I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top.
(Other Authors and Sources)
English Professor, University of Ohio
Quotations by:
~Other
Everyone must row with the oars he has.
(Other Authors and Sources)
English proverb
He that seeks trouble never misses.
(Other Authors and Sources)
English proverb
First collected in George Herbert, Outlandish Proverbs (1640).
Shared joyse are doubled; shared sorrows are halved.
If a donkey bray at you, don’t bray at him.
(Other Authors and Sources)
English proverb
The noisiest streams are the shallowest.
(Other Authors and Sources)
English proverb
Absence and a friendly neighbor washes away love.
(Other Authors and Sources)
English proverb
A man does as he is when he can do what he wants.
(Other Authors and Sources)
English proverb
If you make money your god, it will plague you like the devil.
(Other Authors and Sources)
English proverb
Sometimes "'twill plague you".
An anonymous proverb, recorded in Thomas Fielding, ed., Select Proverbs of All Nations (1824). Thomas Fielding was the pseudonym of John Wade (1788-1875), a British journalist and author.
Though Fielding was only a compiler of proverbs and aphorisms, the quotation then shows up in a variety of collections later in the 19th Century actually cited to "Fielding," e.g., H. Southgate, ed., Many Thoughts of Many Minds (1862); John Camden Hotten, ed. The Golden Treasury of Thought (1873); Edward Parsons Day, ed., Day's Collacon: an Encyclopaedia of Prose Quotations (1884).
In relatively short order, this "Fielding" then became conflated with the more famous English writer Henry Fielding (1707-1754), to whom this quotation is often credited.
Who is so deaf or so blind as he
That wilfully will neither hear nor see?(Other Authors and Sources)
English proverb (16th Century)
Cited in J. Heywood, Dialogue of Proverbs (1546)
Education begins a gentleman, conversation completes him.
(Other Authors and Sources)
English proverb (18th Century)
Collected in Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia (1732).
Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away.
(Other Authors and Sources)
English proverb (18th Century)
Collected in Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia (1732).
Thought when sober, said when drunk.
(Other Authors and Sources)
English saying
Great quarrels often arise from small occasions but never from small causes.
(Other Authors and Sources)
English saying
Fools and obstinate men make lawyers rich.
(Other Authors and Sources)
English saying
To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Eva Young
If a man knew where he would fall, he would spread straw there first.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Finnish proverb
The biggest sin is sitting on your ass.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Florynce R. Kennedy, in Gloria Steinem, “the Verbal Karate of Florynce R. Kennedy, Esq.,” Ms. (Mar 1973)
The average person thinks he isn’t.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Fr. Larry Lorenzoni
We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Frank Tibolt
He who can lick can bite.
(Other Authors and Sources)
French proverb
One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it.
(Other Authors and Sources)
French proverb
Those who do not do politics will be done in by politics.
(Other Authors and Sources)
French proverb
He who knows nothing doubts nothing.
(Other Authors and Sources)
French proverb
Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.
(Other Authors and Sources)
French proverb
There should be a reason for speech but not for silence.
(Other Authors and Sources)
French proverb
Everything passes, everything breaks, everything palls, everything gets replaced.
[Tout passe, tout casse, tout lasse, et tout se remplace.]
(Other Authors and Sources)
French proverb
Sometimes given without the final clause. The second and third clauses are sometimes reversed.
The dog may be wonderful prose, but only the cat is poetry.
(Other Authors and Sources)
French proverb
Money is a good servant but a bad master.
(Other Authors and Sources)
French saying
People count up the faults of those who keep them waiting.
(Other Authors and Sources)
French saying
I apologize if I get an erection, and I apologize if I don’t.
(Other Authors and Sources)
George C. Scott
Comment to an actress with whom he was shooting a love scene in bed.
One does evil enough when one does nothing good.
(Other Authors and Sources)
German proverb
Poor men’s reasons are not heard.
(Other Authors and Sources)
German proverb
He who holds the ladder is as guilty as the thief.
(Other Authors and Sources)
German proverb
Mules are always boasting that their ancestors are horses.
(Other Authors and Sources)
German Proverb
When a fox preaches, look to your goose.
(Other Authors and Sources)
German saying
And now, will y’all stand and be recognized?
(Other Authors and Sources)
Gib Lewis, Speaker of the Texas State House, 1983-93
To a group in wheelchairs on Disability Day
Procrastination and worry are the twin thieves that will try to rob you of your brilliance — but even the smallest action will drive them from your camp.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Gil Atkinson
Preserve civilization — write on walls.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Graffiti in the British Museum men’s room
God gave us teeth to hold back our tongue.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Greek proverb
A civilization flourishes when people plant trees under whose shade they will never sit.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Greek saying
Ask the dweller, not the builder.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Greek saying
The game of life is not so much in holding a good hand as in playing a poor hand well.
