An’ th’ rayformer spinds th’ rest iv his life tellin’ us where we are wrong. He’s good at that. On’y he don’t undherstand that people wud rather be wrong an’ comfortable thin right in jail.
[And the reformer spends the rest of his life telling us where we are wrong. He’s good at that. Only he doesn’t understand that people would rather be wrong and comfortable than right in jail.]
Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936) American humorist and journalist
“Reform Administration,” Chicago Post (Oct 1902)
The ways to enrich are many, and most of them foul.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
“Of Riches,” Essays, No. 34 (1625)
(Source)
Nations, like individuals, wish to enjoy a fair reputation. It is therefore desireable for us that the slanders on our country, disseminated by hired or prejudiced travellers, should be corrected. But politics, like religion, hold up the torches of martyrdom to the reformers of error.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to James Ogilvie (4 Aug 1811)
(Source)
Some authors regard morality in the same light as we regard modern architecture. Convenience is the first thing to be looked for.
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747) French moralist, essayist, soldier
Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes] (1746) [tr. Lee (1903)]
We are the standard-bearers in the only really authentic revolution, the democratic revolution against tyrannies. Our strength is not to be measured by our military capacity alone, by our industry, or by our technology. We will be remembered, not for the power of our weapons, but for the power of our compassion, our dedication to human welfare.
Hubert Horatio Humphrey (1911-1978) American politician
The Cause is Mankind (1964)
The first impression that one gets of a ruler and of his brains is from seeing the men that he has about him.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian politician, philosopher, political scientist
The Prince, ch. 22 (1513) [tr. Ricci (1903)]
John F. Kennedy was the victim of the hate that was a part of our country. It is a disease that occupies the minds of the few but brings danger to the many.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1964-05-09), Dedication of the John F. Kennedy Cultural Center, Mitchell Field, New York
(Source)
In an era when everything can be surveiled, all we have left is politeness.
Neal Stephenson (b. 1959) American novelist
The Diamond Age “Part the First”, “Hackworth’s situation develops new complications” (1995)
The correction of silence is what kills; when you know you have transgressed, and your friend says nothing and avoids your eye.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
“Talk and Talkers” (1882)
It is said that our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.
Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) British Baptist preacher, author [Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon]
The Salt-Cellars (1889)
(Source)
A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery.
Mao Zedong (1893-1976) Chinese revolutionary, political philosopher, statesman [a.k.a. Mao Tse-tung]
“Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan” (Feb 1927)
These young men and women, longing to socialize their democracy, are animated by certain hopes which may be thus loosely formulated; that if in a democratic country nothing can be permanently achieved save through the masses of the people, it will be impossible to establish a higher political life than the people themselves crave; that it is difficult to see how the notion of a higher civic life can be fostered save through common intercourse; that the blessings which we associate with a life of refinement and cultivation can be made universal and must be made universal if they are to be permanent; that the good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain, is floating in mid-air, until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.
Jane Addams (1860-1935) American reformer, suffragist, philosopher, author
“The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements” (1892)
(Source)
The Falklands thing was a fight between two bald men over a comb.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
Quoted in Time (14 Feb 1983)
On the Falklands War.
I wonder how anyone can have the face to condemn others when he reflects upon his own thoughts.
W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) English novelist and playwright [William Somerset Maugham]
The Summing Up, ch. 16 (1938)
(Source)
Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Letter (1901-02-16) to the Young People’s Society, Greenpoint Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn
(Source)
The Society had invited Twain to come and speak. In response, he sent a card with this aphorism on it. A reproduction is in the frontispiece of Bernard DeVoto, ed., Mark Twain in Eruption (1922), which was the earliest citation I could find.
I never thrust my nose into another man’s porridge.
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) Spanish novelist
Don Quixote, Part 1, Book 3, ch. 11 (1605) [tr. Motteaux and Ozell (1743)]
Every day we are changing, every day we are dying, and yet we fancy ourselves eternal.
