What is Art, monsieur, but Nature concentrated?

[Qu’est-ce que l’Art, monsieur? C’est la Nature concentrée.]

Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright
Illusions perdues, Vol. 1 “Un grand homme de province à Paris,” Part 1 (1839)

Lost Illusions, Vol. 1 "A Distinguished Provincial at Paris"  Full text.
 
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Among the scenes which are deeply impressed on my mind, none exceed in sublimity the primeval forests undefaced by the hand of man.  No one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) English naturalist
Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by HMS Beagle, ch. 21 (1839)
 
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Talent is that which is in a man’s power; genius is that in whose power a man is.

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) American diplomat, essayist, poet
“Rousseau and the Sentimentalists” (1867)
 
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Men never forgive those in whom there is nothing to pardon.

Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) English novelist and politician
“Thoughts” (30), Weeds and Wildflowers (1826)
 
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A medal glitters, but it also casts a shadow.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
Speech, House of Commons (22 Mar 1944)
 
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I have carried a dinner pail and worked for day’s wages, and I have also been an employer of labor, and I know there is something to be said on both sides. There is no excellence, per se, in poverty; rags are no recommendation; and all employers are not rapacious and high-handed, any more than all poor men are virtuous.

Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
A Message to Garcia (1899)

Full text.

 
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For man proposes but God disposes. The path a person takes does not lie within himself.

[Nam homo proponit, sed Deus disponit, nec est in homine via ejus.]

Thomas von Kempen
Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380-1471) German-Dutch priest, author
The Imitation of Christ [De Imitatione Christi], Book 1, ch. 19, v. 2 (1.19.2) (c. 1418-27) [tr. Creasy (1989)]
    (Source)

Thomas saying that, regardless of a person's good intentions to act virtuously, they are dependent on God's grace to make that actually happen.

The phrase "Man proposes but God disposes" (or the Latin original of it) was coined by Thomas, which makes it ironic where some later translators put it in quotations or self-referent indeeds.

The text given relates to, is frequently footnoted to, and even is quoted directly from:
  • Proverbs 16:9 ("A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps." [KJV])
  • Jeremiah 10:23 ("O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." [KJV])

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

For man purposeth, but God disposeth: nay, the way that man shall walk in this world is not in himself but in the grace of God.
[tr. Whitford/Raynal (1530/1871)]

Man proposes, but God disposes. The way that a man shall walk in this world is found not in himself, but in the grace of God.
[tr. Whitford/Gardiner (1530/1955)]

For man doth propose but God doth dispose, neither is the way of man in his owne hands.
[tr. Page (1639), 1.19.9]

A Man's Heart deviseth his Way, but the Lord directeth his Steps, says Solomon: We may contrive and act as seems most adviseable; by which we do so, are from the Lord, so is the Event of our having done it entirely in his disposal.
[tr. Stanhope (1696; 1706 ed.), 1.19.3]

Tho' the heart of man deviseth his way, yet the Lord ordereth the event; and that it is not in man that walketh, to direct his steps.
[tr. Payne (1803)]

For man proposes, but God disposes; neither is the way of man in himself.
[Parker ed. (1841); Bagster ed. (1860); Anon. (1901)]

For man proposes but GOD disposes: nor is it in man to direct his steps.
[tr. Dibdin (1851)]

For man proposeth, but God disposeth; and the way of a man is not in himself.
[tr. Benham (1874)]

For man, indeed, proposes but God disposes, and God's way is not man's.
[tr. Croft/Bolton (1940)]

For man proposes, but God disposes, and a man's road is not within himself.
[tr. Daplyn (1952)]

Man proposes, but God disposes, and man's destiny is not in his own hands.
[tr. Sherley-Price (1952)]

They know that "man proposes, and God disposes"; the course of a man's life is not what he makes it.
[tr. Knox-Oakley (1959)]

For man proposes, God disposes, and it is not for man to choose his lot.
[tr. Knott (1962)]

Man indeed proposes, bit it is God who disposes nor is the course of man in his power as he goes his way.
[tr. Rooney (1979)]

 
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Wise children always choose a mother who was a shocking flirt in her maiden days, and so had several offers before she accepted their fortunate papa.

J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
The Little White Bird, ch. 22 (1902)
 
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If nowhere else, in the relation between Church and State, “good fences make good neighbors.”

Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965) US Supreme Court Justice, jurist and teacher
McCollum v. Board of Education (1948)

See Frost.
 
