… [S]uffering does not ennoble. It destroys. To resist destruction, self-hatred, or lifelong hopelessness, we have to throw off the conditioning of being despised, the fear of becoming the they that is talked about so dismissively, to refuse lying myths and easy moralities, to see ourselves as human, flawed, and extraordinary. All of us — extraordinary.
Dorothy Allison (b. 1949) American writer and lesbian feminist
Skin, ch. 2 (1994).
Man always has some mental reservation, even in the face of divine decrees. Otherwise, where would be his freedom? And what would be the use of that freedom if it could not threaten Him who threatens it?
Carl Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychologist
Memories, Dreams, Reflections [Erinnerungen, Träume, Gedanken], ch. 7 [ed. A Jaffe (1962)]
Clay lies still, but blood’s a rover;
Breath’s a ware that will not keep.
Up, lad: when the journey’s over
There’ll be time enough to sleep.A. E. Housman (1859-1936) English scholar and poet [Alfred Edward Housman]
A Shropshire Lad, #4 (“Reveille”), st. 6 (1896)
One may speculate whether the contemporary idea of American society in decay is not a false notion which has been created, at least partially, by this old movie portrait of a society that was once stable, orderly and governed by the immutable justice of the Hollywood censorship code. This is the ever-popular myth of a golden age which persuades so many generations that there was once a wonderful moment in the past when the world was sound and good people ruled and evil was justly punished. After Camelot came chaos and despair, except, of course, that Camelot never existed, any more than the world portrayed by those old Hollywood films existed.
Russell Baker (1925-2019) American journalist, author, humorist
“Golden Oldies,” So This Is Depravity (1980)
A goal without an action plan is only a daydream.
Nathaniel Branden (1930-2014) Canadian-American psychotherapist, writer (b. Nathan Blumenthal)
(Attributed)
With health, everything is a source of pleasure; without it, nothing else, whatever it may be, is enjoyable; even the other personal blessings, — a great mind, a happy temperament — are degraded and dwarfed for want of it. So it is really with good reason that, when two people meet, the first thing they do is to inquire after each other’s health, and to express the hope that it is good; for good health is by far the most important element in human happiness.
[Mit ihr wird alles eine Quelle des Genusses: hingegen ist ohne sie kein äußeres Gut, welcher Art es auch sei, genießbar, und selbst die übrigen subjektiven Güter, die Eigenschaften des Geistes, Gemütes, Temperaments, werden durch Kränklichkeit herabgestimmt und sehr verkümmert. Demnach geschieht es nicht ohne Grund, daß man vor allen Dingen sich gegenseitig nach dem Gesundheitszustande befragt und einander sich wohlzubefinden wünscht: denn wirklich ist dieses bei weitem die Hauptsache zum menschlichen Glück.]
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher
Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. 1, “Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life [Aphorismen zur Lebensweisheit],” ch. 2 “What a Man Is [Von dem, was einer ist]” (1851) [tr. Saunders (1890)]
(Source)
(Source (German)). Alternate translation:
In general, however, nine-tenths of our happiness depends on health alone. With it everything becomes a source of pleasure, whereas without it nothing, whatever it may be, can be enjoyed, and even the other subjective blessings, such as mental qualities, disposition, and temperament, are depressed and dwarfed by ill-health. Accordingly, it is not without reason that, when two people meet, they first ask about the state of each other's health and hope that it is good; for this really is for human happiness by far the most important thing.
[tr. Payne (1974)]
If you think that by killing men you can prevent someone from censuring your evil lives, you are mistaken. That is not a way of escape which is either possible or honorable. The easiest and noblest way is not to be disabling others, but to be improving yourselves.
Socrates (c.470-399 BC) Greek philosopher
In Plato, Apology, sec. 39 [tr. Jowett (1894)]
In our great hall there stood a vacant chair,
Fashioned by Merlin ere he past away,
And carven with strange figures; and in and out
The figures, like a serpent, ran a scroll
Of letters in a tongue no man could read.
And Merlin called it “The Siege perilous,”
Perilous for good and ill; “for there,” he said,
“No man could sit but he should lose himself …”Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) English poet
Idylls of the King, “The Holy Grail” (1859-1885)
Full text.
Leisure is the mother of Philosophy; and Common-wealth, the mother of Peace, and Leisure: Where first were great and flourishing Cities, there was first the study of Philosophy.
We must … make the kingdom of God a reality in this world by works of love.
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Alsatian philosopher, physician, philanthropist, polymath
“Religion and Modern Civilization,” Christian Century magazine (1934)
The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, may be preserved by quotation.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) English politician and author
Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 2, Part 4 (1835)
Full text.
As the happiness of the people is the sole end of government, so the consent of the people is the only foundation of it, in reason, morality, and the natural fitness of things.
John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Proclamation adopted by the Council of Massachussetts Bay (1774)
Everything a writer learns about the art or craft of fiction takes just a little away from his need or desire to write at all. In the end he knows all of the tricks and has nothing to say.
Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) American novelist
Trouble Is My Business, Introduction (1950)
Full text.
It takes two to speak the truth, — one to speak, and another to hear.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
A Week on the Concord and Marrimack Rivers, “Wednesday” (1849)
Full text.