St. Jerome (c. 347-419) Roman Christian priest, theologian, historian, translator [Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus]
Letter 60
Several decisions of this Court make clear that freedom of personal choice in matters of marriage and family life is one of the liberties protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. […] As recently as last Term, in Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U. S. 438, 405 U. S. 453, we recognized “the right of the individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the decision whether to bear or beget a child.” That right necessarily includes the right of a woman to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.
Potter Stewart (1915-1985) US Supreme Court Justice (1959-81)
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 169-170 (1973) [Concurring]
(Source)
The way of the world is to praise dead saints and to persecute living ones.
Nathaniel Howe (1764-1837) American minister
Sermon (1810?)
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care, and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age, or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations, Article 25.1 (10 Dec 1948)
We live in an age of Wrath. It is to be found in the terrorist, the kidnapper, the hijacker, the looter, and in the clenched fist of the demonstrator. […] When we ask what is their justification, they hardly have to give an answer, because our age finds it for them. They are angry. That is apparently enough. We justify their Wrath, so we justify their violence. If someone thinks that he has cause to be angry, he may act from his Anger as destructively as he sees fit. In fact, we have come close to the point of giving to Wrath an incontestable license to terrorize our society, just as an angry man may terrorize his family, but whereas we do not excuse the husband or the father, we extend our sympathy and understanding to the terrorist.
Henry Fairlie (1924-1990) British journalist and social critic
The Seven Deadly Sins Today (1978)
There is, indeed, nothing that so much seduces reason from vigilance, as the thought of passing life with an amiable woman.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Letter (21 Dec 1762)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
There are many who dare not kill themselves for fear of what the neighbors will say.
Cyril Connolly (1903-1974) English intellectual, literary critic and writer.
The Unquiet Grave, ch. 2 “Te Palinure Petens” (1945)
The best reformers the world haz ever seen are thoze who commense on themselves.
[The best reformers the world has ever seen are those who commence on themselves.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, “Nosegays” (1874)
Money also buys privacy, silence. The less money you have, the noisier it is; the thinner your walls, the closer your neighbors. I’m obsessed with noise — I can’t write when it’s noisy, I can’t sleep when it’s noisy. The first thing you notice when you step into the house or apartment of a rich person is how quiet it is.
Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950) American journalist
Interview with James Atlas, “What They Look Like to the Rest of Us,” New York Times Magazine (19 Nov 1995)
(Source)
On the dogmas of religion as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, have been quarrelling, fighting, burning and torturing one another, for abstractions unintelligible to themselves and to all others, and absolutely beyond the comprehension of the human mind. Were I to enter on that arena, I should only add an unit to the number of Bedlamites.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to Matthew Carey (11 Nov 1816)
(Source)
Mistakenly identified in some sources as Archibald Carey.
We can love with all our hearts those in whom we recognize great faults. It would be impertinent to believe that perfection alone has the right to please us; sometimes our weaknesses attach us to each other as much as our virtues.
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747) French moralist, essayist, soldier
Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes] (1746) [tr. Lee (1903)]
Alt. trans.: "Our failings sometimes bind us to one another as closely as could virtue itself."
I’ve become like one of those people I hate, the sort who go to the museum and, instead of looking at the magnificent Brueghel, take a picture of it, reducing it from art to proof. It’s not “Look what Brueghel did, painted this masterpiece” but “Look what I did, went to Rotterdam and stood in front of a Brueghel painting!”
David Sedaris (b. 1956) American humorist, comedian, author
Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls (2013)
America cannot and must not be the world’s policeman. We cannot stop all war for all time. But we can stop some wars. We cannot save all women and all children. But we can save many of them. We can’t do everything. But we must do what we can do. There are times and places where our leadership can mean the difference between peace and war.
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (b. 1946) American politician, US President (1993-2001)
Television broadcast (27 Nov 1995)
Speech to rally public support behind stationing troops in Bosnia.
Bad rulers … are in constant fear lest others are conspiring to inflict upon them the punishment which they are conscious of deserving.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian politician, philosopher, political scientist
The Discourses on Livy, Book 3, ch. 6 (1517) [tr. Detmold (1882)]
All of us realize that war requires action. What is sometimes harder for us to realize is that peace and neutrality also require action.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1939-11-11), Armistice Day, Brenham, Texas
But as many first-time fathers had realized in the delivery room, there was something about the sight of an actual baby that focused the mind. In a world of abstractions, nothing was more concrete than a baby.