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It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) English poet
Ulysses, l. 1-5 (1842)
 
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Some folks can look so busy doin’ nothin’ that they seem indispensable.

Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist
(Attributed)
 
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In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series (1841)
 
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To Err is Human; to Forgive, Divine.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet
“An Essay on Criticism,” l. 525 (1711)
 
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Time removes distress.

[Diem adimere aegritudinem hominibus.]

Terence (186?-159 BC) African-Roman dramatist [Publius Terentius Afer]
Heauton Timoroumenos [The Self-Tormentor], Act 3, sc. 1, l. 12 (l. 421)

Alt. trans.: "Time heals all wounds", "Time assuages sorrow." Referred to as an old saying.

 
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The individual is not accountable to society for his actions in so far as these concern the interests of no person but himself. Advice, instruction, persuasion, and avoidance by other people, if thought necessary by them for their own good, are the only measures by which society can justifiably express its dislike or disapprobation of his conduct.

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) English philosopher and economist
On Liberty, ch. 5 “Applications” (1859)
    (Source)
 
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Coercion may prevent many transgressions; but it robs even actions which are legal of a portion of their beauty. Freedom may lead to many transgressions, but it lends even to vices a less ignoble form.

Wilhelm von Humboldt
Baron Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835) German philologist, diplomat
The Limits of State Action, ch. 8 (1792) [tr. Coulthard (1854)]
 
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The desire for wealth is nearly universal, and none can say it is not laudable, provided the possessor of it accepts its responsibilities, and uses it as a friend to humanity.

P T Barnum
P.T. Barnum (1810-1891) American showman [Phineas Taylor Barnum]
Art of Money Getting, ch. 20 “Preserve your integrity” (1880)

Full text.
 
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To keep up and improve Friendship, thou must be willing to receive a Kindness, as well as to do one.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, #1187 (1725)
    (Source)
 
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All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called “facts.” They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
“The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,” Atlantic Monthly (1857-11)
    (Source)

Collected in The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. 1 (1858)
 
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People exaggerate both happiness and unhappiness; we are never so fortunate nor so unfortunate as people say we are.

[On amplifie également le malheur et le boneur, nous ne sommes jamais ni si malheureux, ni si heureux qu’on le dit.]

Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright
Modeste Mignon, ch. 24 (1844) [tr. Wormeley]
 
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Sure he was great, but don’t forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did, backwards … and in high heels.

Bob Thaves
Bob Thaves (1924-2006) American cartoonist
Frank & Ernest (1982)


About Fred Astaire. Earliest found reference, and credited to Thaves at the official Ginger Rogers site.

 
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Rules are solutions to yesterdays problems.

Kelvin R. Throop (contemp.) Fictional bureaucrat, epigrammist [collectiive pseud. for various Analog magazone authors]
(Attributed)
 
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The events which we see, and which look like freaks of chance, are only the last steps in long lines of causation.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, 5 May 1943 [rec. Lucien Price (1954)]
 
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The greatest vicissitude of things amongst men is the vicissitude of sects and religions.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
“Of Vicissitude of Things,” Essays, No. 58 (1625)
    (Source)
 
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She learned to love him before he thought it was even possible, so he didn’t have a chance to hide and mess it up and while it was a little scary at times, mainly he could not even imagine the world without her there.

Brian Andreas (b. 1956) American writer, artist, publisher [birth and pen name of Kai Andreas Skye]
Trusting Soul, “Possible Love” (2000)
 
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Heaven ne’er helps the men who will not act.

Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Philoctetes, fragment 288 (c. 409 BC)
    (Source)

As translated in Edward Plumptre, The Tragedies of Sophocles, "Fragments," frag. 288 (2d ed., 1878), based on Karl Wilhelm Dindorf's numbering.

Common variant: "Heaven helps not the men who will not act."

The sentiment is a frequently repeated one. For more discussion of this family of quotations, see: God helps those who help themselves - Wikipedia.

Spuriously attributed to Sydney Smith, William Shakespeare, and Cicero. See George Herbert.
 
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When opinions are free, either in matters of government or religion, truth will finally and powerfully prevail.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) American political philosopher and writer
The Age of Reason, Closing Words (1796)
 
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The freedom of all is essential to my freedom.

Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876) Russian anarchist, political theorist
The Political Philosophy of Bakunin: Scientific Anarchism, 3.13 (1871) [ed. Maximoff (1953)]
 
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She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces through the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She looked down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror cracked from side to side;
“The curse is come upon me,” cried
The Lady of Shalott.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) English poet
“The Lady of Shalott,” Part 3, st. 5 (1832)
 
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Wo be to him that reads but one book.