(Other Authors and Sources)
H. T. Leslie
Shoot straight you bastards. Don’t make a mess of it.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Harry “Breaker” Morant, to the firing squad (27 Feb 1902)
There is no room for God in him who is full of himself.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Hasidic saying
If the elephants visit your farm you do not worry about the monkeys.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Hausa proverb
Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Hebrew proverb
There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Hindu proverb
Y’all are hurting my tender ears. I would appreciate it if y’all would scream one at a time.
(Other Authors and Sources)
House Speaker John Alario (D-Westwego), Louisiana Legislature
People forget how fast you did a job — but they remember how well you did it.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Howard W. Newton
Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Howard W. Newton
Be careful of your thoughts; they may become words at any moment.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Iara Gassen
(also attributed to Lara, Sara, Ira, and Jana Gassen)
All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if you can’t get them together again, there must be a reason. By all means, do not use a hammer.
(Other Authors and Sources)
IBM maintenance manual (1925)
All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if you can’t get them together again, there must be a reason. By all means, do not use a hammer.
(Other Authors and Sources)
IBM maintenance manual (1925)
Every man likes the smell of his own farts.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Icelandic proverb
EARL OF SANDWICH: ‘Pon my honor, Wilkes, I don’t know whether you’ll die on the gallows or of the pox.
JOHN WILKES: That must depend my Lord, upon whether I first embrace your Lordship’s principles, or your Lordship’s mistresses.(Other Authors and Sources)
In Sir Charles Petrie, The Four Georges, ch. 4 (1935).
We’d like to offer our affection as a gift by the white bird on sky to every genuinely go the same may together with you. This is our only requite to you.
(Other Authors and Sources)
In-flight magazine of Xiamen Airlines
Know thyself.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Inscription at the Oracle of Delphi
With willing hearts and skillful hands, the difficult we do at once; the impossible takes a bit longer.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Inscription, Seabees (U.S. Naval Construction Batallions) Memorial, Arlington Cemetery.
The US Army Corps of Engineers motto during WW II was “The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer.” Other branches used it as well; Newsweek (8 Mar 1943) attributed it to the Army Air Forces and the NY Times (4 Nov 1945) attributed “The impossible we do at once; the miraculous takes a little longer” to the Army Service Forces.
May you live to be a hundred years,
With one extra year to repent.(Other Authors and Sources)
Irish proverb
A goose never voted for an early Christmas.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Irish saying
Passive activity income does not include the following: Income for an activity that is not a passive activity.
(Other Authors and Sources)
IRS Form 8583, Passive Activity Loss Limitation
The ink of a scholar is just as holy as the blood of a martyr.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Islamic proverb
Many complain of their looks, but none of their brains.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Italian proverb
Also noted as a Jewish or Yiddish proverb.
This is also often cited to Sally Koslow, Little Pink Slips, ch. 5 (2007); it appears there as ""Many complain of their looks, few of their brains," but is described as an unoriginal needlepoint on a pillow cover.
See also La Rochefoucauld for a similar construction.
After the game, the King and the Pawn go into the same box.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Italian proverb
Phrased as such (and noted as an Italian proverb) in H. L. Mencken, A New Dictionary of Quotations (1942). The sentiment can be found in literature back to the 17th Century. See also Omar Khayyám.
More discussion: When the Chess Game Is Over, the King and the Pawn Go Back in the Same Box – Quote Investigator.
From listening comes wisdom; from speaking, repentance.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Italian saying
Every time I try to define a perfectly stable person, I am appalled by the dullness of that person.
(Other Authors and Sources)
J. D. Griffin
One day I sat thinking, almost in despair; a hand fell on my shoulder and a voice said reassuringly: cheer up, things could get worse. So I cheered up and, sure enough, things got worse.
(Other Authors and Sources)
James Haggerty (1909-1981) Press Secretary to President Eisenhower
One of the advantages of being captain is being able to ask for advice without necessarily having to take it.
