qur’an, along with all the editors and publishers aware of its contents, are condemned to death. I call on all valiant Muslims wherever they may be in the world to kill them without delay, so that no one will dare insult the sacred beliefs of Muslims henceforth. And whoever is killed in this cause will be a martyr, Allah willing. Meanwhile, if someone has access to the author of the book but is incapable of carrying out the execution, he should inform the people so that [Rushdie] is punished for his actions. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
With people’s revolutionary rage, the king will be ousted and a democratic state, Islamic Republic, will be established. Ruhollah Khomeini, Imam’s Sahife vol. 4 p. 244 (1 November 1978).
Women are free in the Islamic Republic in the selection of their activities and their future and their clothing. Ruhollah Khomeini, interview for The Guardian in Paris (6 November 1978)
We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can’t do all of the rules against our energy industry because they have no bandwidth financially to do so. We want to put them in trauma. Russell Vought, speech
I know that I’m going where Lucy is. Last words of Rutherford B. Hayes
A poet’s work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world and stop it from going to sleep. Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses (1988)
Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it. Salvador Dalí
To the American people who are struggling right now, know this: We hear you. We see you. We smell you. We’re inside your kitchen right now looking through your fridge. And what’s that on the top shelf? Migrants. Scarlett Johansson, Saturday Night Live
Gentlemen, there are times when a cigar is only a cigar! Sigmund Freud
The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind. The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), from The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, translated by James Strachey.
What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books. Sigmund Freud, letter to Ernest Jones (1933), as quoted in The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (1993) by Robert Andrews, p. 779
Cruelty and intolerance to those who do not belong to it are natural to every religion. Sigmund Freud, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921)
I am, now as before, of the opinion that I did the best that I could do for my nation. I therefore do not regret my conduct and will bear the consequences that result from my conduct. Sophie Scholl
Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don’t dare express themselves as we did. Sophie Scholl, statement to the Volksgerichtshof
I think President Obama is the most radical president this nation’s ever seen. And in particular, I think he is a true believer in government control of the economy and of our everyday lives. In my judgment, we are facing what I consider to be the epic battle of our generation, quite literally the battle over whether we remain a free market nation. Ted Cruz interview with Caroline May
Donald Trump… this man is a pathological liar Ted Cruz
It’s not easy to tick me off… I don’t get angry often. But you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids; that’ll do it every time. Donald, you’re a sniveling coward and leave Heidi the hell alone. As quoted in “Cruz calls Trump “sniveling coward” and says ’leave Heidi the hell alone’” (24 March 2016), by Reena Flores, CBS News
Let me be clear: Donald Trump may be a rat, but I have no desire to copulate with him. As quoted in Ted Cruz Will Do Anything for Love, But He Won’t Do Rats [25 March 2016], by Matt Miller, Esquire Magazine
Who the hell elected you? Ted Cruz, Addressing Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey during Big Tech senate hearing
When the gods gift you with the type of talent Robin had, there’s a price to pay, there always is — it doesn’t come from nothing, It comes from … probably deep problems inside, a concern, all sorts of fears, and yet he could always channel those things and turn them into something gold … I think that just comes with the territory, frankly. Terry Gilliam on the ‘miracle of Robin Williams’, BBC News
This isn’t life in the fast lane, it’s life in the oncoming traffic. Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett
Speak softly and carry a big stick. Theodore Roosevelt
The light has gone out of my life. Diary entry of Theodore Roosevelt on 14 February 1884
Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration. Thomas Edison
Nature is what we know. We do not know the gods of religions. And nature is not kind, or merciful, or loving. If God made me — the fabled God of the three qualities of which I spoke: mercy, kindness, love — He also made the fish I catch and eat. And where do His mercy, kindness, and love for that fish come in? No; nature made us — nature did it all — not the gods of the religions “No Immortality of the Soul” says Thomas A. Edison. New York Times. October 2, 1910
Over his desk Edison displayed a placard with Sir Joshua Reynolds’ famous quotation: “There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking.” This slogan was reputedly posted at several other locations throughout the facility.
My mind is incapable of conceiving such a thing as a soul. I may be in error, and man may have a soul; but I simply do not believe it. What a soul may be is beyond my understanding. “Do We Live Again?” an interview with Thomas Edison, as quoted in Mr. Edison’s New Argument from Design in The Illustrated London News (3 May 1924)
I failed my way to success. Thomas Edison
Tom Paine has almost no influence on present-day thinking in the United States because he is unknown to the average citizen. Perhaps I might say right here that this is a national loss and a deplorable lack of understanding concerning the man who first proposed and first wrote those impressive words, ’the United States of America.’ But it is hardly strange. Paine’s teachings have been debarred from schools everywhere and his views of life misrepresented until his memory is hidden in shadows, or he is looked upon as of unsound mind. Thomas Edison, Essay in The Diary and Sundry Observations (1948) edited by Dagobert D. Runes
All things are difficult before they are easy. Thomas Fuller, M.D.