George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 1146 (1651 ed.)
    (Source)

See this Latin proverb.
 
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A thing is funny when — in some way that is not actually offensive or frightening — it upsets the established order. Every joke is a tiny revolution. If you had to define humour in a single phrase, you might define it as dignity sitting on a tin-tack. Whatever destroys dignity, and brings down the mighty from their seats, preferably with a bump, is funny. And the bigger the fall, the bigger the joke. It would be better fun to throw a custard pie at a bishop than at a curate.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Funny, But Not Vulgar,” Leader Magazine (1945-07-28)
    (Source)

Written in December 1944. More discussion of this quotation here.
 
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Be a Friend to thyself, and others will be so too.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, # 847 (1732)
    (Source)
 
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Grant us Thy truth to make us free,
And kindling hearts that burn for Thee,
Till all Thy living altars claim
One holy light, one heavenly flame.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
“Lord of All Being” (1848)
 
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My further advice on your relations to women is based upon that other motto of chivalry, “Serve all, love one.”

[Mes avis sur vos relations avec les femmes sont aussi dans ce mot de chevalerie: Les servir toutes, n’en aimer qu’une.]

Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright
Le lys dans la vallée, Part 2 “First Love” (1836) [tr. Wormeley]
 
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America! half-brother of the world!
With something good and bad of every land.

Phillip James Bailey
Philip James Bailey (1816-1902) English poet, lawyer
Festus, Sc. “The Surface” [Festus] (1839)
    (Source)
 
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Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.

Tehyi Hsieh (1884-1972) Chinese philosopher, educator, diplomat
Chinese epigrams inside out, and proverbs (1948)
 
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There is no sin and there can be no sin on all the earth, which the Lord will not forgive to the truly repentant! Man cannot commit a sin so great as to exhaust the infinite love of God.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) Russian novelist
The Brothers Karamazov, 2.3 [Fr. Zossima] (1880) [tr. Garnett (1912)]
 
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You might however consider whether you should not unfold as a background the great privilege of habeas corpus and trial by jury, which are the supreme protection invented by the English people for ordinary individuals against the state. The power of the Executive to cast a man in prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government, whether Nazi or Communist.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
Telegram from Cairo to Home Secretary Herbert Morrison (21 Nov 1942)
 
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Anyone who idolizes you is going to hate you when he discovers that you are fallible. He never forgives. He has deceived himself, and he blames you for it.

Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
An American Bible [ed. Alice Hubbard] (1918)
 
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Administrivia: Upgraded to WordPress 3.0.1

WIST has been upgraded to the latest version of WordPress.  This is probably the most difficult off the blogs I have to do this with, as I’ve actually tinkered with the source code (RSS2 and Atom feeds), and have to recreate that each time.  Things look good at the moment, though.

If you spot something wrong on the blog — bad formatting, errors — please let me know as soon as possible.


 
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Let the world slide, let the world go;
A fig for care, and a fig for woe!
If I can’t pay, why I can owe,
And death makes equal the high and low.

John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
“Be Merry Friends”
 
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I have known no man of genius who had not to pay, in some affliction or defect either physical or spiritual, for what the gods had given him.

Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) English parodist, caricaturist, wit, writer [Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm]
And Even Now, “No. 2, The Pines” (1920)
 
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In fact generally, doing well by others is more characteristic of virtue than being done well by, and doing things positively honourable than forbearing to do things dishonourable.

[τῆς γὰρ ἀρετῆς μᾶλλον τὸ εὖ ποιεῖν ἢ τὸ εὖ πάσχειν, καὶ τὰ καλὰ πράττειν μᾶλλον ἢ τὰ αἰσχρὰ μὴ πράττειν]

Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher
Nicomachean Ethics [Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια], Book 4, ch. 1 (4.1.7) / 1120a.11 (c. 325 BC) [tr. Chase (1847)]
    (Source)

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

For virtue rather shows itself in treating others as we ought, than in being treated as we ought; and in doing noble acts, rather than in abstaining from disgraceful acts.
[tr. Williams (1869)]

For it is more truly distinctive of virtue to be the author than to be the recipient of benefactions, and to do what is noble than to abstain from doing what is shameful.
[tr. Welldon (1892)]

For it is more distinctive of virtue to do good to others than to have good done to you, and to do what is noble than not to do what is base.
[tr. Peters (1893)]