Neal Stephenson (b. 1959) American novelist
The Diamond Age, “Part the First”, “A barbarian is interrogated” (1995)
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) English poet and critic
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Part 2 (1798)
Popularly, "Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink."
The biggest big business in America is not steel, automobiles, or television. It is the manufacture, refinement and distribution of anxiety.
Eric Sevareid (1912-1992) American journalist [Arnold Eric Sevareid]
This is Eric Sevareid (1964)
A revolution is coming – a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough — but a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character, we cannot alter its inevitability.
Robert Francis Kennedy (1925-1968) American politician
Speech, US Senate (May 1966)
At bottom, the court’s opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self-government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.
John Paul Stevens (1920-2019) American lawyer, US Supreme Court Justice (1975-2010)
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. ___ (2010) [Dissenting]
Myth is at the beginning of literature, and also at its end.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
“Parable of Cervantes and Don Quixote” (Jan 1955)
Alt. trans. by A. Hurley, "In the beginning of literature there is myth, as there is also in the end of it."
Every mile is two in winter.
George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 949 (1640 ed.)
(Source)
You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings.
Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) American writer
“My Neighbor’s Son,” To My Daughters, with Love (1967)
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Constitution of the United States, Fourth Amendment (15 Dec 1791)
What will you think of pleasures when you no longer enjoy them?
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], 1802 entry [tr. Auster (1983)]
(Source)
I could not find an analog in other translations of the Pensées.
Do not let your deeds belie your words, lest when you speak in church someone may say to himself, “Why do you not practice what you preach?”
St. Jerome (c. 347-419) Roman Christian priest, theologian, historian, translator [Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus]
Letter 52, to Nepotian (AD 394)
Alt. trans.: "Do not let your deeds belie your words; lest when you speak in church someone may mentally reply, 'Why do you not practice what you profess?'" [Philip Schaff & Henry Wace (eds.) A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, vol. 6 (1893)]
As a child I assumed that when I reached adulthood, I would have grown-up thoughts.
David Sedaris (b. 1956) American humorist, comedian, author
Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls (2013)
The saints, existing in this way, may, with their extravagances of human tenderness, be prophetic. Nay, innumerable times they have proved themselves prophetic. Treating those whom they met, in spite of the past, in spite of all appearances, as worthy, they have stimulated them to be worthy, miraculously transformed them by their radiant example and by the challenge of their expectation.
William James (1842-1910) American psychologist and philosopher
The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature, 14 and 15 (1902)
I believe in property rights; I believe that normally the rights of property and humanity coincide; but sometimes they conflict, and when this is so, I put human rights above property rights.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Outlook (15 Nov 1913)
Where two discourse, if the one’s anger rise,
The man who lets the contest fall is wise.Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Protesilaus, fragment 656
Also attributed to Plutarch.
It is not sufficiently considered how much he assumes who dares to claim the privilege of complaining; for as every man has, in his own opinion, a full share of the miseries of life, he is inclined to consider all clamorous uneasiness as a proof of impatience rather than of affliction, and to ask, what merit has this man to show, by which he has acquired a right to repine at the distributions of nature? Or, why does he imagine that exemptions should be granted him from the general condition of man? We find ourselves excited rather to captiousness than pity, and, instead of being in haste to sooth his complaints by sympathy and tenderness, we inquire whether the pain be proportionate to the lamentation; and whether, supposing the affliction real, it is not the effect of vice and folly, rather than calamity?
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #50 (8 Sep 1750)
(Source)
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
(Attributed)
Reforms and discoveries are like offenses; they must needs come, but woe unto that man through whom they come.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
Further Extracts from the Note-Books of Samuel Butler, ch. 1 (1934)
THE BASTARD: Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail
And say there is no sin but to be rich;
And being rich, my virtue then shall be
To say there is no vice, but beggary.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
King John, Act 2, sc. 1, l. 621ff (2.1.621-624) (1596)
(Source)
Those who fear men love the laws.
