The difference between a Democracy and a Dictatorship is that in a Democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a Dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting.
Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) German-American author, poet
Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and Tales of Ordinary Madness (1972)
(Source)
But a new danger appears in the excess of influence of the great man. His attractions warp us from our place. We have become underlings and intellectual suicides. Ah! yonder in the horizon is our help; — other great men, new qualities, counterweights and checks on each other. We cloy of the honey of each peculiar greatness. Every hero becomes a bore at last.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Uses of Great Men,” Representative Men Lecture 1, Boston (1845-12-11)
(Source)
Administrivia: Working on WIST
I’ve been making great strides toward getting the new version of WIST into shape. I made a breakthrough on the category listings — doing the author categories subsidiary to the alphabet-letter categories, etc. Slowly filling in the sidebar info. Things left to do (of substance) include:
1. Figure out what’s on the front page.
2. How the ~~Admin stuff will be displayed.
3. How the Miscellaneous and Sig Line archives will work.
I really want to get this finished, both because of the improvement it will provide to everyone and so that I can get back to entering stuff into it. 🙂
If books were sold as software and online recordings are, they would have this legalese up front:
The content of this book is distributed on an ‘as is’ basis, without warranty as to accuracy of content, quality of writing, punctuation, usefulness of the ideas presented, merchantability, correctness or readability of formulae, charts, and figures, or correspondence of (a) the table of contents with the actual contents, (2) page references in the index (if any) with the actual page numbering (if present), and (iii) any illustration with its adjacent caption. Illustrations may have been printed reversed or inverted, the publisher accepts no responsibility for orientation or chirality. Any resemblance of the author or his or her likeness or name to any person, living or dead, or their heirs or assigns, is coincidental; all references to people, places, or events have been or should have been fictionalized and may or may not have any factual basis, even if reported as factual. Similarities to existing works of art, literature, song, or television or movie scripts is pure happenstance. References have been chosen at random from our own catalog. Neither the author(s) nor the publisher shall have any liability whatever to any person, corporation, animal whether feral or domesticated, or other corporeal or incorporeal entity with respect to any loss, damage, misunderstanding, or death from choking with laughter or apoplexy at or due to, respectively, the contents; that is caused or is alleged to be caused by any party, whether directly or indirectly due to the information or lack of information that may or may not be found in this alleged work. No representation is made as to the correctness of the ISBN or date of publication as our typist isn’t good with numbers and errors of spelling and usage are attributable solely to bugs in the spelling and grammar checker in Microsoft Word. If sold without a cover, this book will be thinner than those sold with a cover. You do not own this book, but have acquired only a revocable non-exclusive license to read the material contained herein. You may not read it aloud to any third party. This disclaimer is a copyrighted work of Jef Raskin, first published in 2004, and is distributed ‘as is’, without warranty as to quality of humor, incisiveness of commentary, sharpness of taunt, or aptness of jibe.
Jef Raskin (1943-2005) American computer scientist, writer
“If Books Were Sold as Software,” NewsScan.com (18 Aug 2004)
(Source)
Administrivia: Doing the Numbers, 2/2007
To update the above, as of the Feb. 2007 upload of data, here are the current WIST stats:
| How many of … | Feb-07 | Aug-03 | Feb-02 | Nov-00 |
| Miscellaneous Quotations? | 475 | 457 | 446 | 400 |
| Non-Miscellaneous Quotations? | 4,610 | 4,233 | 3,869 | 3,208 |
| Total Quotations? | 5,085 | 4,690 | 4,315 | 3,608 |
| Cited Authors? | 1,672 | 1,632 | 1,556 | 1,396 |
As noted in the News section, this update didn’t add a lot to the system (mostly sourcing clarifications), but it did add some.