(Other Authors and Sources)
James T. Kirk
The first great step is to like yourself enough to pick someone who likes you, too.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Jane O’Reilly, Ms., “View from the Bed” (Apr 1973)
To teach is to learn.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Japanese proverb
We’re fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Japanese proverb
He who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Japanese proverb
If you believe everything you read, better not read.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Japanese proverb
The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Japanese proverb
The reverse side has also its reverse side.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Japanese proverb
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Japanese proverb
Steal money, you’re sent to prison; steal a country, you’re made a king.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Japanese proverb
When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Japanese proverb
When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Japanese proverb
Hate not the people, but the crime.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Japanese saying
One good deed is better than three days of fasting at a shrine.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Japanese saying
A rain came along last night and gently wet San Diego. It cleaned off my car except for a stubborn bird blessing on the hood. I had been staring at it for several days and the rain cleaned everything except that single spot. (sigh) For the most part, things take care of themselves if we just let them, but every now and again we’ve got to get involved, and dirty our hands.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Jeff Shepherd, Jeff’s Weekly Quotations, #39 (1994)
I think NASCAR would be much more exciting if, like in a skating rink, every 15 minutes someone announced it was time to reverse direction.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Jeffrey Anbinder (Attributed)
Money is what people without talent use to keep score.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Jeremy C. Epworth
My mother said it was simple to keep a man, you must be a maid in the living room, a cook in the kitchen, and a whore in the bedroom. I said I’d hire the other two and take care of the bedroom bit.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Jerry Hall (b. 1952), quoted in The Observer (6 Oct 1985)
On her relationship with Mick Jagger.
The truth will set you free. But before it does, it will make you angry.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Jerry Joiner
If the rich could hire other people to die for them, the poor would make a wonderful living.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Jewish proverb
When a rogue kisses you, count your teeth.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Jewish proverb
Why are they so afraid of a few hundred thousand people with assault weapons?
(Other Authors and Sources)
Jim Hamblin, member of the “Texas Constitutional Militia”
He was so mean, if you cut him open you’d find your grandma!
(Other Authors and Sources)
Jim Rockford
I think it’s a great shame that ignorant and stupid people think that God is ignorant and stupid, too.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Joel Peak, Belief-L discussion list
A person on hold tends to remain on hold.
(Other Authors and Sources)
John Maguire, “The Law of Social Inertia”
It was a great relief to be in a country where salacious sex literature cannot be sold; where putrid motion pictures and gangster films cannot be shown. The new Germany has burned great masses of corrupting books and magazines along with its bonfires of Jewish and communistic libraries.
(Other Authors and Sources)
John W. Bradbury, National Baptist Watchman-Examiner (13 Sep 1934)
On being a delegate to the Baptist World Alliance Congress in Berlin.
Failure is a bruise, not a tattoo.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Jon Sinclair
Heterosexual men have an annoying habit of overestimating their own attractiveness.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Joseph Steffan, expelled from US Naval Academy for admitting he was gay
Don’t discount flying pigs before you have good air defense.
(Other Authors and Sources)
jvh[@]clinet.fi
Time’s fun when you’re having flies.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Kermit the Frog
Never ruin an apology with an excuse.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Kimberly Johnson
Sometimes attributed to Ben Franklin (but also without any citation).
De gustibus non disputandum.
[There’s no accounting for taste.](Other Authors and Sources)
Latin maxim
Cave ab homine unius libri.
[Beware of anyone who has just one book.]
(Other Authors and Sources)
Latin proverb
Sometimes attributed to Thomas Aquinas. See also George Herbert.
Learn to obey before you command.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Latin proverb
If the wind will not serve, take to the oars.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Latin proverb
All clouds are not rain clouds.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Latin Proverb
The drops of rain make a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling.
[Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi, sed saepe cadendo.]
(Other Authors and Sources)
Latin proverb
Alt. trans.:
- "The rain dints the hard stone, not by violence, but by oft-falling drops."
- "The drop of rain maketh a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling."
- "The drop hollows out the stone not by strength, but by constant falling."
- "The drop hollows the stone, not with force but by falling often."
- "Dripping water hollows out the stone not by force, but by continually falling."
Some famous usages include Lucretius, De rerum natura, Book 6, l. 312: "The ring on the finger is tapered by being worn, the dripping water hollows out the stone, the plow is subtly worn by the impact of the fields." [anulus in digito subter tenuatur habendo, stilicidi casus lapidem cavat, uncus aratri, ferreus occulte decrescit vomer in arvis]
Similarly Ovid, Ex Ponte, 4.10.5: "The drop hollows out the stone, the ring is worn by use, and the curved ploughshare is rubbed away by the pressure of the earth." [Gutta cavat lapidem, consumitur annulus usu, et teritur pressa vomer aduncus humo.]