For it is more characteristic of virtue to do good than to have good done to one, and more characteristic to do what is noble than not to do what is base.
[tr. Ross (1908)]

Virtue is displayed in doing good rather than in having good done to one, and in performing noble acts rather than in avoiding base ones.
[tr. Rackham (1934)]

The good man thinks it more blessed to give than to receive, and virtue is more clearly shown in the performance of fine actions than in the non-performance of base ones.
[tr. Thomson (1953)]

Virtue consists more in doing good than in receiving it, and more in doing fine actions than in refraining from disgraceful ones.
[tr. Thomson/Tredennick (1976)]

For it is more proper to virtue to do good than to receive good, and more proper to do fine actions than not to do shameful ones.
[tr. Irwin (1999)]

For it is more characteristic of virtue to do good than to receive it, and to do noble actions than not to do shameful ones.
[tr. Crisp (2000)]

Cf. the Bible, Acts 20:35 [KJV]:

I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
 
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Certainly fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
“Of Praise,” Essays, No. 53 (1625)
    (Source)
 
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I try to use unconditional love in small amounts, she said, so people really appreciate it.  The rest of the time I just try not to yell.

Brian Andreas (b. 1956) American writer, artist, publisher [birth and pen name of Kai Andreas Skye]
Trusting Soul, “Unconditional Love” (2000)
 
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Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience — the knowledge that our mighty deeds will come to the ears of our contemporaries or “of those who are to be.” We are ready to sacrifice our true, transitory self for the imaginary eternal self we are building up, by our heroic deeds, in the opinion and imagination of others.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 13, § 47 (1951)
    (Source)
 
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The little I have seen of the world … teaches me to look upon the errors of others in sorrow, not in anger.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
Hyperion, 4.3 (1839)
 
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I am human, I consider nothing human is alien to me.

[Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto.]

Terence (186?-159 BC) African-Roman dramatist [Publius Terentius Afer]
Heauton Timoroumenos [The Self-Tormentor], l. 77

Alt. trans.:
  • "I am human [being], I consider nothing human to be alien to me."
  • "I am a human being, so there is nothing human I do not feel to be my concern."
  • "I am a human being; nothing human is alien to me."
 
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To refuse a hearing to an opinion because they are sure that it is false, is to assume that their certainty is the same thing as absolute certainty. All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) English philosopher and economist
On Liberty, ch. 2 “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion” (1859)
    (Source)
 
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Men might be better if we better deemed
Of them. The worst way to improve the world
Is to condemn it.

Phillip James Bailey
Philip James Bailey (1816-1902) English poet, lawyer
Festus, Sc. “A Mountain – Sunrise” [Festus] (1839)
    (Source)
 
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A man without mirth is like a waggon without springs, in which one is caused disagreeably to jolt by every pebble over which it runs. A man with mirth is like a chariot with springs, in which one can ride over the roughest road, and scarcely feel anything but a pleasant rocking motion.

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American clergyman and orator
Royal Truths (1862)
    (Source)

Frequently rendered, but unsourced in this form:

A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road.

In Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit, "The Human Mind" [ed. Drysdale (1887)], Beecher is recorded similarly saying:

A practical, matter-of-fact man is like a wagon without springs: every single pebble on the road jolts him; but a man with imagination has springs that break the jar and jolt.

 
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Man is not God’s last word: God can still create. If you cannot do His work, He will produce some being who can.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Back to Methuselah, ch. 2 (1921)
 
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The maxim ‘Nothing avails but perfection’ may be spelt shorter: ‘Paralysis.’

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
Note to General Ismay (6 Dec 1942)

On proposed landing craft improvements.  In Churchill, The Second World War, Volume IV: The Hinge of Fate, Appendix C (1951)

 
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Revolution is not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade. It is a perpetual process embedded in the human spirit. When all today’s isms have become yesterday’s ancient philosophy, there will still be reactionaries and there will still be revolutionaries.

Abbie Hoffman (1936-1989) American political activist
Soon to be a Major Motion Picture (1980)
 
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Some who are too scrupulous to steal your possession nevertheless see no wrong in tampering with your thoughts.

Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) Lebanese-American poet, writer, painter [Gibran Khalil Gibran]
Spiritual Sayings of Kahlil Gibran, “Sayings” [tr. Ferris (1962)]
 
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The creationist is a sham religious person who, curiously, has no true sense of religion. In the language of religion, it is the facts we observe in the world around us that must be seen to constitute the words of God. Documents, whether the Bible, Qur’an or those writings that held such force for Velikovsky, are only the words of men. To prefer the words of men to those of God is what one can mean by blasphemy. This, we think, is the instinctive point of view of most scientists who, curiously again, have a deeper understanding of the real nature of religion than have the many who delude themselves into a frenzied belief in the words, often the meaningless words, of men. Indeed, the lesser the meaning, the greater the frenzy, in something like inverse proportion.

Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) English astronomer, author
Our Place in the Cosmos (1993)
 
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In retrospect all events seem inevitable.

Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
White House Years, ch. 27 (1979)
 
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Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
Apothegms, # 36 (1624)
 
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I finally got to exactly where I wanted to be, she said, so why won’t all these growth experiences go away and leave me alone?

Brian Andreas (b. 1956) American writer, artist, publisher [birth and pen name of Kai Andreas Skye]
Trusting Soul, “Pesky Growth” (2000)
 
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Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.

Mario Puzo
Mario Puzo (1920-1999) American novelist, screenwriter
The Godfather, Part II (film) (1974)
 
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Dies iræ! dies illa
Solvet sæclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla!

Day of wrath! O day of mourning!
See fulfilled the prophets’ warning,
Heaven and earth in ashes burning!

Thomas of Celano
Thomas of Celano (c.1200 - c.1265) Italian friar, poet, hagiographer [Tommaso da Celano]
“Dies Irae” (13th C.) [tr. Irons (1849)]

Alt. trans.:

"That day of wrath, that dreadful day,
shall heaven and earth in ashes lay,
as David and the Sybil say."

"Day of wrath, day that
will dissolve the world into burning coals,
as David bore witness with the Sibyl."

 
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All men are liable to error; and most men are in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it.

John Locke (1632-1704) English philosopher
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 4.20.17 (1690)
 
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Moderation in all things.

[Ne quid nimis.]

Terence (186?-159 BC) African-Roman dramatist [Publius Terentius Afer]
The Lady of Andros [Andria], l. 61

See Cleobulus.
 
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First, if any opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true. To deny this is to assume our own infallibility.

Secondly, though the silenced opinion be an error, it may, and very commonly does, contain a portion of truth; and since the general or prevailing opinion on any subject is rarely or never the whole truth, it is only by the collision of adverse opinions that the remainder of the truth has any chance of being supplied.

Thirdly, even if the received opinion be not only true, but the whole truth; unless it is suffered to be, and actually is, vigorously and earnestly contested, it will, by most of those who receive it, be held in the manner of a prejudice, with little comprehension or feeling of its rational grounds.

And not only this, but, fourthly, the meaning of the doctrine itself will be in danger of being lost, or enfeebled, and deprived of its vital effect on the character and conduct: the dogma becoming a mere formal profession, inefficacious for good, but cumbering the ground, and preventing the growth of any real and heartfelt conviction, from reason or personal experience.

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) English philosopher and economist
On Liberty, ch. 2 “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion” (1859)
    (Source)
 
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Flattery won’t hurt you if you don’t swallow it.

Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist
Short Furrows (1913)
 
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There are very few honest friends — the demand is not particularly great.

[Es gibt wenig aufrichtige Freunde. Die Nachfrage ist auch gering.]

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) Austrian writer
Aphorisms [Aphorismen], No. 528 (1880) [tr. Scrase & Mieder (1994)]
    (Source)
 
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Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.

Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) Spanish mystic, poet, philosopher, saint
“Maxims for Her Nuns”
 
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The settled opinion here is, that religion is essentially distinct from Civil Govt., and exempt from its cognizance; that a connexion between them is injurious to both; that there are causes in the human breast which ensure the perpetuity of religion without the aid of the law; that rival sects, with equal rights, exercise mutual censorships in favor of good morals; that if new sects arise with absurd opinions or over-heated imaginations, the proper remedies lie in time, forbearance, and example; that a legal establishment of religion without a toleration could not be thought of, and with a toleration, is no security for public quiet & harmony, but rather a source of discord & animosity; and, finally, that these opinions are supported by experience, which has shewn that every relaxation of the alliance between Law & religion, from the partial example of Holland to its consummation in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, &c., has been found as safe in practice as it is sound in theory.