As to the current “most popular”:
| Who? | Rank | Count |
| William Shakespeare | 1 | 98 |
| C.S. Lewis | 2 | 61 |
| Mark Twain | 3 | 54 |
| Ralph Waldo Emerson | 4 | 51 |
| Bill Watterson | 5 | 49 |
| George Bernard Shaw | 6 | 44 |
| Dave Barry | 7 | 39 |
| Ambrose Bierce | 8 | 37 |
| Abraham Lincoln | 9 | 36 |
| G. K. Chesterton | 10 | 34 |
Alas, FastCounter is no longer functioning here. I have SiteMeter running, but no idea of the “since when” it’s counting. It shows, though a current total number of visits of 73,185. eXTReMe Tracking says the number of unique visitors since Aug. 2003 is 77,459. So I’ll take that number, and add it to the below tally to get:
September 2001: 8,400
Februrary 2002: 12,859
August 2003: 46,958
February 2007: 124,417.
Of those, 71% are from North America (14% from Europe, Finland making up half of that, interestingly), 81% use Windows, 61% are on IE (22% on FireFox), 60% get here from a search engine (half that from web sites, including cross-reference, the Atomz search, and web rings); Google has half the search pie there.
I’m resetting the Extreme search for its new version, so (for my future reference) it will be zeroed out at this point.
Administrivia: It’s alive! Alive!
After about three-plus years of (apparently) lying fallow, I’ve posted an update to the WIST data.
Why so long?
Well, aside from having a day job and eleventy-dozen other projects going on, WIST as it presently stands takes the better part of a day to fully upload. That means I don’t do it trivially. So I was waiting until I finished my next pass on the database, consisting of trying to source a lot more of the quotations. I’ve done a good job of that (and added a few besides), but had only gotten up to Robert E. Lee last check.
So I’ve not finished that sourcing, and there are some new quote authors I’ve not doubled back on for bio info, and I’m sure all sorts of other little glitches are in there. Consider it (as always) a work in progress, with recommendations or problems always welcome to be reported.
I really want to get this into an online database, for searching purposes as well as for ease of updating. Does anyone know of a good package that runs on Apache/MySQL that would do the trick?
At any rate, thanks for your patience and support.
Administrivia: Authors
The following are the folks who are currently quoted in WIST, along with a count of how many quotes there are for each.
(The links to the author names should eventually zero in to the first quote on the appropriate page, but for the moment only goes to the appropriate page itself.)
UPDATE: (17-Jul-07) This list as been removed, as there is now a whole page devoted to that (albeit without a quotation count).
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
(Attributed)
I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
(Attributed)
A modest little person, with much to be modest about.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
(Attributed)
Power-worship blurs political judgement because it leads, almost unavoidably, to the belief that present trends will continue.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
(1946)
When religion becomes a mere artificial façade to justify a social or economic system — when religion hands over its rites and language completely to the political propagandist, and when prayer becomes the vehicle for a purely secular ideological program, then religion does tend to become an opiate. It deadens the spirit enough to permit the substitution of a superficial fiction and mythology for the truth of life. And this brings about the alienation of the believer, so that his religious zeal becomes political fanaticism. His faith in God, while preserving its traditional formulas, becomes in fact faith in his own nation, class or race. His ethic ceases to be the law of God and love, and becomes the law of might-makes-right: established privilege justifies everything. God is the status quo.
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) French-American religious and writer [a.k.a. Fr. M. Louis]
Contemplative Prayer
You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It’s clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I’m absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that “as you reap, so you will sow” stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.
Bono (b. 1960) Irish musician, philanthropist [b. Paul David Hewson]
Interview by Michka Assayas, Christianity Today (8 Aug2005)
(Source)
WALLY: One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Scott Adams (b. 1957) American cartoonist
Dilbert (18-Oct-2006)
The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
The Kingdom of God Is Within You, ch. 3 (1894)
I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
What Is Art?, ch. 14 (1896)
Quoted by Joseph Ford, Chaotic Dynamics and Fractals (1985) [ed. Barnsley and Demko]Alt. trans.: "I know that most men — not only those considered clever, but even those who are very clever and capable of understanding most difficult scientific, mathematical, or philosophic, problems — can seldom discern even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as obliges them to admit the falsity of conclusions they have formed, perhaps with much difficulty — conclusions of which they are proud, which they have taught to others, and on which they have built their lives." [tr. Maude (1930)]
Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders, than from the arguments of its opposers.
William Penn (1644-1718) English writer, philosopher, politician, statesman
Fruits of Solitude #142 (1682)
Source text
BOB: The most terrifying day of your life is the day the first one is born.