Made famous in English by Hugh Latimer, "Seventh Sermon before Edward VI" (1549). Similarly, John Lyly, Euphues (1580): "The soft droppes of rain perce the hard marble; many strokes overthrow the tallest oaks."
Gentle in manner, strong in deed.
[Suaviter in modo, fortirer in re.]
(Other Authors and Sources)
Latin proverb
Pres. Dwight Eisenhower kept a small wooden sign with this proverb on his desk at the White House.
No matter how great your triumphs or how tragic your defeats — approximately 1.5 billion Chinese couldn’t care less.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Lazlo’s Chinese Relativity Axiom
Lower your voice and strengthen your argument.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Lebanese proverb
There are more important things than money — the only trouble is they all cost money.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Louis A. Safian, The Book of Updated Proverbs, ch. 7 (1967)
We do not have censorship. What we have is a limitation on what newspapers can report.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Louis Nel, Deputy Minister of Information, South Africa
Believing oneself to be perfect is often a sign of delusional mind.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Lt. Cmdr. Data
If you go through life trading on your good looks, there’ll come a time when no one wants to trade.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Lynne Alpern & Esther Blumenfeld, Oh, Lord, I Sound Just Like Mama (1986)
Experts are never right or wrong; they win or lose. Right and wrong are decided by proof; winning and losing are decided by who is doing the talking or talks the loudest, has the last, latest, or only word, and is quoted by reporters.
(Other Authors and Sources)
M. A. Zeidner, “Experts: A Definition” Quarterly Review of Doublespeak (Oct 1988)
Nothing is so full of victory as patience.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Madagascan proverb
Don’t think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Malayan proverb
One can pay back a loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Malayan proverb
Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Mark A. Overby
I don’t believe that humans descended from apes, no. How come there’s still apes running around loose and there are humans? Why did some of them decide to evolve and some did not?
(Other Authors and Sources)
Mary Douglass Brown, Kansas state school board candidate
Natives who beat drums to drive off evil spirits are objects of scorn to smart Americans who blow horns to break up traffic jams.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Mary Ellen Kelley
Money to get power, power to protect money.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Medici Family Motto (15th C)
A rabbi spoke with God about heaven and hell.
“I will show you hell,” God said, and they went into a room which had a large pot of stew in the middle. The smell was delicious, but around the pot sat people who were famished and desperate. All were holding spoons with very long handles which reached to the pot, but, because the handles were longer than their arms, it was impossible to get the stew back into their mouths.
“Now I will show you heaven,” God said, and they went into an identical room. there was a similar pot of stew, the smell was delicious, and the people had identical spoons, but they were well-nourished and happy.
“It’s simple,” God said. “You see, they have learned to feed one another.”(Other Authors and Sources)
Medieval Jewish story
Fortune is like a wall that falls on those who lean on it.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Mexican proverb
The scientific name for an animal that doesn’t either run from or fight its enemies is “lunch.”
(Other Authors and Sources)
Michael Friedman
People are far more interesting and successful when they are less concerned about being normal, and more concerned on being natural.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Michael Nolan
I never, ever say, “I can’t,” about anything. I might say, “I don’t have the authority to make that decision,” or, “Building A is too heavy for me to lift,” or, “I will need training before I pilot that space shuttle.”
(Other Authors and Sources)
Mike Huber, Techwr-L
Confidence doesn’t come from knowing you’re right — it comes from being okay with failing.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Mike Monteiro, Design Is a Job (2012)
Only time can heal your broken heart, just as only time can heal his broken arms and legs.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Miss Piggy
We can imagine no reason why, with ordinary care, human toes could not be left out of chewing tobacco, and if toes are found in chewing tobacco, it seems to us that somebody has been very careless.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Mississippi Supreme Court in Pillars v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. et al., 78 So. 365 (Ms. 1918)
(Source)
Speak the truth, but keep one foot in the stirrup.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Mongol proverb
This book fills a much-needed gap.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Moses Hadas (1900-1966), Professor, Columbia University (Attributed)
Gentlemen, gentlemen, be of good cheer.
For they are out there, and we are in here.(Other Authors and Sources)
Motto of the Playboy Mansion
Originated by Robert Culp (1930-2010), per H. Hefner.
If it’s stupid but works, it ain’t stupid.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Murphy’s Law for Grunts
In Paul Dixon, "Getting a Handle on Life's Slippery Truths," San Francisco Chronicle (24 Dec 1992)
1. Nothing is as easy as it looks.
2. Everything takes longer than you think.
3. If there is possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.(Other Authors and Sources)
Murphy’s Law: Colrollaries
In Arthur Bloch, Murphy's Law: And Other Reasons Why Things Go gnorW, "Murphyology" (1979). See Murphy's Law.