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747) French moralist, essayist, soldier
Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes] (1746) [tr. Lee (1903)]
Alt. trans.: "Those who fear men like laws."
To do what you are afraid to do is to guide your life by fear. How much better not to be afraid to do what you believe in doing!
We all, when we are well, give good advice to the sick.
Terence (186?-159 BC) African-Roman dramatist [Publius Terentius Afer]
The Lady of Andros [Andria]
The secret of rulership is to combine a belief in one’s infallibility with the power to learn from past mistakes.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Nineteen Eighty-Four, 2.9 (1949)
I am persuaded that the people of the world have no grievances, one against the other. The hopes and desires of a man who tills the soil are about the same whether he lives on the banks of the Colorado or on the banks of the Danube.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1947-05-07), House of Representatives
(Source)
As part of an argument that the increasing tension between the Soviet Union and the US was over ideology and government actions, not between peoples.
Bud’s relationship with the female sex was governed by a gallimaufry of primal impulses, dim suppositions, deranged theories, overheard scraps of conversation, half-remembered pieces of bad advice, and fragments of no-doubt exaggerated anecdotes that amounted to rank superstition.
Neal Stephenson (b. 1959) American novelist
The Diamond Age, “Part the First,” “A thete visits a mod parlor” (1995)
Be true to your own act, and congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant, and broken the monotony of a decorous age. It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, “Always do what you are afraid to do.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Heroism,” Essays: First Series (1841)
See also Schmich.
A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Mark Twain’s Notebook [ed. Paine (1935)]
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
“Declaration of Independence” (1776-07-04)
(Source)
As modified and approved by the Continental Congress. Jefferson's "original rough draft" is very similar:Prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light & transient causes: and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. but when a long train of abuses & usurpations, begun at a distinguished period, & pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to subject them to arbitrary power, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government & to provide new guards for their future security.
A democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold.
John Paul Stevens (1920-2019) American lawyer, US Supreme Court Justice (1975-2010)
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. (2010) [Dissenting]
Every novel is an ideal plane inserted into the realm of reality.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
“Partial Magic in the Quixote”, Labyrinths (1964)
No one becomes a laughingstock who laughs at himself.
Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Essays, “On the Firmness of the Wise Man,” 17.3 [tr. Basore (1928)]
It is never too late to do right.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Letter to Elizabeth Tucker (1832-02-01)
The staircase that leads to God. What does it matter if it is make-believe, if we really climb it? What difference does it make who builds it, or if it is made of marble or word, of brick, stone, or mud? The essential thing is that it be solid and that in climbing it we feel the peace that is inaccessible to those who do not climb it.
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], 1797 entry [tr. Auster (1983)]
(Source)
I could not find an analog in other translations of the Pensées.
No wild beasts are so dangerous to men as Christians are to one another.
Julian II (AD 331-363), Emperor of Rome (355-363) [Flavius Claudius Julianus; Julian the Apostate; Julian the Philosopher]
(Attributed)
Quoted in Ammianus Marcellinus, History (4th Century AD)
Administrivia: Fortune and glory, kid — fortune and glory
I always feel gratified when someone links back to one of my quotations here as a sign that this site isn’t just scratching a personal itch, but is actually of use. Another site that is invaluable in delving into the sources of poorly (or conflictingly) cited quotations is Garson O’Toole’s Quote Investigator. I recently tweeted him into any info he had on a quotation frequently misattributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, but in reality belonging to Mary Schmich. He looked into it and posted his findings here. He was also kind enough to say this:
Great thanks to Dave Hill who asked about this saying, and its ascription to Eleanor Roosevelt. Hill runs the website “WIST: Wish I’d Said That!” which presents a valuable collection of quotations and citations.
Now that’s something I feel proud about seeing in print. O’Toole’s frequently led me to the truth behind stubborn “(Attributed)” quotations, so it’s a bit of a thrill to get a nice shout-out from him.