James Madison (1751-1836) American statesman, political theorist, US President (1809-17)
Letter to Edward Everett (18 Mar 1823)
 
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I tell this story to illustrate the truth of the statement I heard long ago in the Army: Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) American general, US President (1953-61)
Speech, National Defense Executive Reserve Conference (14 Nov 1957)

Quoted in R. Nixon, Six Crises, "Krushchev" (1962) as "In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." Sometimes paraphrased as "Plans are nothing; planning is everything."

 
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Art is man’s nature; nature is God’s art.

Phillip James Bailey
Philip James Bailey (1816-1902) English poet, lawyer
Festus, Sc. “A Visit” [Festus] (1839)
    (Source)
 
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For there’s a lot of masochism in the acting profession. We’re willing to take a lot of punishment, but the minute we hit a little bit of success we are liable to run from it. We’re frightened of it and develop all kinds of phobias as a consequence. Outsiders who don’t understand think we have a chip on our shoulder, but it’s not that at all. We’re so used to failure, to being hurt and rebuffed, that we can easily come unhinged by success.

Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball (1911-1989) American actress, comedian, producer
Love, Lucy (1996)
 
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Man, as we know him, is a poor creature; but he is halfway between an ape and a god, and he is traveling in the right direction.

William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]
“Confessio Fidei,” Outspoken Essays: Second Series (1922)
 
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Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
Speech at the Lord Mayor’s Luncheon, London (10 Nov 1942)

Referring to the victory over the German Afrika Korps at the Second Battle of El Alamein.

 
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Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger.

Abbie Hoffman (1936-1989) American political activist
Quoted in “Mourning, and Celebrating, a Radical,” New York Times (20 Apr 1989)
    (Source)

Most likely from "Sacred cows make great hamburgers," an anonymous saying recorded in Reisner and Wechsler, Encyclopedia of Graffiti (1974).
 
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All gardening is landscape painting.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet
(Attributed)

In Joseph Spence, Observations, Anecdotes, and Characters, of Books and Men Collected from the Conversation of Mr. Pope and Other Eminent Persons of His Time, 2nd ed., ch. 4 "1734-1736" (1858)
 
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A statesman who cannot shape events will soon be engulfed by them.

Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
Years of Upheaval, ch. 24 (1982)
 
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Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
“Of Studies,” Essays, No. 50 (1625)
    (Source)
 
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The problem with knowing everything’s going exactly as it needs to is that when you’re not having that much fun it doesn’t even do any good to complain.

Brian Andreas (b. 1956) American writer, artist, publisher [birth and pen name of Kai Andreas Skye]
Trusting Soul, “Partial Enlightenment” (2000)
 
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To believe that if we could have but this or that we would be happy is to suppress the realization that the cause of our unhappiness is in our inadequate and blemished selves. Excessive desire is thus a means of suppressing our sense of worthlessness.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
The Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 6 (1955)
    (Source)
 
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Not one looks backward, onward still he goes,
Yet ne’er looks forward further than his nose.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet
“An Essay on Man,” 4.223 (1734)
 
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Ignorance armed with power is just as dangerous as insanity armed with a razor.

Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) Russian politician, Marxist, intellectual, revolutionary [b. Lev Davidovich Bronstein]
“Stalin as a Theoretician” (Mar 1930)

Full text.
 
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Conscience can’t be compelled.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #1144 (1732)
    (Source)
 
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For nothing worthy proving can be proven,
Nor yet disproven: wherefore thou be wise,
Cleave ever to the sunnier side of doubt,
And cling to Faith beyond the forms of Faith!

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) English poet
“The Ancient Sage”, l. 66-69 (1885)
 
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God’s Mill grinds slow, but sure.

George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 747 (1640 ed.)
    (Source)
 
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The rock-bottom foundation of a free press is the integrity of the people who run it.

Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech to journalists, Portland, Oregon (8 Sep 1952)
 
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A taxpaying public that doesn’t understand the law is a taxpaying public that can’t comply with the law.

Lawrence Gibbs (b. 1938) American tax lawyer, IRS Commissioner
Wall Street Journal (3 Mar 1987)
 
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It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell your friend of his faults. … To speak painful truth through loving words — that is friendship.

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American clergyman and orator
Life Thoughts [rec. Proctor (1858)]
 
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Always think of yourself as everyone’s servant; look for Christ Our Lord in everyone and you will then have respect and reverence for them all.

Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) Spanish mystic, poet, philosopher, saint
“Maxims for Her Nuns,” #25

In Complete Works St. Teresa of Avila, Vol. 3 (1963) [ed E. Allison Peers]

 
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We are teaching the world the great truth, that Governments do better without kings and nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson: that Religion flourishes in greater purity without, than with the aid of Government.

