Intellectual freedom means the right to re-examine much that has been long taken for granted. A free man must be a reasoning man, and he must dare to doubt what a legislative or electoral majority may most passionately assert.
Justice Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice
American Commmunications v. Douds (1950)
Some fellows get credit for being conservative when they are only stupid.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
(Attributed)
The great threat to freedom is the concentration of power.
Milton Friedman (1912-2006) American economist, intellectual
Capitalism and Freedom, Introduction (1962)
Who is this? And what is here?
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) English poet
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they crossed themselves for fear,
All the Knights at Camelot;
But Lancelot mused a little space
He said, “She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott.”
The Lady of Shalott, Part 4, st. 6 (1832)
He that lies with dogs, riseth with fleas.
George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, #343 (1651)
From then on, when anything went wrong with a computer, we said it had bugs in it.
Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992) American admiral, computer scientist, educator
Speech (1981)
On the removal of a large moth from the Harvard Mark I experimental computer (9 Sep 1947). There are, however, earlier examples of the term "bug" for mechanical glitches and computer problems.
The best of our fiction is by novelists who allow that it is as good as they can give, and the worst by novelists who maintain that they could do much better if only the public would let them.
Sir James Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist
The Contemporary Review (1891)
The most powerful cause of error is the war existing between the senses and reason.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) French scientist and philosopher
Pensees, 82 (1670) [tr. Trotter (1931)]
Extreme law is often extreme injustice.
[Ius summum saepe summa est malitia.]
Terence (186?-159 BC) Roman dramatist [Publius Terentius Afer]
Heauton Timoroumenos [The Self-Tormentor], Act 4, sc. 5, l. 48 (l. 796)
Alt. trans.:
- "The highest law is often the greatest wrong."
- "Extreme justice is often extreme malice."
- "Rigorous law is often rigorous injustice."
So natural to mankind is intolerance in whatever they really care about, that religious freedom has hardly anywhere been practically realized, except where religious indifference, which dislikes to have its peace disturbed by theological quarrels, has added its weight to the scale.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) English philosopher and economist
On Liberty, ch. 1 (1859)
I am more and more convinced that our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves.
Baron Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835) German philologist, diplomat
(Attributed)
It is not enough to take steps which may some day lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
(18 September 1823), in P. Eckermann, Conversations with Goethe, 1835-1848 [tr. Oxenford (1850)]
‘Tis a great Confidence in a Friend to tell him your Faults, greater to tell him his.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher
Poor Richard’s Almanack (Aug 1751)
Even in common people, conceit has the virtue of making them cheerful; the man who thinks his wife, his baby, his house, his horse, his dog, and himself severally unequalled, is almost sure to be a good-humored person, though liable to be tedious at times.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)
Full text.
What is Art, monsieur, but Nature concentrated?
[Qu'est-ce que l'Art, monsieur? C'est la Nature concentrée.]
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright
Illusions perdues, Vol. 1 “Un grand homme de province à Paris,” Part 1 (1839)
Lost Illusions, Vol. 1 "A Distinguished Provincial at Paris" Full text.
Among the scenes which are deeply impressed on my mind, none exceed in sublimity the primeval forests undefaced by the hand of man. No one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) English naturalist
Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by HMS Beagle, ch. 21 (1839)
Talent is that which is in a man’s power; genius is that in whose power a man is.
James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) American diplomat, essayist, poet
“Rousseau and the Sentimentalists” (1867)
Men never forgive those in whom there is nothing to pardon.
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) English novelist and politician
“Thoughts” (30), Weeds and Wildflowers (1826)
A medal glitters, but it also casts a shadow.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
Speech, House of Commons (22 Mar 1944)
I have carried a dinner pail and worked for day’s wages, and I have also been an employer of labor, and I know there is something to be said on both sides. There is no excellence, per se, in poverty; rags are no recommendation; and all employers are not rapacious and high-handed, any more than all poor men are virtuous.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
A Message to Garcia (1899)
Full text.
Man proposes, but God disposes.
[Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit.]
Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380-1471) German monk, author
The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, ch. 19 (c. 1418)
Wise children always choose a mother who was a shocking flirt in her maiden days, and so had several offers before she accepted their fortunate papa.
Sir James Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist
The Little White Bird, ch. 22 (1902)
If nowhere else, in the relation between Church and State, “good fences make good neighbors.”
Justice Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965) US Supreme Court Justice; jurist and teacher
McCollum v. Board of Education (1948)
It little profits that an idle king,
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) English poet
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
Ulysses, l. 1-5 (1842)
None knows the weight of another’s burden.
George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, #880 (1651)
Some folks can look so busy doin’ nothin’ that they seem indispensable.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
(Attributed)
In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series (1841)
To Err is Human; to Forgive, Divine.
Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet
An Essay on Criticism, l. 525 (1711)
Time removes distress.
[Diem adimere aegritudinem hominibus.]
Terence (186?-159 BC) Roman dramatist [Publius Terentius Afer]
Heauton Timoroumenos [The Self-Tormentor], Act 3, sc. 1, l. 12 (l. 421)
Alt. trans.: "Time heals all wounds", "Time assuages sorrow." Referred to as an old saying.
The [free] individual is not accountable to society for his actions in so far as these concern the interests of no person but himself. Advice, instruction, persuasion, and avoidance by other people, if thought necessary by them for their own good, are the only measures by which society can justifiably express its dislike or disapprobation of his conduct.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) English philosopher and economist
On Liberty, ch. 5 (1859)
Coercion may prevent many transgressions; but it robs even actions which are legal of a portion of their beauty. Freedom may lead to many transgressions, but it lends even to vices a less ignoble form.
Baron Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835) German philologist, diplomat
The Limits of State Action, ch. 8 (1792) [tr. Coulthard (1854)]
The desire for wealth is nearly universal, and none can say it is not laudable, provided the possessor of it accepts its responsibilities, and uses it as a friend to humanity.
P.T. Barnum (1810-1891) American showman [Phineas Taylor Barnum]
Art of Money Getting, ch. 20 “Preserve your integrity” (1880)
Full text.
To keep up and improve Friendship, thou must be willing to receive a Kindness, as well as to do one.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English writer, physician
Introductio ad Prudentium, #1196 (1731)
All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called “facts.” They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)
Full text.
People exaggerate both happiness and unhappiness; we are never so fortunate nor so unfortunate as people say we are.
[On amplifie également le malheur et le boneur, nous ne sommes jamais ni si malheureux, ni si heureux qu'on le dit.]
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright
Modeste Mignon, ch. 24 (1844) [tr. Wormeley]
Sure he was great, but don’t forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did, backwards … and in high heels.
Bob Thaves (b. 1924) American cartoonist
Frank & Ernest (1982)
About Fred Astaire. Earliest found reference, and credited to Thaves at the official Ginger Rogers site.
Rules are solutions to yesterdays problems.
Kelvin R. Throop (contemp.) Fictional bureaucrat, epigrammist [collectiive pseud. for various Analog magazone authors]
(Attributed)
The events which we see, and which look like freaks of chance, are only the last steps in long lines of causation.
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, 5 May 1943 [rec. Lucien Price (1954)]
The greatest vicissitude of things amongst men is the vicissitude of sects and religions.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, author, politician [1st Baron Verulam and Viscount St Albans]
“Of Vicissitude of Things,” Essays (1625)
She learned to love him before he thought it was even possible, so he didn’t have a chance to hide and mess it up and while it was a little scary at times, mainly he could not even imagine the world without her there.
Brian Andreas (b. 1956) American writer, artist, publisher
Trusting Soul, “Possible Love” (2000)
Heaven never helps the men who will not act.
Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
(Attributed)
Also attrib. to Sophocles.
When opinions are free, either in matters of government or religion, truth will finally and powerfully prevail.
Thomas Paine (1737-1809) American political philosopher and writer
The Age of Reason, Closing Words (1796)
The freedom of all is essential to my freedom.
Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876) Russian anarchist, political theorist
The Political Philosophy of Bakunin: Scientific Anarchism, 3.13 (1871) [ed. Maximoff (1953)]
She left the web, she left the loom,
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) English poet
She made three paces through the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She looked down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror cracked from side to side;
“The curse is come upon me,” cried
The Lady of Shalott.
“The Lady of Shalott,” Part 3, st. 5 (1832)
Woe be to him that reads but one book.
George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, #1146 (1651)
A thing is funny when — in some way that is not actually offensive or frightening — it upsets the established order. Every joke is a tiny revolution. … Whatever destroys dignity and brings down the mighty from their seats, preferably with a bump, is funny.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Funny, But Not Vulgar” (Dec 1944)
The glory of great men must always be measured against the means they have used to acquire it.
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammist, memoirist, noble
Maxims (1665) [tr. Tancock (1959)]
Be a Friend to thyself, and others will be so too.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English writer, physician
Gnomologia, #847 (1732)
Grant us Thy truth to make us free,
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
And kindling hearts that burn for Thee,
Till all Thy living altars claim
One holy light, one heavenly flame.
“Lord of All Being” (1848)
My further advice on your relations to women is based upon that other motto of chivalry, “Serve all, love one.”
[Mes avis sur vos relations avec les femmes sont aussi dans ce mot de chevalerie: Les servir toutes, n'en aimer qu'une.]
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright
Le lys dans la vallée, Part 2 “First Love” (1836) [tr. Wormeley]
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