CHARLOTTE: Nobody ever tells you that.
BOB: Your life, as you know it — is gone. Never to return. But they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk — and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life.Sophia Coppola (b. 1971) American actress, screenwriter, producer
Lost in Translation (2003)
It’s asking a great deal that things should appeal to your reason as well as your sense of the aesthetic.
W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) English novelist and playwright [William Somerset Maugham]
Of Human Bondage (1915)
Implicit in the term “national defense” is the notion of defending those values and ideas which set this Nation apart. … It would indeed be ironic if, in the name of national defense, we would sanction the subversion of … those liberties … which makes the defense of the Nation worthwhile.
Earl Warren (1891-1974) American jurist and politician; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1953-69)
US v. Robel, 389 US 258 (1967)
It is contended by many that ours is a Christian government, founded upon the Bible, and that all who look upon the book as false or foolish are destroying the foundation of our country. The truth is, our government is not founded upon the rights of gods, but upon the rights of men. Our Constitution was framed, not to declare and uphold the deity of Christ, but the sacredness of humanity. Ours is the first government made by the people and for the people. It is the only nation with which the gods have had nothing to do. And yet there are some judges dishonest and cowardly enough to solemnly decide that this is a Christian country, and that our free institutions are based upon the infamous laws of Jehovah.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
“Individuality” (1873)
For whatsoever some people boast of the antiquity of places and names, or of the pomp of their outward worship; others, of the reformation of their discipline; all, of the orthodoxy of their faith — for everyone is orthodox to himself — these things, and all others of this nature, are much rather marks of men striving for power and empire over one another than of the Church of Christ. Let anyone have never so true a claim to all these things, yet if he be destitute of charity, meekness, and good-will in general towards all mankind, even to those that are not Christians, he is certainly yet short of being a true Christian himself.
John Locke (1632-1704) English philosopher
Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)
http://www.constitution.org/jl/tolerati.htm
If any man err from the right way, it is his own misfortune, no injury to thee; nor therefore art thou to punish him in the things of this life because thou supposest he will be miserable in that which is to come. Nobody, therefore, in fine, neither single persons nor churches, nay, nor even commonwealths, have any just title to invade the civil rights and worldly goods of each other upon pretence of religion.
John Locke (1632-1704) English philosopher
Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)
CHROME DOME: Bah. Warm, fuzzy nice-nice! What good is science if nobody gets hurt!?
Ben Edlund (b. 1968) American cartoonist, writer, producer
The Tick, “The Tick vs. Science”
You will find that State is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
Conversation with author, Charles Frankel, High on Foggy Bottom (1969)
Referring to the US State Department.
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 “The Massive Dissent of Karl Marx” (1977)
It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled sea of thought.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
The Affluent Society, ch. 11, sec. 4 (1958)
That’s stupid. And stupid is like kudzu. Once it gets a foothold, it just grows wild.
Leonard Pitts, Jr. (b. 1957) American commentator, journalist, novelist
Miami Herald, column (9 Apr. 2006)
Liberals treat judgment the way conservatives treat sex: forbid it, except when you’re doing it.
William Saletan (b. 1964) American political essayist
“My Secret Burden,” Slate (9 Mar 2006)
Full text.
A period of silence on your part would be welcome.
Harold Wilson (1916-1995) British Prime Minister (1964-70)
(Attributed)
to Harold Laski
We have gone a long way toward civilization and religious tolerance, and we have a good example in this country. Here the many Protestant denominations, the Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church do not seek to destroy one another in physical violence just because they do not interpret every verse of the Bible in exactly the same way. Here we now have the freedom of all religions, and I hope that never again will we have a repetition of religious bigotry, as we have had in certain periods of our own history. There is no room for that kind of foolishness here.
Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)
Mr. Citizen (1960)
People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution; they don’t put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.
Jamie Raskin (b. 1962) American constitutional scholar, politician
Maryland State Senate testimony (1 Mar 2006)
Baltmore Sun
You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.
Anne Lamott (b. 1954) American novelist and non-fiction writer
Bird by Bird (1995)
She attributes the quote to "my priest friend Tom"
It really doesn’t matter if the person who hurt you deserves to be forgiven. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. You have things to do and you want to move on.