James Madison (1751-1836) American statesman, political theorist, US President (1809-17)
Letter to Edward Livingston (10 Jul 1822)
 
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Administrivia:

Howdy. WIST will be taking a brief vacation break, returning next Tuesday. Thanks for all your support.


 
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If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other, it is the principle of free thought — not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935) American jurist, Supreme Court Justice
United States v. Schwimmer, 279 U.S. 644 (1929) [Dissent]
    (Source)
 
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Brace thee, my friend, when times are hard, to show
A mind unmoved; nor less, when fair thy state,
A sober joy. For Death doth wait
As surely, whether woe
Dogs all thy days, or fortune bids thee bask
On peaceful lawn reclined while life goes well,
And quaff thy wine, from inner cell
Drawn at Falernian cask.

[Aequam memento rebus in arduis
servare mentem, non secus in bonis
ab insolenti temperatam
laetitia, moriture Delli,
seu maestus omni tempore vixeris
seu te in remoto gramine per dies
festos reclinatum bearis
interiore nota Falerni.]

Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Odes [Carmina], Book 2, # 3, l. 1ff (2.3.1-8) (23 BC) [tr. Marshall (1908)]
    (Source)

Generally believed to be addressed to Quintus Dellius, but some scholars point to an older manuscript that refers to "Gelli" rather than "Delli," which then fits into various theories about themes in in Horace's works.

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Keep still an equal minde, not sunk
With stormes of adverse chance, not drunk
With sweet Prosperitie,
O Dellius that must die,
Whether thou live still melancholy,
Or stretcht in a retired valley;
Make all thy howers merry
With bowls of choicest Sherrie.
[tr. Sir R. Fanshaw; ed. Brome (1666)]

An even mind in every State,
Amidst the Frowns and Smiles of Fate,
Dear mortal Delius always show;
Let not too much of cloudy Fear,
Nor too intemperate joys appear
Or to contract, or to extend thy Brow:
Whether thy dull unhappy Years
Run slowly clog'd with Hopes and Fears,
And sit too heavy on thy Soul;
Or whether crown'd on Beds of Flowers
Mirth softly drives thy easy hours
And cheers thy Spirits with the choicest Bowl.
[tr. Creech (1684)]

An equal mind, when storms o'ercloud,
Maintain, nor 'neath a brighter sky
Let pleasure make your heart too proud,
O Dellius, Dellius! sure to die,
Whether in gloom you spend each year,
Or through long holydays at ease
In grassy nook your spirit cheer
With old Falernian vintages.
[tr. Conington (1872)]

O Dellius, since thou art born to die, be mindful to preserve a temper of mind even in times of difficulty, as well an restrained from insolent exultation in prosperity: whether thou shalt lead a life of continual sadness, or through happy days regale thyself with Falernian wine of the oldest date, at ease reclined in some grassy retreat.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]

Let not the frowns of fate
Disquiet thee, my friend,
Nor, when she smiles on thee, do thou, elate
With vaunting thoughts, ascend
Beyond the limits of becoming mirth,
For, Dellius, thou must die, become a clod of earth!
 
Whether thy days go down
In gloom, and dull regrets.
Or, shunning life's vain struggle for renown,
Its fever and its frets,
Stretch'd on the grass, with old Falernian wine.
Thou giv'st the thoughtless hours a rapture all divine.
[tr. Martin (1864)]

With a mind undisturbed take life's good and life's evil,
Temper grief from despair, temper joy from vainglory;
For, through each mortal change, equal mind,
O my Dellius, befits mortal-born,
Whether all that is left thee of life be but trouble,
Or, reclined at thine ease amid grassy recesses,
Thy Falernian, the choicest, records
How serenely the holidays glide.
[tr. Bulwer-Lytton (1870)]

An even mind in days of care,
And in thy days of joy to bear
A chastened mood, remember: why?
'Tis, Dellius, that thou hast to die.
Alike, if all thy life be sad,
Or festal season find thee glad,
On the lone turf at ease recline,
And quaff thy best Falernian wine.
[tr. Gladstone (1894)]

See thou preserve a true equanimity
In seasons adverse, and in prosperity
A mind restrain'd from overweening
Joy, for, my Dellius, thou art mortal!
Whether in sorrow all thy life long thou live,
Or in a distant glade on some holiday,
Thou lie at ease, the summer day long,
Quaffing the specially-mark'd Falernian.
[tr. Phelps (1897)]

