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 VolksgerichtshofA 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 PaineI 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“IDS Building, the big glass one, tallest skyscraper in the Midwest after the Sears - uh, Chicago…John Hancock building whatever…”
Steve Buscemi, Fargo“It would seem that you have no useful skill or talent whatsoever,” he said. “Have you thought of going into teaching?”
Terry Pratchett, MortThe 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 MathematicsThe 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.
“Method in the Physical Sciences”, in The Unity of Knowledge (1955), ed. L. G. Leary (Doubleday & Co., New York), p. 157They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
Edgar Allan Poe, EleonoraThis 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“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 GodsYou 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 BanditsA beautiful face is a silent commendation.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeA body of men, holding themselves accountable to nobody, ought not to be trusted by any body
Thomas Paine, Rights of ManA good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read.
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!A good reputation is more valuable than money.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeA man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.
Mark TwainA man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.
Malcolm XA 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)A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.
Francis BaconAccording 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 BachActing 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)Acting is therefore the lowest of the arts, if it is an art at all.
George Moore, Mummer-WorshipAgainst the assault of laughter nothing can stand.
Mark Twain, The Mysterious StrangerAlive without breath, As cold as death; Never thirsty, ever drinking, All in mail never clinking
J. R. R. Tolkien, The HobbitAll 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, PyramidsAll 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).All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass — “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.”
Archibald AlexanderAll that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream
Edgar Allan Poe, A Dream Within a DreamAll things are difficult before they are easy.
Thomas Fuller, M.D.All types of knowledge, ultimately mean self knowledge.
Bruce Lee: The Lost Interview (1971)Almost no one dances sober, unless he is insane.
Cicero, Pro Murena (Chapter VI, sec. 13)Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest.
Mark TwainAn early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
Henry David ThoreauAnd you! Friendless, brainless, helpless, hopeless! Do you want me to send you back to where you were? Unemployed, in Greenland?!
Vizzini, The Princess BrideAny sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future (revised edition, 1973)Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeAnyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.
Niels BohrArrest 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)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)Bach is the immortal God of Harmony
Ludwig van BeethovenBelieve, 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)Bitter for a free man is the bondage of debt.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeBut 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 PlanckCertainly it is correct to say: Conscience is the voice of God.
Ludwig WittgensteinComputers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (1988)Confession of our faults is the next thing to innocence.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeCuriosity, 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 QuotationsDead? No excuse for laying off work.
Supreme Being, Time BanditsDid anyone ever see the fields in better condition for corn planting?
The Manchester Democrat, May 16, 1917Do something worth remembering.
Elvis PresleyDream big and dare to fail.
Norman VaughanDuring 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 GoreEither you run the day or the day runs you.
Jim RohnEvery sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a question.
Niels BohrEvery 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 BohrEverything 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)Extreme justice is extreme injustice.
Cicero, De Officiis (44 BC)Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind.
Terry Pratchett, Reaper ManFollow your bliss
Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (1988)For a good cause, wrongdoing is virtuous.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeFor 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)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 RitesFor 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.For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book (1894)Fortune is like glass—the brighter the glitter, the more easily broken.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeFrom 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 PhilosophyGentlemen, there are times when a cigar is only a cigar!
Sigmund FreudGet your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.
Mark TwainGoing 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)Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social ContractHansel and Gretel discovered the ginger bread house about 45 minutes after they discovered the mushrooms.
George Carlin, Toledo Window Box (1974)Have fun storming the castle!
Miracle Max, *The Princess BrideHave no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.
Salvador DalíHave 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)He doubly benefits the needy who gives quickly.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeHe 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. HeinleinHe is like a cat. And all cats are thieves.
Agatha Christie, Murder for Christmas (1939)He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.
George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara (1905), Act IIIHe’d never realized that, deep down inside, what he really wanted to do was make things go splat.
Terry Pratchett, Reaper ManHello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Inigo Montoya, The Princess BrideHistory 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)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)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 am no poet, but if you think for yourselves, as I proceed, the facts will form a poem in your minds.
Michael FaradayI 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 KaufmanI 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 SchollI believe that I’ve made good judgments in the past, and I think I’ve made good judgments in the future.
Dan QuayleI believe we are on an irreversible trend towards more freedom and democracy, but that could change.
Dan QuayleI came, I saw, I conquered.
Julius CaesarI 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. LawrenceI die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.
VoltaireI do not argue with obstinate men. I act in spite of them.
Hecule Poirot in The Mystery of the Blue TrainI 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.
I don’t think I need to apologize for being pro-American.
Katt WilliamsI failed my way to success.
Thomas EdisonI find your lack of faith disturbing.
Darth Vader, Star Wars (1977)I invented the internet.
Al GoreI love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.
Douglas Adams, The Salmon of DoubtI 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, 1954I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.
Johannes KeplerI 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 MoviesComposers 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 MusicI think, therefore I am.
René DescartesI was known as the chief graverobber of my state.
