Quotations by ~Other
There are two sides to every argument, unless a person is personally involved, in which case there is only one.
We remark with pain that the indecent foreign dance called the Waltz was introduced (we believe, for the first time) at the English Court on Friday last. This is a circumstance which ought not to be passed over in silence. National morals depend on national habits: and it is quite sufficient to cast one’s eyes on the voluptuous intertwining of the limbs, and close compressure of the bodies, in this dance, to see that it is far indeed removed from the modest reserve which has hitherto been considered distinctive of English females. So long as this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is attempted to be forced on the respectable classes of society by the evil example of their superiors, we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so foul a contagion. Amicus Plato sed mogis amica veritas. We pay a due deference to our superiors in rank, but we owe a higher duty to morality. We know not how it has happened (probably by the recommendation of some worthless and ignorant French dancing-master) that so indecent a dance now has for the first time been exhibited at the English court; but the novelty is one deserving of severe reprobation, and we trust it will never again be tolerated in any moral English society.
(Other Authors and Sources)
“Dance Called the Waltz,” The Times of London, 2nd printing (16 Jul 1816)
(Source)
After the "introduction" of the waltz at a London Ball given by the Prince Regent. The dance had actually been present in London dance studios since 1812, and waltz music had come across from Europe earlier than that.
The Latin means "Plato I love, but I love Truth more," attributed to Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1096a.15.
In any collection of data, the figure most obviously correct, beyond all need of checking, is the mistake.
But though I’m not a spaceman,
Famous and renowned,
I’m just a guy that’s down to earth,
With both feet on the ground.
It’s all imagination,
I’ll never reach the stars.
My heart is still a fireball, a fireball,
Every time I gaze into your starry eyes.(Other Authors and Sources)
“Fireball XL-5,” st. 3 (1962)
(Source)
Charles Blackwell (lyrics), Barry Gray (music), Don Spencer (vocals).
I have only just a minute,
Only sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me,
Can’t refuse it,
Didn’t seek it,
Didn’t choose it
But it’s up to me to use it.
I must suffer if I lose it
Give account if I abuse it
Just a tiny little minute
but eternity is in it.(Other Authors and Sources)
“God’s Minute”
This poem, and variants of it, have a wide trail of misattribution. It was used frequently by Elijah Cummings, US Representative, including during his first floor speech, and is often connected with him. Cummings in turn said it was a favorite of Parren Mitchell, US Representative. It is most correctly attributed in turn to civil right leader Benjamin May, but May claimed it was from an anonymous source. It has also been attributed to Welcome McCullough, history teacher Saugus High School, MA, in the 1940s, though without primary citation that I can find.
The variant used by Cummings:I only have a minute,
Sixty seconds in it,
Forced upon me,
I did not choose it,
But I know that I must use it,
Give account if I abuse it,
Suffer if I lose it.
Only a tiny little minute,
But eternity is in it.
If you consult enough experts, you can confirm any opinion.
It is easier to behave your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of behaving.
If anything can go wrong, it will.
(Other Authors and Sources)
“Murphy’s Law” (1949)
Direct variants:
- "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."
- "Everything that can possibly go wrong will go wrong."
The history behind Murphy's Law -- and its very similar antecedents -- is long and disputed, unsurprising given its simple sentiments. It is most often attributed (via the name) to Capt. Edward Murphy, a development engineer working on rapid deceleration g-force tests, and first named as such by Dr. John Stapp, a US Air Force colonel and Flight Surgeon overseeing the project. See Wikipedia for a summary, and AIR for more information.
We’re beggars and blighters and ne’er-do-well cads,
Drink up, me hearties, yo-ho!
Aye! But we’re loved by our mommies and dads,
Drink up, me hearties, yo-ho!
Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate’s life for me!
The worst thing about stupidity is its insistency.
Sometimes it is too late to win. But it’s never too late to lose.
Architecture is inhabited sculpture.
My friends, each of you is a single cell in the great body of the State. And today, that great body has purged itself of parasites. We have triumphed over the unprincipled dissemination of facts. The thugs and wreckers have been cast out. And the poisonous weeds of disinformation have been consigned to the dustbin of history. Let each and every cell rejoice! For today we celebrate the first, glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directive! We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology, where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thought is a more powerful weapon than any fleet or army on Earth! We are one people. With one will. One resolve. One cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death. And we will bury them with their own confusion! We shall prevail!
I think animal testing is a terrible idea; they get all nervous and give the wrong answers.
Greensleeves was all my joy,
Greensleeves was my delight,
Greensleeves was my heart of gold,
And who but Lady Greensleeves?
Consequences, schmonsequences! So long as I’m rich!
If it’s stupid but works, it isn’t stupid.
WESLEY: I’m a rogue demon hunter now.
CORDELIA: What’s a rogue demon?