(The title for this post is a line from Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz, and George Lucas, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).)
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
Fred Rogers (1928-2003) American educator, minister, songwriter, television host ["Mister Rogers"]
Frequent advice
Rogers frequently repeated variations of this in response to natural disasters and other events of the type. See here for various citations.
A man becomes a saint not by conviction that he is better than sinners but by the realization that he is one of them, and that all together need the mercy of God!
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) French-American religious and writer [a.k.a. Fr. M. Louis]
New Seeds of Contemplation, ch. 8 (1961)
I believe each individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruit of his labor, so far as it in no wise interferes with any other man’s rights.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech, Chicago (10 Jul 1858)
(Source)
If you would not be of an angry temper, then, do not feed the habit. Give it nothing to help it increase. Be quiet at first and reckon the days in which you have not been angry. I used to be angry every day; now every other day; then every third and fourth day; and if you miss it so long as thirty days, offer a of Thanksgiving to God. For habit is first weakened and then entirely destroyed.
Epictetus (c.55-c.135) Greek (Phrygian) Stoic philosopher
The Discourses, ch. 18 (c. AD 101-108)
I hope to make people realize how totally helpless animals are, how dependent on us, trusting as a child must be that we will be kind and take care of their needs […] [They] are an obligation put on us, a responsibility we have no right to neglect, or violate by cruelty.
James Herriot (1916-1995) British veterinary surgeon and writer [pen name of James Alfred "Alf" Wight]
(Attributed)
There’s no such thing as bad whiskey. Some whiskeys just happen to be better than others. But a man shouldn’t fool with booze until he’s fifty, and then he’s a damn fool if he doesn’t.
If the rich could hire others to die for them, the poor could make a nice living.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Yiddish proverb
As to myself, my religious reading has long been confined to the moral branch of religion, which is the same in all religions; while in that branch which consists of dogmas, all differ, all have a different set. The former instructs us how to live well and worthily in society; the latter are made to interest our minds in the support of the teachers who inculcate them. Hence for one sermon on a moral subject, you hear ten on the dogmas of the sect.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to Thomas Leiper (11 Jan 1809)
(Source)
Necessity relieves us from the embarrassment of choice.
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747) French moralist, essayist, soldier
Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes], #592 (1746) [tr. Stevens]
If God has made the world a perfect mechanism, He has at least conceded so much to our imperfect intellect that in order to predict little parts of it, we need not solve innumerable differential equations, but can use dice with fair success.
Max Born (1882-1970) German physicist
“Einstein’s Statistical Theories,” in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (1951) [ed. Paul Arthur Schilpp]
Yet for a long time mortal men have discussed the question whether success in arms depends more on strength of body or excellence of mind; for before you begin, deliberation is necessary, when you have deliberated, prompt action. Thus each of these, being incomplete of itself, requires the other’s aid.
[Sed diu magnum inter mortalis certamen fuit vine corporis an virtute animi res militaris magis procederet. Nam et prius quam incipias, consulto, et ubi consulueris, mature facto opus est. Ita utrumque per se indigens alterum alterius auxilio eget.]