Don’t concern yourself with the bullet with your name on it. Watch out for shrapnel marked “Occupant”.
Always assume your guest is tired, cold and hungry, and act accordingly.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Navajo proverb
We are not without accomplishment. We have managed to distribute poverty equally.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Nguyen Co Thatch, Vietnamese foreign minister
IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you are one of the hundreds of parachuting enthusiasts who bought our “Easy Sky Diving” book, please make the following correction: on page 8, line 7, the words “state zip code” should have read “pull rip cord.”
(Other Authors and Sources)
Notice appearing in a Warrenton, Virginia, newspaper
They are escaped convicts. His Majesty is fortunate to be rid of such rabble. Their true God is power.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Oliver Sharpin, The American Rebels (1804)
I don’t require lust, sex, or classic beauty; I require trust, respect, and honesty. All else builds from there.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Oscar Pederson
It ain’t so much a matter of not knowing as it is knowing so much that ain’t so.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Ozark proverb
A painting is never finished — it simply stops in interesting places.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Paul Gardner
I have a theory that all traffic lights are secretly synchronized — you just have to drive fast enough. Testing this theory has lead me to develop a second theory: Most police officers are NOT men of science.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Paul Wiley
I wish I were telepathic. Not just to read people’s minds, which would be cool, but to cut down on my cellular phone bill.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Paul Wiley
The solution to a problem changes the problem.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Peer’s Law
Most Obscure Warning Award: “If you fork() without ever waiting on your children, you will accumulate zombies.”
(Other Authors and Sources)
PERLFUNC man page
Two things indicate weakness — to be silent when it is proper to speak, and to speak when it is proper to be silent.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Persian proverb
Rewriting is like scrubbing the basement floor with a toothbrush.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Pete Murphy
Throw a few chairmen of the board in jail for polluting the air and water, and you’ll see the pollution disappear quite rapidly. … You would also probably see some pretty drastic prison reform.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Pete Stark, Jr., in “Tumult & Shouting,” San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle (2 Jan 1972)
Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Peter T. McIntyre
After finding no qualified candidates for the position of principal, the school board is extremely pleased to announce the appointment of David Steele to the post.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Philip Streiffer, Superintendent of Schools, Barrington, RI
The person who snores the loudest will fall asleep first.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Pickett’s Postulate
In John Peers, 1,001 Logical Laws (1979)
Here Men from The Planet Earth
First Set Foot upon The Moon
July, 1969 AD
We Came in Peace for All Mankind(Other Authors and Sources)
Plaque left on the Moon by the Apollo 11 mission (1969)
You have a lifetime to work, but children are only young once.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Polish proverb
Not my circus, not my monkey.
[Nie moj cyrk, nie moje malpy.]
(Other Authors and Sources)
Polish saying
Idiomatic for "Not my problem."
Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound! Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman! Yes, it’s Superman! Strange visitor from another planet, who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman! Who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel with his bare hands, and who — disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper — fights a never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way!
(Other Authors and Sources)
Preamble to Superman, US radio show (1940ff)
After sitting next to Mr. Gladstone I thought he was the cleverest man in England. But after sitting next to Mr. Disraeli I thought I was the cleverest woman in England.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein (1872-1956) (Attributed)
Brain work will cause her to become bald, while increasing masculinity and contempt for duty will induce the growth of hair on her face. In the future, therefore, women will be bald and wear long mustaches and patriarchal beards.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Prof. Hans Friedenthal of Berlin U., on women, higher ed, and voting rights (19th C.)
Forasmuch as the feast of the nativity of Christ, Easter, Whitsuntide, and other festivals, commonly called holy-days, have been heretofore superstitiously used and observed; be it ordained, that the said feasts, and all other festivals, commonly called holy-days, be no longer observed as festivals; any law, statute, custom, constitution, or canon, to the contrary in anywise not withstanding.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Puritan law passed in the British Parliament (8 Jun 1647)
(Source)
Quoted in Daniel Neal, The History of the Puritans, Vol. 2 (1837).
With Great Power comes Great RTFM.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Quoting Lady_Sadako, City of Heroes forums, Sig line for Lighthouse (c. Dec. 2006)
Perfect for the Easter and Passover seasons.