Gordon Atkinson (contemp.) American minister, writer [a.k.a. Real Live Preacher]
Real Live Preacher
People yearn for love … It is similar to a dog’s relationship to the car. First, they cry because they want to get in the car. Then, as soon as the car starts to move, they cry because they want to get out. And of course, as soon as they get out, all they want to do is get back in as soon as possible. Good thing for us, dogs aren’t especially musical or just imagine all the annoying songs there’d be about cars.
Merrill Markoe (b. 1948) American author, screenwriter, comedian
(Attributed)
It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
The Catholic Church and Conversion
My friends, each of you is a single cell in the great body of the State. And today, that great body has purged itself of parasites. We have triumphed over the unprincipled dissemination of facts. The thugs and wreckers have been cast out. And the poisonous weeds of disinformation have been consigned to the dustbin of history. Let each and every cell rejoice! For today we celebrate the first, glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directive! We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology, where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thought is a more powerful weapon than any fleet or army on Earth! We are one people. With one will. One resolve. One cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death. And we will bury them with their own confusion! We shall prevail!
(Other Authors and Sources)
1984 (Apple “Big Brother” commercial, by copy writer Steve Hayden (1983)
Someone at every game design company should have a full-time job of saying, “Why aren’t we letting the player decide that?” . . . When [designers] let . . . unnecessary limitations creep into a game, gamewrights reveal that they don’t yet understand their own art. They’ve chosen to work with the most liberating of media- and yet they snatch back with their left hand the freedom they offered us with their right. Remember, gamewrights, the power and beauty of the art of gamemaking is that you and the player collaborate to create the final story. Every freedom that you can give to the player is an artistic victory. And every needless boundary in your game should feel to you like failure.
Orson Scott Card (b. 1951) American author
Compute Magazine (1991)
His movements could be called cat-like, except that he did not stop to spray urine up against things.
Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Night Watch (2002)
Who cares if the early bird gets the worm? I’ll take cinnamon toast and coffee served by a handsome man at noon.
Kathy Shaskan (contemp.) American cartoonist
Blossom Fuller
The trouble with trouble is it starts out with fun.
Naomi Judd (b. 1946) American singer, songwriter [b. Diana Ellen Judd]
(Attributed)
Why did we wait for any thing? — why not seize the pleasure at once? — How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!
Jane Austen (1775-1817) English author
Emma, Vol. 2, ch. 12 (ch. 30) [Frank Churchill] (1816)
(Source)
I think men are funny. If I had one of those dangly things stuffed down the front of my pants, I’d sit at home all day laughing at myself.
Dawn French (b. 1957) British comedian
(Attributed)
A person who says, “I’m enlightened,” probably isn’t.
Ram Dass (1931-2019) American spiritual teacher, psychologist [b. Richard Alpert]
(Attributed)
How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was?
Satchel Paige (1906-1982) American baseball player [Leroy Robert Paige]
(Attributed)
Heaven-sent calamities you may stand up against, but you cannot survive those brought on by yourself.
Shu Ching (6th Century BC) Chinese collection of political philosophy [Shujing, Shu-kin, Shangshu, The Book of History, The Book of Documents, or The Classic of History]
T’ai Chia
Also cited as Shu Ching 4, 5
Never say anything on the phone that you wouldn’t want your mother to hear at the trial.
Sydney Biddle Barrows (b. 1952) American prostitute, writer [The Mayflower Madam, alias Sheila Devin]
(Attributed)
I’m not offended by all the dumb blond jokes because I know I’m not dumb … And I also know I’m not blonde.
Dolly Parton (b. 1946) American singer
(Attributed)
HAL: Wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry IV, Part 1, Act 1, sc. 2, l. 94ff (1.2.94) (1597)
(Source)
You cannot live the perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
John Wooden (1910-2010) American basketball player and coach
They Call Me Coach, ch. 8, epigram (1972)
(Source)
While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die — whether it is our spirit, our creativity, or our glorious uniqueness.
Gilda Radner (1946-1989) American comedian
It’s Always Something, ch. 9 “The Wellness Community” (1989)
(Source)
No matter what you’ve done for yourself or for humanity, if you can’t look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?