An even mind remember to preserve
In arduous times, conversely, in the good
One tinctured with no overweening joy.
For you will die (Gillo)
Whether you live at all times sad,
Or whether on distant lawn reclined
Through days of feast you are made glorious
From inmost cellar of Falernian.
[tr. Garnsey (1907)]

Remember, when life’s path is steep, to keep an even mind, and likewise, in prosperity, a spirit restrained from over-weening joy, Dellius, seeing thou art doomed to die, whether thou live always sad, or reclining in grassy nook take delight on holidays in some choice vintage of Falernian wine.
[tr. Bennett (Loeb) (1912)]

Remember, Dellius, doomed to die
Some day, to keep a level mind
When times are hard, nor pridefully
Exalt your horn when Fate seems kind --
Aye, doomed to die, whether each dawn
Renews your griefs, or days of rest
Comfort you, couched on some far lawn,
With old Falernian of the best.
[tr. Mills (1924)]

Maintain an unmoved poise in adversity;
Likewise in luck one free of extravagant
Joy. Bear in mind my admonition,
Dellius. Whether you pass a lifetime
Prostrate with gloom, or whether you celebrate
Feast-days with choice old brands of Falernian,
Stretched out in some green, unfrequented
Meadow, remember your death is certain.
[tr. Michie (1963)]

Remember, Dellius: keep yourself in
Balance when it’s hard, keep yourself in
Balance when all of it comes your way,
All of us destined to die
Whether we live forever sad
Or always lying in some grassy spot,
Celebrating life away
With a jug of choice Falernian.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]

When things are bad, be steady in your mind;
Dellius, don't be
Too unrestrainedly joyful in good fortune.
You are going to die.
It doesn't matter at all whether you spend
Your days and nights in sorrow,
Or, on the other hand, in holiday pleasure,
Drinking Falernian wine
Of an excellent vintage year, on the river bank.
[tr. Ferry (1997)]

Remember, entrapped in life’s bitter maze,
to keep an even mind. Even in prosperity
do not give way to unbridled joy.
Remember, you must die, O Dellius,
Whether you live always embrued in melancholy
or languidly laying in a far-off meadow
on festive days, you take delight in
some choice vintage of Falernian wine.
[tr. Alexander (1999)]

When things are troublesome, always remember,
keep an even mind, and in prosperity
be careful of too much happiness:
since my Dellius, you’re destined to die,
whether you live a life that’s always sad,
or reclining, privately, on distant lawns,
in one long holiday, take delight
in drinking your vintage Falernian.
[tr. Kline (2015)]

 
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We learn geology the morning after the earthquake.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Considerations by the Way,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 7 (1860)
 
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To have courage for whatever comes in life — everything lies in that.

Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) Spanish mystic, poet, philosopher, saint
(Attributed)
 
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It is moreover to weaken in those who profess this Religion a pious confidence in its innate excellence and the patronage of its Author; and to foster in those who still reject it, a suspicion that its friends are too conscious of its fallacies to trust it to its own merits.

James Madison (1751-1836) American statesman, political theorist, US President (1809-17)
“A Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments,” letter to the Virginia Assembly (20 Jun 1785)

On a proposed law to have the state financially support "Teachers of the Christian Religion."Full text.
 
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Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by private as well as public reasons.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 17 (1782)
    (Source)
 
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One day I met a lady who was dying of cancer in a most terrible condition. And I told her, I say, “You know, this terrible pain is only the kiss of Jesus — a sign that you have come so close to Jesus on the cross that he can kiss you.” And she joined her hands together and said, “Mother Teresa, please tell Jesus to stop kissing me”.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) Albanian-Indian religious and humanitarian [b. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu]
Address, National Prayer Breakfast, Washington, DC (3 Feb 1994)
 
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I suppose you could never prove to the mind of the most ingenious mollusk that such a creature as a whale was possible.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1848-04/05)
 
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A modern revolutionary group heads for the television station, not the factory. It concentrates its energy on infiltrating and changing the image system.

Abbie Hoffman (1936-1989) American political activist
Soon to be a Major Motion Picture (1980)
 
Added on 19-Jul-10 | Last updated 19-Jul-10
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If nothing may be published but what civil authority shall have previously approved, power must always be the standard of truth.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Lives of the English Poets, “Milton” (1781)
 
Added on 16-Jul-10 | Last updated 16-Jul-10
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