History has informed us that bodies of men, as well as individuals, are susceptible of the spirit of tyranny. Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)
Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost. Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Dr. James Currie (28 January 1786) Lipscomb & Bergh 18:ii
The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them. Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)
There are extraordinary situations which require extraordinary interposition. An exasperated people, who feel that they possess power, are not easily restrained within limits strictly regular. Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Thomas Jefferson letter to William Stephens Smith (13 November 1787).
A body of men, holding themselves accountable to nobody, ought not to be trusted by any body Thomas Paine, Rights of Man
Mingling religion with politics may be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America. Thomas Paine, Common Sense
A man who is so exceedingly civil that for the sake of quietude and a peaceable name will silently see the community imposed upon, or their rights invaded, may, in his principles, be a good man, but cannot be stiled a useful one, neither does he come up to the full mark of his duty; for silence becomes a kind of crime when it operates as a cover or an encouragement to the guilty. Thomas Paine
Think for yourself and question authority. Timothy Leary
If you want to change the way people respond to you, change the way you respond to people. Timothy Leary, Changing My Mind, Among Others (1982)
The energy of the crowd is insane. Twenty thousand people. It’s the biggest jolt of adrenaline. It’s very hard to explain. You know the old story about the woman lifting the car off her kid? It’s in that realm. You can actually hurt yourself and not know it. Tom Petty
How can you say Saudi Arabia is a great partner in fighting terrorism when they are fueling and funding terrorist groups in Yemen? U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii (1 Aug 2019)
The sadness will last forever. Last words of Vincent van Gogh
When they won the Cold War, the US declared themselves God’s own representatives on earth, people who have no responsibilities – only interests. They have declared those interests sacred. Now it’s one-way traffic, which makes the world unstable. Vladimir Putin (17 June 2022)
I bow my head to the victims of terrorism. I am highly impressed of the courage of New York residents. The great city and the great American nation are to win! Inscription at the World Trade Center Memorial Wall (15 November 2001)
Anyone who doesn’t regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart, Anyone who wants it restored has no brains. Vladimir Putin
Russia does not have in its possession any trustworthy data which would support the existence of nuclear weapons or any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and we have not received from our partners such information as yet. Vladimir Putin with British Prime Minister Tony Blair (Oct 2002)
Two weeks later they still have not been found. The question is, where is Saddam Hussein? Where are those weapons of mass destruction, if they were ever in existence? Is Saddam Hussein in a bunker sitting on cases containing weapons of mass destruction, preparing to blow the whole place up? Press conference regarding weapons of mass destruction of Iraq (May 1, 2003)
I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition. Voltaire
That’s good. Go on, read some more. Last words of Warren G. Harding
Whatever you are, try be a good one. William Makepeace Thackeray
This is a war universe. War all the time. That is its nature. There may be other universes based on all sorts of other principles, but ours seems to be based on war and games. All games are basically hostile. Winners and losers. We see them all around us: the winners and the losers. The losers can oftentimes become winners, and the winners can very easily become losers. William S. Burroughs
Mathematics is the only true metaphysics. William Thomson, as quoted by Silvanus Phillips Thompson
Keep calm and carry on. Winston Churchill
Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result. Winston Churchill
The story of the human race is war. Except for brief and precarious interludes, there has never been peace in the world; and before history began, murderous strife was universal and unending. Winston Churchill
I deem him one of the greatest beings alive in our time… We shall never see his like again. His name will live in history. It will live in the annals of war… It will live in the legends of Arabia. Winston Churchill about T.E. Lawrence
I have had closer interactions with President Putin than with any other foreign colleagues. He is my best and bosom friend. I cherish dearly our deep friendship. Xi Jinping, Business Insider
It is for the people of Asia to run the affairs of Asia, solve the problems of Asia and uphold the security of Asia. The people of Asia have the capability and wisdom to achieve peace and stability in the region through enhanced cooperation. Xi Jinping, New Asian Security Concept For New Progress in Security Cooperation，Shanghai Expo Center, 21 May 2014
Who can compare with justice? It creates life. Sumerian proverb from Urim, 3rd millennium BCE
“IDS Building, the big glass one, tallest skyscraper in the Midwest after the Sears - uh, Chicago…John Hancock building whatever…” Steve Buscemi, Fargo
Did anyone ever see the fields in better condition for corn planting? The Manchester Democrat, May 16, 1917
Its beauty was wild and untrammeled and the undulating hills were covered with luxuriant grasses. Moscow, Idaho homesteader, 1880s
the texture of the cityscape of Seattle is dominated by concrete, and the freeway itself appears like a dry concrete riverbed that flows through the city Angela Danadjieva, designer of Freeway Park
(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[d] and onyx are also there.) Genesis 2:12 NIV
We have found the Messiah Andrew the Apostle (John 1:41 NIV)