If we had no other means to judge the Nazi doctrines, the single fact that they seek shelter behind the Gestapo would be sufficient evidence against them. Doctrines which can stand the trial of logic and reason can do so without persecuting Skeptics.
Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) Austrian economist, philosopher, author
Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War (1944)
Search thine own heart. What paineth thee
In others in thyself may be.John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) American poet and abolitionist
“The Chapel of Hermits,” l. 85 (1851)
Friendship may well deserve the sacrifice of pleasure, though not of conscience.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #64 (27 Oct 1750)
(Source)
If a man has a genuine, sincere, hearty wish to get rid of his liberty, if he is really bent upon becoming a slave, nothing can stop him. And the temptation is to some natures a very great one. Liberty is often a heavy burden on a man. It involves that necessity for perpetual choice which is the kind of labor men have always dreaded. In common life we shirk it by forming habits, which take the place of self-determination. In politics party-organization saves us the pains of much thinking before deciding how to cast our vote. In religious matters there are great multitudes watching us perpetually, each propagandist ready with his bundle of finalities, which having accepted we may be at peace. The more absolute the submission demanded, the stronger the temptation becomes to those who have been long tossed among doubts and conflicts.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Elsie Venner, ch. 18 (1859)
(Source)
Between persons who are perpetually in each other’s company dislike or love increases daily; every moment brings reasons to love or hate each other more and more.
[Entre personnes sans cesse en présence, la haine et l’amour vont toujours croissant: on trouve à tout moment des raisons pour s’aimer ou se haïr mieux.]
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright
The Vicar of Tours [Le curé de Tours], ch. 1 (1832) [tr. Wormeley]
A man loses contact with reality if he is not surrounded by his books.
François Mitterrand (1916-1996) President of France (1981-1995)
Times of London (10 May 1982)
On why he continued to live in Rue de Bièvre, using the Elysée Palace only for official functions.
God bless you, and send you health, which is the first and greatest of all blessings!
Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #419 (12 Mar 1768)
(Source)
To do unto all men as you would wish to have done unto you, and to reject for others what you would reject for yourself.
Muhammad (570-632) Arabian merchant, prophet, founder of Islam [Mohammed]
The Sayings of Muhammed, 138 [tr. Al-Suhrawardy (1941)]
See also the Bible, Matthew 7:12.
I am reminded of the professor who, in his declining hours, was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, “Verify your quotations.”
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
The Second World War, Vol. 4: The Hinge of Fate (1951)
(Source)
Constant effort and frequent mistakes are the stepping stones of genius.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
The Philosophy of Elbert Hubbard [ed. Edward Hubbard II] (1930)
‘Tis an old Saying, That an Ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Letter to Samuel Johnson (13 Sep 1750)
“It is impossible to help all,” says the miser, and — helps none.
[Man kann nicht allen helfen! sagt der Engherzige und — hilft Keinem.]
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) Austrian writer
Aphorisms [Aphorismen], No. 105 (1880) [tr. Wister (1883)]
(Source)
(Source (German)). Alternate translation:
You can't be of help to everybody! say the narrow-minded, and help nobody.
[tr. Scrase/Mieder (1994)]
To serve the God of Love one must be free, one must face the terrible responsibility of the decision to love in spite of all unworthiness whether in oneself or in one’s neighbor.
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) French-American religious and writer [a.k.a. Fr. M. Louis]
New Seeds of Contemplation, ch. 10 (1961)
It looks to me as if the state of mankind always had been and always would be a state of just tolerable discomfort.
A. E. Housman (1859-1936) English scholar and poet [Alfred Edward Housman]
Letter to Gilbert Murray (23 Apr 1900)
I am unclear what a “role model” is, but those who used the term seemed to be saying that teachers are people children tend to emulate. In any event, many Miamians must have thought their children would become homosexual if subjected to homosexual teachers. That prompted me to ponder teachers I haven’t seen, and scarcely thought about, for decades, and for the first time I reflected on how their sex lives had affected my own. My first thought was that it was curious, perhaps perverse, that I have not turned out to be a spinster.
Russell Baker (1925-2019) American journalist, author, humorist
“Role Models,” So This Is Depravity (1980)
When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.
Henry J. Kaiser (1882-1967) American industrialist
(Attributed)
Hell is where no one has anything in common with anybody else except the fact that they all hate one another and cannot get away from one another and from themselves.
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) French-American religious and writer [a.k.a. Fr. M. Louis]
New Seeds of Contemplation, ch. 17 (1961)
Instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all.
Pericles (c. 495-429 BC) Greek statesman
Funeral Oration (431 BC). In Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, 2.40 [tr. Crawley & Wick (1982)]
The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfills Himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) English poet
Idylls of the King, “The Passing of Arthur” (1859-1885)
(Source)
To this war of every man against every man, this also is consequent; that nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice, have there no place. Where there is no common power, there is no law; where no law, no injustice. Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.