(Other Authors and Sources)
QVC on-air host, regarding a gold cross being sold
1. Everybody who matters is stupid now and then.
2. If I’m being stupid, that’s my problem.
3. If my being stupid makes you stupid, that’s your problem.
4. If you think you’re never stupid, boy are you stupid!(Other Authors and Sources)
Rabinovitch’s Rules of Sane Dialogue
If we stop caring about our heroes, we stop caring about what they died for.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Ralph Harris
The world isn’t interested in the storms you encountered, but whether or not you brought in the ship.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Raul Armesto
Confession without repentance is just bragging.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Rev. Eugene Bolton
The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Richard Moss
Destiny is for people who are too lazy to create alternate timelines.
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Robert J. Hanlon, “Hanlon’s Razor,” Murphy’s Law, Book Two (ed. A. Bloch) (1980)
Don’t expect perfect products unless you are willing to pay for perfection.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Robert Siegmeister
Never look at the trombones. You’ll only encourage them.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Robert Strauss, on conducting
Let the gods avenge themselves.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Roman legal maxim regarding blasphemy
The road leading to a goal does not separate you from your destination; it is essentially a part of it.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Romany proverb
One man’s perfectly rational and objective decision making may be another man’s utter insanity.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Ron Ward
Pray to God, but keep rowing to shore.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Russian proverb
Rich in rubles, rich in sorrows; poor in rubles, richer in sorrows.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Russian proverb
Fear the judge, not the law.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Russian saying
Dwell on the past and you lose an eye. Forget the past and you’ll lose both eyes.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Russian Saying
When money speaks, truth is silent.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Russian saying
A successful tool is one that was used to do something undreamed of by its author.
(Other Authors and Sources)
S. C. Johnson
Attributed to both Samuel Curtis Johnson, Sr. (1833-1919), businessman and founder of S. C. Johnson Wax, and (more likely) to Stephan C. Johnson, contemporary computer scientist. In the latter case, it is often written as "A successful [software] tool is ..."
Just for the record, darling, not all positive change feels positive in the beginning.
(Other Authors and Sources)
S. C. Lourie
Visible goodwill is the strongest negotiation strategy. Don’t let somebody else determine your behavior.
(Other Authors and Sources)
S. U. Sunrei
The angry man will defeat himself in battle as well as in life.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Samurai saying
Nothing determines who we will become so much as those things we choose to ignore.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Sandor McNab
Sit at the feet of the masters long enough, and they’ll start to smell.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Sauget’s Law of Education
(Source)
Attributed to John Sauget of Urbana, Ill., in Paul Dickson, The Official Rules, "Revised Proverbs" (1978).
Be happy while you’re living, for you’re a long time dead.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Scottish proverb
Never let your feet run faster than your shoes.
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Scottish proverb
Confessed faults are half mended.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Scottish proverb
Many irons on the Fire, some must cool.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Scottish Proverb
(Source)
In James Kelly, A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs, M.93 (1721)
Here’s tae us; wha’s like us?
Gey few, and they’re a’ deid.(Other Authors and Sources)
Scottish Toast (19th C)
The first line appears in Crosland, "The Unspeakable Scot" (1902). Various versions of the second line can be found.
The White House has always attracted the mentally ill.
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Secret Serviceman Vincent Charles, on increased White House security
Good deeds are the best prayer.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Serbian proverb
If you wish to know what a man is, place him in authority.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Serbian proverb
DROP YOUR TROUSERS HERE FOR BEST RESULTS
(Other Authors and Sources)
Sign in Bangkok dry cleaners
GOOD APPEARANCE PLEASE.
NO WATERMELON PLEASE.(Other Authors and Sources)
Sign in Fragrant Hills Hotel, Beijing
English well talking. Here speeching American.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Sign in Majorcan shop
PRIZE WINNING HANDMADE SAUSAGES: ONCE TASTED YOU’LL NEVER WANT ANOTHER
(Other Authors and Sources)
Sign in the Oxhey Lane Farm Shop, UK
Sorry: No talking to cashier. No smoking. No fighting. No credit. No outside food. No sitting long. No talking loud. No spitting. No bargaining. No water to outsiders. No change. No telephone. No match sticks. No discussing gambling. No newspaper. No combing. No beef. No leg on chair. No hard liquor allowed. No address enquiry.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Sign outside Bastani Café, Bombay, India
Most of us, when all is said and done, like what we like and make up reasons for it afterwards.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Soren F. Peterson
Every cask smells of the wine it contains.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Spanish proverb
A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools.
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Spanish proverb
If I die, I forgive you; If I live, we shall see.
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Spanish proverb
One drink is just right; two is too many; three are too few.