Dan QuayleI 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 EinsteinI would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
Bertrand RussellI would rather die of passion than of boredom.
Émile ZolaI’m a Mawg. Half-man, half-dog. I’m my own best friend.
Barf, SpaceballsI’m not as funny as Chandler is. Because Chandler has thirty people writing for him.
Matthew Perry, GQ (November 2000)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)If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants.
Isaac Newton, letter to Robert HookIf 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 ArchipelagoIf 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 HellIf 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)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 RousseauIf there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Frederick DouglassIf 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 WinokurIf you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
Albert EinsteinIf 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. 88If 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 Sintara, Playboy interview (1963)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)If your parent is just, revere him; if not, bear with him.
Publilius Syrus, Sententiaeil cessa de calculer et de vivre— … he ceased to calculate and to live.
Marquis de Condorcet on the death of Eulerimpossible questions require impossible answers
Plutarch, Alexander, sec. 54In 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 PhilosophyIn 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)In the Beginning there was nothing, which exploded.
Terry Pratchett, Lords and LadiesIn the bullshit department, a businessman can’t hold a candle to a clergyman.
George Carlin, You Are All DiseasedIn the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
Albert EinsteinIreland unfree shall never be at peace.
Patrick PearseIt has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.
Arthur C. Clarke, clarkefoundation.orgIt is a bad plan that admits of no modification.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeIt is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.
Herman MelvilleIt is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.
Aristotle OanassisIt is more easy to get a favor from Fortune than to keep it.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeIt 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 NewtonIt is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you’re attempting can’t be done.
Terry Pratchett, Equal RitesIt’s a big club and you ain’t in it.
George Carlin, Life Is Worth Losing (2005)It’s called the American Dream, ‘cause you have to be asleep to believe it.
George Carlin, Life Is Worth Losing (2005)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)Keep calm and carry on.
Winston ChurchillLearn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.
Pablo PicassoLess is more.
Robert Browning, Andrea del Sarto (1855)Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeLet justice be done, though the world perish.
Motto of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman EmperorLET 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 NextLife is pain, Highness! Anyone who says differently is selling something.
Man in Black, The Princess BrideLove the life you live. Live the life you love.
Bob MarleyMan is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social ContractMathematics is the only true metaphysics.
William Thomson, as quoted by Silvanus Phillips Thompson- 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.
MEEKNESS, n. Uncommon patience in planning a revenge that is worth while.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s DictionaryMen 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)Mingling religion with politics may be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America.
Thomas Paine, Common SenseMy definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
Adlai Stevenson II, Speech in Detroit (7 October 1952)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)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)Nanny Ogg looked under her bed in case there was a man there. Well, you never knew your luck.
Terry Pratchett, Lords and LadiesNatural science wants man to learn, religion wants him to act.
Max PlanckNecessity gives the law without itself acknowledging one.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeNo 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 StokerNonviolence is a weapon of the strong.
Mahatma GandhiNothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.
Winston ChurchillNothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Literary Ethics (1838)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)One forges one’s style on the terrible anvil of daily deadlines.
Émile Zola, Le Figaro (1881)Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.
Helen Keller, Optimism (1903)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:iiOur life evokes our character and you find out more about yourself as you go on.
Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (1988)Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify.
Henry David Thoreau- 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.
Pardon one offence and you encourage the commission of many.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeParis 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)Penitence follows hasty decisions.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaePeople that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history.
Dan QuaylePets are always a great help in times of stress. And in times of starvation too, o’course
Terry Pratchett, Small GodsPoverty is the lack of many things, but avarice is the lack of all things.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaePrayer is the key of the morning, and the bolt of the evening.
Mahatma GandhiPrinciples have no real force except when one is well-fed.
Mark Twain, Extracts From Adam’s Diary (1906)Read Euler, read Euler, he is the master of us all.
Pierre-Simon LaplaceRincewind 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, EricSay it loud. I’m black and I’m proud!
James BrownScience 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 PlanckSimplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.
Coco Chanel, interview in Harper’s Bazaar (1923)Simplicity is the most deceitful mistress that ever betrayed man.
Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams (1907)Simplify, then add lightness
Colin Chapman, Lotus philosophySir, I say that justice is truth in action.
Benjamin Disraeli, Agricultural DistressSo 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)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 RussellSome people are heroes. And some people jot down notes.
Terry Pratchett, The TruthSome 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)Sometimes I can’t figure designers out. It’s as if they flunked human anatomy.
Erma BombeckSometimes it’s better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness.
Terry Pratchett, Men at ArmsSpeak softly and carry a big stick.
Theodore RooseveltStumbling is not falling.
Malcolm XSurvival 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 HouseTaxation, 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, JingoThe artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.
Émile Zola as quoted in Wisdom for the Soul by Larry ChangThe 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)The beginnings of all things are small.
Cicero, De Finibus Bonorum et MalorumThe best revenge is massive success.
Frank SinatraThe bulk of the world’s knowledge is an imaginary construction.