The story is told of Picasso that a stranger in a railway carriage accosted him with the challenge, “Why don’t you paint things as they really are.” Picasso demurred, saying that he did not quite understand what the gentleman meant, and the stranger then produced from his wallet a photograph of his wife. “I mean,” he said, “like that. That’s how she is.” Picasso coughed hesitantly and said, “She is rather small, isn’t she. And somewhat flat?”
Early to rise, early to bed,
Makes a man healthy but socially dead.
BARBARELLA: A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming.
Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.
Though a man be soiled
With the sins of a lifetime,
Let him but love me,
Rightly resolved,
In utter devotion:
I see no sinner,
That man is holy.
If the radiance of a thousand suns
Were to burst at once into the sky
That would be like the splendor of the Mighty One —
I am become Death,
The shatterer of Worlds.(Other Authors and Sources)
Bhagavad Gita ch. 11, sec. 12, 32 (500? BC)
Above cited as translation recalled by J. Robert Openheimer during first A-bomb test (16 May 1945) (Current Biography Yearbook, 1964) Swami Nikhilananda (1944) translated as: "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst forth at once in the sky, that would be like the splendour of the Mighty One. I am mighty, world-destroying Time …"
For certain is death for the born,
And certain is birth for the dead;
Therefore over the inevitable
Thou shouldst not grieve.
ZOE BALL (host): So tell us what this is exactly …
GUEST: It’s a matchstick model of Cardiff Arms Park.
ZOE BALL: Wow! That’s amazing. What’s it made out of?
GUEST: Er … matchsticks.
Never before have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church?
We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things we ought not to have done.
Prayer is responding to God, by thought and by deeds, with or without words.
Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal.
ANYA: To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It’s a ritual sacrifice. With pie.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Pangs” (19 Oct 1999)
On Thanksgiving. Episode by Jane Espenson. Text/clip.
WILLOW: So, how did it go?
XANDER: On a scale from one to ten? It sucked.
GILES: It’s me, it’s me!
CORDELIA: How do we know it’s really you and not Zombie Giles?
GILES: Oh, Cordelia, do stop being tiresome.
CORDELIA: That’s him.
BUFFY: Yeah, but I thought I saw something … I don’t know, I was really out of it, but —
CORDELIA: But you do know that you saw Death.
WILLOW: Did it have an hourglass?
BUFFY: Ooh —
XANDER: If he asks you to play chess, don’t even do it. The guy’s like a whiz.
MAYOR: I have two words that are going to make all your troubles go away. “Miniature.” “Golf.”
CORDELIA: So does looking at guns make you wanna have sex?
XANDER: I’m 17. Looking at linoleum makes me wanna have sex.
BUFFY: Vampires are creeps.
GILES: Yes. That’s why one slays them.
XANDER: I laugh in the face of danger. Then I hide until it goes away.
BUFFY: So, Giles, got anything that can make this day any worse?
GILES: How about the end of the world?
BUFFY: Knew I could count on you.
FAITH: When I’m fighting, it’s like the whole world goes away. I only know one thing: that I’m gonna win, and they’re gonna lose. I like that feeling.
BUFFY: Well sure, beats that “dead” feeling you get when they win and you lose.
BUFFY: Do you remember that demon that almost got out the night I died?
WILLOW: Every nightmare I have that doesn’t revolve around academic failure or public nudity is about that thing. In fact, once I dreamt that it attacked me while I was late for a test and naked.
SPIKE: Where have you been pet?
DRUSILLA: I went for a walk. I met an old man. I didn’t like him, he got stuck in my teeth.
WILLOW: Ass-kicking always makes a good Plan B.
XANDER: You’re considered somewhat cool.
OZ: I am?
XANDER: Is it because you always tend to express yourself in short, non-committal sentences?
OZ: Could be.
BUFFY: I’m gonna give you all a nice, fun, normal evening if I have to kill every person on the face of the Earth to do it.
STUDENT: Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?
BUFFY: You know I meant to, and then I just got really busy…
MAYOR: There’s more than one way to skin a cat. And I happen to know that’s factually true.
MAYOR: Be careful not put someone’s eye out with that thing … until I tell you to.
GILES: I suppose there is a sort of Machiavellian ingenuity to your transgression.
XANDER: I resent that! Or possibly, thank you.
XANDER: You up for a little reconnaissance?
BUFFY: You mean where we all sculpt and paint and stuff?
XANDER: No, that was the Renaissance.
BUFFY: Oh. I’ve had a really long week.
ANYA: Look, I know you find me attractive; I’ve seen you looking at my breasts.
XANDER: Nothing personal, but when a guy does that, it just means his eyes are open.
WILLOW: Well, we try not to get killed. That’s part of our whole mission statement: ‘Don’t get killed.’
SMART GUY 1: The thing that the modern-day pundits fail to realize is that all the socioeconomic and psychological problems inherent in modern society can be solved by the judicious application of way too much beer.