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Spanish proverb
If the sky falls, hold up your hands.
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Spanish proverb
Tell me what you brag about and I’ll tell you what you lack.
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Spanish proverb
Little by little, one travels far.
[Poco a poco se anda lejos.]
(Other Authors and Sources)
Spanish Proverb
Literally, "Little by little, one goes a long way." Sometimes misattributed to J. R. R. Tolkien.
To thicken the plot.
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Sri Ramakrishna, when asked why God allows evil in the world
And that’s the world in a nutshell, an appropriate receptacle.
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Stan Dunn
You don’t get to control any outcome, only every choice you make along the way.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Stephen C. Paul
The culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Steve Gruenert and Todd Whitaker, School Culture Rewired, ch. 3 (2015)
(Source)
Often misattributed as "Gruenter and Whitaker".
If a man points at the moon, an idiot will look at the finger.
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Sufi proverb
It is important to realize that any lock can be picked with a big enough hammer.
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Sun System & Network Admin manual
It is important to realize that any lock can be picked with a big enough hammer.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Sun System & Network Admin Manual
God gives every bird his worm, but He does not throw it into the nest.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Swedish proverb
‘Tis a lesson you should heed,
Try, try again;
If at first you don’t succeed,
Try, try again.(Other Authors and Sources)
T. H. Palmer, “Try, Try Again,” The Teacher’s Manual (1840)
(Source)
Sometimes attributed to Charles Theodore Hart Palmer (1827-1897), but the book is clearly by Thomas H. Palmer, and was published in 1840 when Charles T. H. Palmer was 13 years old.
The autumn leaves are falling like rain.
Though my neighbors are all barbarians,
And you, you are a thousand miles away,
There are always two cups at my table.(Other Authors and Sources)
T’ang Dynasty (7th – 10th C. AD) poem
There are two kinds of adhesive tape: that which won’t stay and that which won’t come off.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Telesco’s Law of Nursing
In Arthur Bloch, Murphy's Law: Book Two, "Medical Murphology" (1980).
I think we are all willing to have a little bit of crud in our lungs and a full stomach rather than a whole bunch of clean air and nothing to eat. And I don’t want a bunch of environmentalists and Communists telling me what’s good for me and my family.
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Texas State Rep. Billy Williamson (who has since died of lung cancer)
If you took all the fools out of the Legislature, it wouldn’t be a representative body anymore.
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Texas State Senator Carl Parker
Monty Python’s usual schoolboy humour is here let loose on a period of history appropriately familiar to every schoolboy in the West, and a faith which could be shaken by such good-humoured ribaldry would be a very precarious faith indeed.
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The British Board Of Film Censors, Report on Life of Brian (1979)
If several things that could have gone wrong have not gone wrong, it would have been ultimately beneficial for them to have gone wrong.
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The Last Law
In Arthur Bloch, Murphy's Law: Book Two, preface (1980)
The longer you wait in line, the greater the likelihood that you are standing in the wrong line.
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The Queue Principle
In Arthur Bloch, Murphy's Law: Book Two, Situational Murphology" (1980)
Of those who say nothing, few are silent.
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Thomas Neill
Yes, risk-taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing-taking.
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Tim McMahon
Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day. Give him a religion, and he’ll starve to death while praying for a fish.
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Timothy Jones
ASA: Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal — you sockdologizing old man-trap.
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Tom Taylor, Our American Cousin, Act 3, sc. 2 (1858)
The biggest laugh line in the play, so chosen by John Wilkes Booth to use as a cover for his shooting Abraham Lincoln on 14 Apr 1865.
Sockdologizing.
A walk through the Visitors Center provides you with a close look at the work being done in Unit 2. Cleanup … decontamination … waste handling … all are performed with the safety of the workers and the public foremost in mind. And, weather permitting, you’re welcome to have your picnic lunch at the tables behind the Center. Enjoy your stay.
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Tourist brochure for Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, Harrisburg, PA
No matter how far you have gone on the wrong road, turn back.
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Turkish proverb
Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone and more fragile than a rose.
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Turkish proverb
No matter how far you have gone on the wrong road, turn back.
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Turkish proverb
Forgive us for pretending to care for the poor, when we do not like poor people and do not want them in our homes.
(Other Authors and Sources)
United Presbyterian Church, Litany for Holy Communion (1968)
Sovereignty remains at all times with the people and they do not forfeit through elections the rights to have the law construed against and applied to every citizen.