But the other vitality is still there, that rancorous, sardonic, wonderful insistence on the right to dissent, to question, to object, to raise holy hell and, in direst extremity, to laugh the self-appointed squad leaders off the face of the earth with great whoops of dirty, disdainful glee. Suppress friction and a machine runs fine. Suppress friction, and a society runs down.
John D. MacDonald (1916–1986) American author
A Deadly Shade of Gold (1965)
There is no curing a sick man who believes himself in health.
Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881) Swiss philosopher, poet, critic
Journal (6 Feb 1877) [tr. Ward (1887)]
Any government is in itself an evil insofar as it carries within it the tendency to deteriorate into tyranny. However, except for a very small number of anarchists, everyone of us is convinced that civilized society cannot exist without a government.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“A Reply to the Soviet Scientists” (Dec 1947), Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (Feb 1948)
(Source)
Jupiter, now assuredly is the time when I could readily consent to be slain, lest life should sully this ecstasy with some disaster.
Terence (186?-159 BC) African-Roman dramatist [Publius Terentius Afer]
Eunuchus, Act 3, sc. 5, l. 2 (l. 550)
You can hardly convince a man of an error in a lifetime, but must content yourself with the reflection that the progress of science is slow. If he is not convinced, his grandchildren may be.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
A Week on the Concord and Marrimack Rivers (1849)
Full text.
If I can stop one Heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain.
If I can ease one Life the Aching
Or cool one Pain
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his nest again
I shall not live in Vain.Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) American poet
“If I can stop one Heart from breaking” (1864)
Paradise is nearer you than the thongs of your sandals, and the Fire likewise.
Muhammad (570-632) Arabian merchant, prophet, founder of Islam [Mohammed]
The Sayings of Muhammad, #224 [tr. Al-Suhrawardy (1941)]
Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one.
Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) American military leader
Letter to his son (1860)
Treat bad men exactly as if they were insane. They are in-sane, out of health, morally. Reason, which is food to sound minds, is not tolerated, still less assimilated, unless administered with the greatest caution; perhaps, not at all. Avoid collision with them, so far as you honorably can; keep your temper, if you can, — for one angry man is as good as another; restrain them from violence, promptly, completely, and with the least possible injury, just as in the case of maniacs, — and when you have got rid of them, or got them tied hand and foot so that they can do no mischief, sit down and contemplate them charitably, remembering that nine tenths of their perversity comes from outside influences, drunken ancestors, abuse in childhood, bad company, from which you have happily been preserved, and for some of which you, as a member of society, may be fractionally responsible.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Elsie Venner, ch. 16 [The Professor] (1859)
(Source)
If you are to judge a man, you must know his secret thoughts, sorrows, and feelings; to know merely the outward events of a man’s life would only serve to make a chronological table — a fool’s notion of history!
[Pour juger un homme, au moins faut-il être dans le secret de sa pensée, de ses malheurs, de ses émotions; ne vouloir connaître de sa vie que les événements matériels, c’est faire de la chronologie, l’histoire des sots!]
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright
The Wild Ass’s Skin [La Peau de chagrin], Part 2 “A Woman without a Heart” (1831) [tr. Marriage]
Here we subscribe to the ethos that it is not enough to have the courage of your convictions, but you must also have the courage to have your convictions challenged.
Christopher Phillips (b. 1959) American philosopher, writer, creator of the Socrates Cafe discussion groups
Socrates Cafe (2001)
Health is not valued, till Sickness comes.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #2478 (1732)
(Source)
Neither urge another to that thou wouldst be unwilling to do thyself, nor do thyself what looks to thee unseemly and intemperate in another.
William Penn (1644-1718) English writer, philosopher, politician, statesman
Some Fruits of Solitude, # 71 (1693)
See also Matthew 7:12.
When I look back on all these worries I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
The Second World War, Vol. 2: Their Finest Hour, ch. 23 “September Tensions” (1949)
(Source)
Never Explain — your Friends do not need it and your Enemies will not believe you anyhow.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
The Motto Book (1907)
Never suffer an exception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted in your life. Each lapse is like the letting fall of a ball of string which one is carefully winding up, a single slip undoes more than a great many turns will wind again.
William James (1842-1910) American psychologist and philosopher
The Principles of Psychology, ch. 4 (1890)
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) South African revolutionary, politician, statesman
Inaugural Address, South Africa (10 May 1994)
While it is very sturdy of comfortable men to point out that life is unfair, the people it is unfair to are not apt to be morally or philosophically elevated by the announcement. If you are going to preach that unfairness is inescapable for some, good sense suggests that you also accept the inevitability of beastly behavior by people who have to carry the burden.
Russell Baker (1925-2019) American journalist, author, humorist
“The Unfairness of It All,” So This Is Depravity (1980)
Most men are rather stupid, and most of those who are not stupid are, consequently, rather vain.
A. E. Housman (1859-1936) English scholar and poet [Alfred Edward Housman]
“The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism,” lecture (4 Aug 1921)
I’m very broad minded usually, she said, but it gets very narrow and fast in spots.
Brian Andreas (b. 1956) American writer, artist, publisher [birth and pen name of Kai Andreas Skye]
Trusting Soul, “Treacherous Rapids” (2000)
‘Tis easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Alamanack (Oct 1745)