BUFFY: My mother always said beer is evil.
SMART GUY 1: Evil, good — these are moral absolutes that predate the fermentation of malt and fine hops.
XANDER: And was there a lesson in all this, huh? What did we learn about beer?
BUFFY: Foamy!
XANDER: Good. Just as long as that’s clear.
XANDER: Who’s the little fear demon? Come on, who’s the little fear demon?
GILES: Don’t taunt the fear demon.
XANDER: Why, can he hurt me?
GILES: No. It’s just … tacky.
MAYOR: My god, what a feeling. The power of these creatures. It suffuses my being. I can feel the changes begin. My organs are shifting, merging, making ready for the Ascension. Plus these babies are high in fiber, and what’s the fun of becoming an immortal demon if you’re not regular, am I right?
GILES: I have a friend who’s coming to town, and I’d like us to be alone.
ANYA: Oh, you mean an orgasm friend?
GILES: Yes, that’s exactly the most appalling thing you could have said.
SPIKE: She wouldn’t even kill me. She just left. She didn’t even care enough to cut off my head, or set me on fire. I mean, is that too much to ask? You know? Some little sign that she cared?
MAYOR: I swear, I would sell my soul for a decent short game. Of course, it’s a little late for that. I don’t suppose I could offer your soul, huh? Really help me on the green.
WILLOW: Doesn’t it make you wonder what else is there, right under our feet?
BUFFY: Mostly, I’ve just found sewers full of demons.
ANYA: You know, you can laugh, but I have witnessed a millennium of treachery and oppression from the males of the species, and I have nothing but contempt for the whole libidinous lot of them.
XANDER: Then why are you talking to me?
ANYA: I don’t have a date for the prom.
WILLOW: She’s like this cleavagey slutbomb walking around going, “Ooh, check me out. I’m wicked cool. I’m five-by-five.”
TARA: Five-by-five? Five what by five what?
WILLOW: See, that’s the thing. No one knows.
Risk more than others think is safe.
Care more than others think is wise.
Dream more than others think is practical.
Expect more than others think is possible.
#1597. Everything is deemed possible except that which is impossible in the nature of things.
MR. MATSUNAGA: Mr. President.
MR. ROBERT C. BYRD: I see my good and dear and true friend from Hawaii, a man who wears a perpetual smile —
MR. JESSE HELMS: And who is also generous.
MR. ROBERT C. BYRD: Not only generous, but also a gentleman. A man who is clean on the inside, a man who is clean on the outside, a man who neither looks up to the rich nor down on the poor, a man whose compassionate heart goes out to the young, the old, the maimed; a man who is too honest to cheat and too honorable to lie: that man is a gentleman. I speak of none other than my friend from Hawaii.
MR. JESSE HELMS: Mr. President, I say if that does not gain for the majority leader a case of fine pineapple, nothing will.
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Liberty is the capacity to do anything that does no harm to others.
Love can sweep you off your feet and carry you along in a way you’ve never known before. But the ride always ends, and you end up feeling lonely and bitter. Wait. It’s not love I’m describing. I’m thinking of a monorail.
THE DOCTOR: I never make stupid mistakes. Only very, very clever ones.
THE BRIGADIER: Naturally enough, the only country that could be trusted with such a role was Great Britain.
THE DOCTOR: Naturally. I mean, the rest were all foreigners.
JAMIE: Have you thought up some clever plan, Doctor?
THE DOCTOR: Yes, Jamie, I believe I have.
JAMIE: What are you going to do?
THE DOCTOR: Bung a rock at it.
THE DOCTOR: Logic, my dear Zoë, merely enables one to be wrong with authority.
THE BRIGADIER: You know, just once I’d like to meet an alien menace that wasn’t immune to bullets.
THE DOCTOR: Anybody remotely interesting is mad, in some way or another.
THE DOCTOR: There’s no point in being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes.
THE DOCTOR: What’s the use of a good quotation if you can’t change it?
THE DOCTOR: The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don’t alter their views to the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views.
THE DOCTOR: To the rational mind, nothing is inexplicable; only unexplained.
Estimated amount of glucose used by an adult human brain each day, expressed in M&Ms: 250
The time and effort required to complete a project are always more than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.
At the third cup, wine drinks the man.
[Literally, “Man drinks wine. Wine drinks wine. Wine drinks man.”]
(Other Authors and Sources)
Hokekyō Sho, a Buddhist Sanskrit text (c. 12th Century)
In Kojikotowaza Jiten [Dictionary of Traditions and Proverbs]. See also this Spanish proverb. Referenced by Edward Rowland Sill (1841—1887) in "An Adage from the Orient":At the punch-bowl's brink,
Let the thirsty think
What they say in Japan:
'First the man takes a drink,'
Then the drink takes a drink,
Then the drink takes the man!'