(Other Authors and Sources)
United States Court of Appeals, DC Circuit, Nixon v. Sirica (1973)
5-2 ruling that President Nixon had to turn over tape recordings he was withholding. Quoted in NY Times (14 Oct 1973)
You can’t keep trouble from coming, but you don’t have to give it a chair to sit in.
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Vermont proverb
A stupid man stays awake all night pondering his problems; he’s all worn out when morning comes, and whatever was, still is.
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Viking proverb
No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the successes of those under him.
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W. A. Nance
God gives nothing to those who keep their arms crossed.
(Other Authors and Sources)
West African proverb
Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be content with a half truth when the whole can be won.
(Other Authors and Sources)
West Point Cadet Prayer
Written by Col. Clayton E. Wheat, Professor of English and Chaplain (1918-1926), U. S. M. A., West Point.
To carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee.
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William H. Walton
I’m sexy. Admire Me. Touch Me. Taste Me. And Take Me Home.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Words on a Holiday Inn coaster in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Bright college years, with pleasure rife,
The shortest, gladdest, years of life,
How bright will seem through memory’s haze,
Those happy, golden, bygone days.(Other Authors and Sources)
Yale song (c. 1900)
Charm is more than beauty.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Yiddish proverb
It’s no disgrace to be poor, but it’s no honor, either.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Yiddish proverb
Don’t approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back, or a fool from any side.
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Yiddish proverb
If hard work were so wonderful, the rich would keep it all for themselves.
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Yiddish proverb
If the rich could hire others to die for them, the poor could make a nice living.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Yiddish proverb
If I try to be like him, who will be like me?
(Other Authors and Sources)
Yiddish proverb
When a rogue kisses you, count your teeth.
[Ven a ganef kusht, darf men zikh di tseyn ibertseyln.]
[װען אַ גנבֿ קושט, דאַרף מען זיך די צײן איבערצײלן.]
(Other Authors and Sources)
Yiddish proverb
(Source)
Alt. trans.: "When a thief kisses you, count your teeth."
Better a false “Good morning” than a sincere “Go to Hell.”
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Yiddish proverb
With money in your pocket, you are wise and handsome, and you sing well too.
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Yiddish saying
A full purse is not as good as an empty one is bad.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Yiddish saying
A soldier came to Hakuin and asked “Is there really a paradise and a hell?”
“Who are you?” inquired Hakuin. “I am a samurai,” the warrior replied.
“You, a samurai!” exclaimed Hakuin. “What kind of ruler would have you as his guard? Your face looks like that of a beggar!”
The soldier became so angry that he began to draw his sword, but Hakuin continued. “So you have a sword! Your weapon is probably as dull as your head!”
As the soldier drew his sword Hakuin remarked “Here open the gates of hell!”
At these words, the samurai, perceiving the discipline of the master, sheathed his sword and bowed.
“Here open the gates of paradise,” said Hakuin.(Other Authors and Sources)
Zen koan
Tanzan and Ekido were traveling together down a muddy road. They came upon a lovely girl in a silk kimono, unable to cross at an intersection. “Come on, girl,” said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.
Ekido did not speak until that night. Then he could no longer restrain himself. “We monks don’t go near females,” he said, “especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?”
“I left the girl there,” said Tanzan. “Are you still carrying her?”(Other Authors and Sources)
Zen koan
A man asked Hakuin, a Zen master, “What happens after we die?”
The master replied, “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean? You’re a Zen master, aren’t you?”
“I am,” came the reply, “but not a dead one.”(Other Authors and Sources)
Zen koan
MONK: I have just entered the monastery; please give me some guidance.
MASTER: Have you eaten your rice gruel?
MONK: Yes, I’ve eaten.
MASTER: Then go wash your bowl.(Other Authors and Sources)
Zen koan
When a rebel army took over a Korean town, all fled the Zen temple except the abbot. The rebel general burst into the temple, and was incensed to find that the master refused to greet him, let alone receive him as a conqueror.
“Don’t you know,” shouted the general, “that you are looking at one who can run you through without batting an eye?”
“And you,” said the abbot, “are looking at one who can be run through without batting an eye.”
The general’s scowl turned into a smile. He bowed low and left the temple.(Other Authors and Sources)
Zen Koan
In Lucien Stryk, Takashi Ikemoto, and Taigan Takayama, Zen Poems of China and Japan: The Crane's Bill (1973)
MASTER: As long as there is “I and thou,” there is no seeing Tao.
MONK: When there is neither “I” nor “thou” is it seen?
MASTER: When there is neither “I” nor “thou,” who is here to see it?(Other Authors and Sources)
Zen mondo