Sallust (c. 86-35 BC) Roman historian and politician [Gaius Sallustius Crispus]
Bellum Catilinae [The War of Catiline; The Conspiracy of Catiline], ch. 1, sent. 5-7 [tr. Rolfe (1931)]
(Source)
Original Latin. Alt. trans.:"But a just estimate of our mental and bodily faculties was not easily made. Which of them was most conducive to the success of military operations, was in former times a question much agitated, and long undecided. It is evident, however, that before the undertaking of a warlike enterprise, judgment is required to concert and plan the necessary measures; vigor in execution is equally necessary. The powers of man, in their separate functions feeble and ineffectual, demand each other's aid, and flourish by mutual assistance." [tr. Murphy (1807)]"It has, however, been a great and long debate, whether success in war is most owing to bodily strength or mental abilities: for, as counsel is necessary before we enter on action, after measures are duly concerted, speedy execution is equally necessary; so that neither of these being sufficient singly, they prevail only by the assistance of each other." [tr. Rose (1831)]"But there has been for a long time a great debate amongst mortals, whether the science of war advanced more by the strength of body or by the abilities of the mind. For both before you begin there is need of counsel; and when you have counselled, there is need of vigorous execution. So whilst both by themselves are defective, the one is strengthened by the assistance of the other." [Source (1841)]"Yet it was long a subject of dispute among mankind, whether military efforts were more advanced by strength of body, or by force of intellect. For, in affairs of war, it is necessary to plan before beginning to act, and, after planning, to act with promptitude and vigor. Thus, each being insufficient of itself, the one requires the assistance of the other." [tr. Watson (1867)]"Not it was long hotly contested among men whether military success was more advanced by mental ability or by bodily strength, for what we need is deliberation before we begin, and after deliberation, then well-timed action; either of itself is deficient and lacks the other's help." [tr. Pollard (1882)]"Yet for a long time there was considerable dispute amongst mortals as to whether it was through the power of the body or the prowess of the mind that military affairs made greater progress. For, before you begin, deliberation is necessary, and, when you have deliberated, speedy action: hence each element, deficient on its own, requires the help of the other." [tr. Woodman (2007)]
Not the least of the qualities that go into the making of a great ruler is the ability of letting others serve him.
Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642) French statesman and religious [Armand-Jean du Plessis]
Political Testament, 1.4
A rioter with a Molotov cocktail in his hands is not fighting for civil rights any more than a Klansman with a sheet on his back and a mask on his face. They are both more or less what the law declares them: lawbreakers, destroyers of constitutional rights and liberties, and ultimately destroyers of a free America.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1965-08-20), White House Conference on Equal Employment Opportunity, Washington, D.C.
(Source)
Discussing the Watts Riots in Los Angeles (11-16 August).
As we learned in Vietnam, high-powered weapons are so sensorily overwhelming that they are similar to psychoactive drugs. Like LSD, which can convince people they can fly — causing them to jump out of windows — weapons can make people overconfident. Skewing their tactical judgement.
Neal Stephenson (b. 1959) American novelist
Snow Crash, ch. 55 (1992)
As someone said, you will never get to the end of the journey if you stop to shy a stone at every dog that barks.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
Speech, Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London (3 Dec 1923)
Also paraphrased as "You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks."
There is nothing so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness it is in your expecting evil before it arrives!
Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium], letter 98
All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
The Age of Uncertainty, ch. 3 (1977)
Time will one day heal the wound to that confidence that will be inflicted by today’s decision. One thing, however, is certain. Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year’s presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the nation’s confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law.
John Paul Stevens (1920-2019) American lawyer, US Supreme Court Justice (1975-2010)
Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000) [Dissenting]
His many years had reduced and polished him the way water smooths and polishes a stone or generations of men polish a proverb.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
“The Man on the Threshold”, The Aleph (1949) [tr. Hurley (1998)]
See also Borges "The South [El Sur]," La Nación (1953): "On the floor, and hanging on to the bar, squatted an old man, immobile as an object. His years had reduced and polished him as water does a stone or the generations of men do a sentence." (Alt. trans. [Hurley (1998)]: "On the floor, curled against the bar, lay an old man, as motionless as an object. The many years had worn him away and polished him, as a stone is worn smooth by running water or a saying is polished by generations of mankind.")
BISHOP: I’m afraid I have some bad news.
HUDSON: Well, that’s a switch.James Cameron (b. 1954) Canadian film director, producer, screenwriter
Aliens (1986)
All of us, without being taught, have attained to a belief in some sort of divinity, though it is not easy for all men to know the precise truth about it, nor is it possible for those who do know it to tell it to all men.
Julian II (AD 331-363), Emperor of Rome (355-363) [Flavius Claudius Julianus; Julian the Apostate; Julian the Philosopher]
Against the Galilaeans (c. 362) [tr. Wright (1923)]
(Source)
This is perhaps a not unimportant counsel to give to writers: write nothing that does not give you great pleasure; emotion passes easily from writer to reader.