Hellen Keller, The World I Live InThe cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
Joseph CampbellThe duke had a mind that ticked like a clock and, like a clock, it regularly went cuckoo.
Terry Pratchett, Wyrd SistersThe 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 AnthologyThe first use of network email announced its own existence.
Ray Tomlinson, The First Network EmailThe funniest things are the forbidden.
Mark TwainThe further you progress, the higher the ideal of perfection toward which you strive rises.
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom, P. Sekirin, trans. (1997)The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.
Malcom XThe 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)The grass is always greener over the septic tank.
Erma BombeckThe image is one thing and the human being is another…it’s very hard to live up to an image.
Elvis Presley, 1972 press conferenceThe 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, NASAThe important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
Albert EinsteinThe judge is condemned when the guilty is absolved.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeThe lady doth protest too much, methinks
Queen Gertrude, HamletThe life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.
David Hume, On SuicideThe limits of my language mean the limits of my world.
Ludwig Wittgensteinthe Mediterranean ends where the olive tree no longer grows
George DuhamelThe meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights.
J. Paul Gettythe middle-class nightmare… an anti-media media phenomenon simply because their name could not be printed
Abbie HoffmanThe mind is furnished with ideas by experience alone.
John LockeThe only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
Franklin D. RooseveltThe proper definition of a man is an animal that writes letters.
Lewis CarrollThe question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.
Ayn RandThe road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.
Colin DavisThe 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 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.The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret
Terry Pratchett, The TruthThe two most common elements in the Universe are Hydrogen and Stupidity.
Harlan EllisonTheologian — the only kind of scholar who has no knowledge whatsoever of his supposed object of study.
Karlheinz Deschner, Bissige Aphorismen, S. 29Theoretical physicists live in a classical world, looking out into a quantum-mechanical world.
John Stewart BellThere 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)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)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)There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking.
Joshua ReynoldsThere is nothing so absurd that it has not been said by some philosopher.
CiceroThere is nothing unreachable to those who have courage.
Plutarch, Life of AlexanderThere is one thing that the people of Ireland know how to do and that is to survive.
Pierce Brosnan, RTE Interview (March 2011)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.
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 RitesThey 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-FourThink for yourself and question authority.
Timothy LearyThis 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, HATETRISThis is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather.
Phil Conners in Groundhog DayThis 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)This isn’t life in the fast lane, it’s life in the oncoming traffic.
Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchettThis 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 ThoreauThose 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)Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
Benjamin FranklinThousands 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 TwainThunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.
Mark TwainTo Bach, notes were not just sounds but the very stuff of creation.
Leonard BernsteinTo be a poet is a condition rather than a profession.
Robert GravesTo create man was a fine and original idea; but to add the sheep was a tautology.
Mark TwainTo see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.
George OrwellToo much straightforwardness is foolish against a shameless person.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeTreat 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 GoetheTruth 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)Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.
Isaac NewtonTwo possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
Arthur C. ClarkeUnderstand 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 AckroydVictory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.
Mahatma Gandi, Satyagraha Leaflet No. 13 (1919)War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.
George OrwellWe are asleep. Our Life is a dream. But we wake up sometimes, just enough to know that we are dreaming.
Ludwig WittgensteinWe 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 opinionWe are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.
Dan Quayle, Cleveland Plain Dealer (September 27, 1990)We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.
Isaac NewtonWhat Jesus blatantly fails to appreciate is that it’s the meek who are the problem.
Reg in Life of BrianWhat 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 CrystalWhat 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 EnglandWhat worries you, masters you.
John LockeWhatever you are, try be a good one.
William Makepeace ThackerayWhatever you do, do with all your might.
CiceroWhen 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 DayWhen Fortune flatters, she does it to betray.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeWhen 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 BrownWhen one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.
John MiurWhen people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.
Ernest HemingwayWhen strength is yoked with justice, where is a mightier pair than they?
Aeschylus, Fragments, l, 298.When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.
Franklin D. RooseveltWhere large sums of money are concerned, it is advisable to trust nobody.
Agatha Christie, Endless Night (1967)Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.
Henry FordWhile 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 ValleyWho can compare with justice? It creates life.
Sumerian proverb from Urim, 3rd millennium BCEWhom Fortune wishes to destroy she first makes mad.
Publilius Syrus, SententiaeWith the new day comes new strength and new thoughts
Eleanor RooseveltYou are what you believe yourself to be.
Paulo Coelho, The Witch of PortobelloYou can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.
Henry FordYou can’t handle the truth!
Col. Jessup, A Few Good MenYou idiots! These are not them! You’ve captured their stunt doubles!
Captain of the Guard, SpaceballsYou 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 DayYou’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down.
Charlie ChaplinYou’re going to need a bigger boat.
Matthew Brody, JawsYou’re gonna end up fighting every elected official in this country!
Lois Lane, Superman (1978)Young man, in mathematics you don’t understand things. You just get used to them.
John von Neumann