And forth with as sone as they were come out of the synagoge they entred into ye housse of Symon and Andrew with Iames and Ihon. Mark 1:29 TYN
But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead. Proverbs 9:18 NIV
The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat and dishwatery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States. Chicago Times reacting to the Gettysburg Address
If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
MEEKNESS, n. Uncommon patience in planning a revenge that is worth while. Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary
No man knows till he has suffered from the night how sweet and dear to his heart and eye the morning can be. Jonathan Harker in Dracula by Bram Stoker
Swift death awaits the first cow that leads a revolt against milking Swedish Professor Peder Bjornsen, Sinister Barrier
Sinatra with a cold is Picasso without paint, Ferrari without fuel—only worse. Gay Talese, Frank Sintra Has a Cold
I find your lack of faith disturbing. Darth Vader, Star Wars (1977)
Fate seemed to be playing a series of extraordinarily unamusing jokes. George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London
There is only one way to make money at writing, and that is to marry a publisher’s daughter. George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London
The Paris slums are a gathering-place for eccentric people — people who have fallen into solitary, half-mad grooves of life and given up trying to be normal or decent. Poverty frees them from normal standards of behaviour, just as money frees people from work. Some of the lodgers in our hotel lived lives that were curious beyond words. George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London
It is curious how people take it for granted that they have a right to preach at you and pray over you as soon as your income falls below a certain level. George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London
Big Brother is watching you Big Brother, Nineteen Eighty-Four
They remembered a million useless things, a quarrel with a workmate, a hunt for a lost bicycle pump, the expression on a long-dead sister’s face, the swirls of dust on a windy morning seventy years ago: but all the relevant facts were outside the range of their vision. They were like the ant, which can see small objects but not large ones. And when memory failed and written records were falsified — when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested. George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me? George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
Alive without breath, As cold as death; Never thirsty, ever drinking, All in mail never clinking J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract
Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract
If there is in this world a well-attested account, it is that of vampires. Nothing is lacking: official reports, affidavits of well-known people, of surgeons, of priests, of magistrates; the judicial proof is most complete. And with all that, who is there who believes in vampires? Jean-Jacques Rousseau
May Heaven exist, even if my place is Hell Jorge Luis Borges, The Library of Babel
“Can you do Addition?” the White Queen asked. “What’s one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one?” “I don’t know,” said Alice. “I lost count.” lewis Carroll, Through The Looking Glass
Life, what is it but a dream? Last line of Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
Whether Mr Mutt with his own hands made the fountain or not has no importance. He CHOSE it. He took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view – created a new thought for that object. Editorial in the 2nd edition of The Blind Man
Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand. Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger
Cicero called Aristotle a river of flowing gold, and said of Plato’s Dialogues, that if Jupiter were to speak, it would be in language like theirs. Plutarch, Parallel Lives
impossible questions require impossible answers Plutarch, Alexander, sec. 54
There is nothing unreachable to those who have courage. Plutarch, Life of Alexander
Timothy Leary’s dead / No, n-n-no he’s outside looking in Ray Thomas, opening lyrics of Legend of a Mind
So blind is the curiosity by which mortals are possessed, that they often conduct their minds along unexplored routes, having no reason to hope for success, but merely being willing to risk the experiment of finding whether the truth they seek lies there." René Descartes, Le Discours de la Méthode (1637)
He grokked that this was one of the critical cusps in the growth of a being wherein contemplation must bring forth right action in order to permit further growth. He acted. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Language itself shapes a man’s basic ideas. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Comedy says that it’s better to acknowledge the warts than to pretend that they’re beautiful, tragic freckles. Godot Quotes & Director’s Notes
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did. T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922).
Ignorance is bliss Thomas Gray, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College
Frankly, I did not get full satisfaction from this interview. Vladimir Putin
the middle-class nightmare… an anti-media media phenomenon simply because their name could not be printed Abbie Hoffman
“Life” in this “society” being, at best, an utter bore and no aspect of “society” being at all relevant to women, there remains to civic-minded, responsible, thrill-seeking females only to overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and eliminate the male sex. Valerie Solanas, SCUM Manifesto
If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Without contraries there is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate are necessary to human existence. William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. William Shakespeare, Hamlet (c. 1600-02), Act IV, scene 3
The lady doth protest too much, methinks Queen Gertrude, Hamlet

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