[Ce ne serait peut-être pas un conseil peu important à donner aux écrivains, que celui-ci: n’écrivez jamais rien qui ne vous fasse un grand plaisir; l’émotion se propage aisément de l’écrivain au lecteur.]
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 “Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [On the Qualities of Writers],” ¶ 58 (1850 ed.) [tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 22, ¶ 25]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:This were perhaps not an unimportant advice to give to writers: never write any thing that does not give you great enjoyment; emotion is easily propagated from the writer to the reader.
[tr. Calvert (1866), ch. 15]And perhaps there is no advice to give a writer more important than this: -- Never write anything that does not give you great pleasure.
[tr. Auster (1983)], 1823 entry]
The cheap contractions and revised spellings of the advertising world which have made the beauty of the written word almost unrecognizable — surely any society that permits the substitution of “kwik” for “quick” and “e.z.” for “easy” does not deserve Shakespeare, Eliot, or Michener.
Russell Baker (1925-2019) American journalist, author, humorist
Column, New York Times
In natural science it is felt to be useless to build on assumptions; in history we look with suspicion on a priori ideas of what ought to have been; in mathematics, when a step is wrong, we pull the house down until we reach the point at which the error is discovered. But in theology it is otherwise; there the tendency has been to conceal the unsoundness of the foundation under the fairness and loftiness of the superstructure. It has been thought safer to allow arguments to stand which, although fallacious, have been on the right side, than to point out their defect. And thus many principles have imperceptibly grown up which have overridden facts.
Benjamin Jowett (1817-1893) English classical scholar and theologian
“On the Interpretation of Scripture,” Sec. 1, Essays and Reviews, ed. John William Parker (1860)
A man makes his inferiors his superiors by heat. […] Self-control is the rule.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Social Aims,” lecture, Boston (1864-12-04), Letters and Social Aims (1875)
(Source)
A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (14 Jul 1763)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
SAINT, n. A dead sinner, revised and edited.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
Don’t ask f’r rights. Take thim. An’ don’t let anny wan give thim to ye. A right that is handed to ye f’r nawthin’ has somethin’ th’ matter with it.
[Don’t ask for rights. Take them. And don’t let anyone give them to you. A right that is handed to you for nothing has something the matter with it.]
Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936) American humorist and journalist
“On Woman Suffrage,” American Magazine (1906)
When a rogue kisses you, count your teeth.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Jewish proverb
What an effort, my dear Sir, of bigotry in Politics & Religion have we gone through. The barbarians really flattered themselves they should even be able to bring back the times of Vandalism, when ignorance put every thing into the hands of power & priestcraft. All advances in science were proscribed as innovations. They pretended to praise & encourage education, but it was to be vain the education of our ancestors. We were to look backwards not forwards for improvement, the President himself declaring in one of his answers to addresses that we were never to expect to go beyond them in real science. This was the real ground of all the attacks on you: those who live by mystery & charlatanerie, fearing you would render them useless by simplifying the Christian philosophy, the most sublime & benevolent, but most perverted system that ever shone on man, endeavored to crush your well earnt, & well deserved fame.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to Joseph Priestley (21 Mar 1801)
(Source)
We simply must believe that the American rich are happy, else our confidence in the whole endeavor might be shaken. For of all the possible values of human society, one and only one is [the] truly acceptable goal of man in America. That goal is money, and let there be no sour grapes about it from the losers.
C. Wright Mills (1916-1962) American sociologist, academic, author [Charles Wright Mills]
The Power Elite, 7.4 (1956)
None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
(Attributed)
First attributed in Kate Sanborn, A Year of Sunshine; Cheerful Extracts for Every Day in the Year (1886), but not found in his writings.
It is a curious thing, do you know, Cranly said dispassionately, how your mind is supersaturated with the religion in which you say you disbelieve.
James Joyce (1882-1941) Irish writer, poet
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, ch. 5 (1916)
(Source)
Yeah, you know, a monopolist’s work is never done. No such thing as a perfect monopoly. Seems like you can never get that last one-tenth of one percent.
Neal Stephenson (b. 1959) American novelist
Snow Crash, ch. 14 (1992)