Perseverance alone does not assure success. No amount of stalking will lead to game in a field that has none.
Moving is a lot like drinking too much. I have all these bruises I can’t explain, and I don’t know where any of my sh*t is.
Just as too much charity is the handiwork of a fool, so too much patience is the hallmark of a coward.
SEÑOR SENIOR, SR.: World-class villains are defined by disproportionate revenge!
RIVERA: You know, McCoy, you wanna put the bad guys behind bars you have to get your hands dirty.
McCOY: The problem is, detective, sometimes it doesn’t stop at the hands.
Recently, when the standoff in Waco, Tex., turned ugly and the cult members set fire to their compound, “Guiding Light”, which had been on for about 15 minutes, was interrupted by a news break, which took up the rest of the hour. Couldn’t the networks have waited until 3 p.m. to tell the world about this terrible happening? I was very annoyed by this interruption.
SPENCER: I suppose you can make an explosive out of chewing gum?
MACGYVER: Why? Got some?”
No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed, or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, no will we send against him except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land.
To no man will we sell, or deny, or delay, right or justice.
[Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus, aut differimus rectum aut justiciam.]
“Well,” Brahma said, “even after ten thousand explanations, a fool is no wiser, but an intelligent man requires only two thousand five hundred.”
If I am inclined to doubt, steady my faith.
If I am tempted, make me strong to resist.
If I should miss the mark, give me courage to try again.
MARY: I’m an experienced woman. I’ve been around. Well, all right, I might not’ve been around, but I’ve been … nearby.
MARY: I’m an experienced woman; I’ve been around. Well, all right, I might not’ve been around, but I’ve been — nearby.
There are no experimental failures — there are only more data.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was one of 10 winners of the 1992 Horatio Alger award, given to Americans who overcome adversity to achieve success. Bond was set for $100,000 and trial scheduled for May 4.
The map of Europe, Northern Africa, and the Arab nations published in Monday’s editions contained the following errors: Libya was labeled as the Ukraine; Bulgaria and Romania were transposed; Bosnia-Herzegovina was identified as Bosnia; Montenegro should have been identified as a separate state bordering Serbia; Cyprus and the West Bank were not labeled; Andorra, a country between France and Spain, was not labeled; the Crimean Peninsula appeared twice on the Black Sea; Kuwait was not identified by name — instead, the initials of the Knight-Ridder News Service were in its place.
Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1-1/2 tons.
MOJO JOJO: You’ve got to be kidding! I’m wet! I’m naked! Your sister is wearing my clothes! And this is all part of some evil plot to RULE THE WORLD AS A SOGGY CHIMP IN MY BIRTHDAY SUIT!
A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what’s left of your unit.
Every good act is charity. Your smiling in your brother’s face, is charity; an exhortation of your fellow-man to virtuous deeds, is equal to alms-giving; your putting a wanderer in the right road, is charity; your assisting the blind, is charity; your removing stones, and thorns, and other obstructions from the road, is charity; your giving water to the thirsty, is charity.
A man’s true wealth hereafter, is the good he does in this world to his fellow-man. When he dies, people will say, “What property has he left behind him?” But the angels will ask, “What good deeds has he sent before him?”
If you disclose your alms, even then it is well done, but if you keep them secret, and give them to the poor, then that is better still for you; and this wipes off from you some of your evil deeds.
BLUE: So just remember: the Internet can be a very scary place if you’re not prepared.
RED: How do you recommend they prepare?
BLUE: I dunno. Try going to your local middle school chess club, hand out crystal meth and guns. That might be good practice.
You are properly exhausted after journey or business work. Worthily divert yourself from boredom and create new sense of perception that makes you completely relaxed & happy, please call on LONGMAN HOTEL where our multifunctional recreations will surely feast your tastes. YOU ARE ADDED WITH FUN …
It’s as if all of Scottish cuisine is based on a dare.
There will be a Moscow Exhibition of Arts by 15,000 Soviet Republic painters and sculptors. These were executed over the past two years.
Knowing others is wisdom; Knowing the self is enlightenment;
Mastering others requires force; Mastering the self needs strength.
We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.
Inaction in a deed of mercy becomes an action in a deadly sin.
The Creation of the Universe was made possible by a grant from Texas Instruments.
The final end of every political institution is the preservation of the natural and imprescribable rights of man. These rights are those of liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man.
HOMER: The answers to life’s problems aren’t at the bottom of a bottle. They’re on TV!
BURNS: Dammit, Smithers, this isn’t rocket science, it’s brain surgery!
APU: I used to think karma was baloney, but now I’m not so sure.
HOMER: Mmmmm … caramel baloney!
BART: Why do we need church shoes? Jesus wore sandals.
HOMER: Well, if he’d had proper arch support, maybe they might not have caught him.