Lee Iacocca (1924-2019) American businessman [Lido Anthony Iacocca]
(Attributed)
There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.
Freya Stark (1893-1993) Franco-British explorer, travel writer [Freya Madeline Stark]
The Journey’s Echo
We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.
Bertha Calloway (1925-2017) American black historian, civil rights activist
(Attributed)
People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them Benjamin Franklin said it first.
David H. Comins (1930-2016) American real estate developer, insurance agent
(Attributed)
For more on this quote and the search for this author, see here.
Nothing is easy to the unwilling.
Nikki Giovanni (b. 1943) American poet, commentator, activist, educator [b. Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr.]
(Attributed)
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
Fear is the absence of faith.
Paul Tillich (1886-1965) American theologian and philosopher
(Attributed)
Starving the living will not profit the dead.
Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The Black Mountain, ch. 2 [Fritz] (1954)
I would give the broad sweep of the First Amendment full support. I have the same confidence in the ability of our people to reject noxious literature as I have in their capacity to sort out the true from the false in theology, economics, or any other field.
William O. Douglas (1898-1980) US Supreme Court justice (1939-75)
Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476, 514, dissenting opinion (1957)
(Source)
Random distributions, by definition, sometimes cluster, or they wouldn’t be random.
Lucile M. "Lucy" Jones (b. 1955) American seismologist
Cal Tech earthquake news conference, on other recent quakes (16 Jun. 2005)
Personally heard on the radio
The majority of Americans are clustered in the middle of the ideological spectrum. There is a passionate center. This core of America is not racist. It is not hostile to women. It is increasingly offended by gay bashing. Yet it abhors government waste. It believes strongly in fiscal responsibility such as balanced budgets. It is pro-economic growth. It is concerned about the environment. It is intolerant of people on welfare who disdain the notion of work. But it wants poor kids to have school lunches and it wants to spend money to have good schools. In sum, most Americans are sensible, good-hearted, and prudent. The issue, then, is whether there is a political party that can welcome them home.
Paul Tsongas (1941-1997) American politician
Journey of Purpose, ch. 3 “Third Party” (1995)
(Source)
On human rights, civil rights and environmental quality, I consider myself to be very liberal. On the management of government, on openness of government, on strengthening individual liberties and local levels of government, I consider myself a conservative. And I don’t see that the two attitudes are incompatible.
Jimmy Carter (b. 1924) American politician, US President (1977-1981), Nobel laureate [James Earl Carter, Jr.]
(Attributed)
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor.
Max De Pree (1924-2017) American businessman and writer
Leadership Is An Art (1989)
You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.
Sam Levenson (1911-1980) American humorist, author
(Attributed)
My only sure reward is in my actions and not from them.
Hugh Prather (1938-2010) American minister, writer, counselor
Notes to Myself (1970)
KING: ’Tis well said again,
And ’tis a kind of good deed to say well.
And yet words are no deeds.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry VIII, Act 3, sc. 2, l. 195ff (3.2.195-197) (1613)
(Source)
We are restless because of incessant change, but we would be frightened if change were stopped.
Lyman L. Bryson (1888-1959) American academic, educator
(Attributed)
Get out of the blocks, run our race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you’ll win. Channel your energy. Focus.
Carl Lewis (b. 1961) American Olympic athlete
(Attributed)
But still, one of the most basic rules for survival on any planet is never to upset someone wearing black leather.*
*This is why protesters against the wearing of animal skins by humans unaccountably fail to throw their paint over Hell’s Angels.Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
The Last Continent (1998)
The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.
Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) English film director
(Attributed)
Simon Rose, Classic Film Guide (1995)
HAMLET: There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will —William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Hamlet, Act 5, sc. 2, l. 11ff (5.2.11-12) (c. 1600)
(Source)
POLONIUS: Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Hamlet, Act 1, sc. 3, l. 68ff [Polonius] (c. 1600)
(Source)
There are vital reasons why guys are interested in technology, and women should not give them a hard time about always wanting to have the “latest gadget.” And when I say “women,” I mean “my wife.” For example, as a guy, I feel I need a new computer every time a new model comes out, which is every fifteen minutes. This baffles my wife, who has had the same computer since the Civil War and refuses to get a new one because — get THIS for an excuse — the one she has works fine.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American humorist
Miami Herald (27 Jan 2001)
The fear of tomorrow comes one day too soon.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Dutch proverb
You may autopsy a body all day long, but you’ll never learn what sort of jokes he liked.
Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Thoughts Like Leaves (28 Jul. 2002)
Prayer is responding to God, by thought and by deeds, with or without words.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Book of Common Prayer, (Episcopal) Catechism – “What is prayer?” (1979)
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan,
The proper study of mankind is man.Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet
“An Essay on Man,” Epistle 2, l. 1 (1733-34)
Well, I can’t prove it, but I can smell it.
Henry Ford (1863-1947) American industrialist
(Attributed)
It’s easier to count the bottles than describe the wine.
Thomas A. Stewart (b. 1948) American management consultant, business editor, writer
Intellectual Capital (1997)
The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) English economist
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, ch. 24 (1936)
It is astonishing what foolish things one can temporarily believe if one thinks too long alone, particularly in economics (along with the other moral sciences), where it is often impossible to bring one’s ideas to a conclusive test either formal or experimental.
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) English economist
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Preface (1936)
We find it easy to believe that praise is sincere: Why should anyone lie in telling us the truth?
Jean Rostand (1894-1977) French biologist, philosopher
De la vanité (1925)
All charming people have something to conceal, usually their total dependence on the appreciation of others.
Cyril Connolly (1903-1974) English intellectual, literary critic and writer.
Enemies of Promise, ch. 16 (1938)
One of the misfortunes of our time is that in getting rid of false shame, we have killed off so much real shame as well.
Louis Kronenberger (1904-1980) American critic, novelist, biographer
Company Manners, Sec. 2.1 (1954)
Nothing fails like success because we don’t learn from it. We learn only from failure.
Kenneth Ewart Boulding (1910-1993) American economist, educator, poet, philosopher
“The diminishing returns of science,” New Scientist (25 Mar 1971)
Restated in Ecodynamics: A New Theory Of Societal Evolution (1978) as: "Nothing fails like success, because we do not learn anything from it. We only learn from failure, but we do not always learn the right things from failure."
Never contend with a Man who has nothing to Lose.
[No empeñarse con quien no tiene qué perder.]
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 172 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]
(Source)
(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:Never to engage with him that hath nothing to lose.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]Do not engage with him who has nothing to lose.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]Never compete with someone who has nothing to lose.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]
As always, victory finds a hundred fathers, but defeat is an orphan.
[Come sempre, la victoria trova cento padri, e nessuno vuole riconoscere l’insuccesso.]
Galeazzo Ciano (1903-1944) Italian diplomat [Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari]
Diario, 9 Sep 1942 (1946)
(Source)
Alternate translation: "As always, victory will have a hundred fathers, but defeat will never be acknowledged by anyone at all."
An "old saying" quoted by John Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Most likely gleaned from the movie The Desert Fox (1951), where Field Marshal von Rundstedt tells Erwin Rommel “You must never forget this, my dear fellow: Victory has a hundred fathers. Defeat is an orphan.” The movie was based on the book Desmond Young, Rommel, the Desert Fox (1951), which provides a citation for the quotation.
Fortune does not change men; it unmasks them.
Suzanne Curchod (1739-1794) French-Swiss salonist and writer [a/k/a Madame Necker]
(Attributed)
No guest is so welcome in a friend’s house that he will not become a nuisance after three days.
Plautus (c. 254-184 BC) Roman playright [Titus Maccius Plautus]
Miles Gloriosus, 3.2, l. 741
Drink not the third glass, which thou canst not tame,
When once it is within thee.George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
The Temple, “The Church Porch,” ll. 25-26 (1633)
Susan stopped. Of course someone would be that stupid. Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying ‘End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH’, the paint wouldn’t even have time to dry.
Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Thief of Time (2001)
Genius is always allowed some leeway, once the hammer has been pried from its hands and the blood has been cleaned up.
Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Thief of Time (2001)
Though boys throw stones at frogs in sport, the frogs do not die in sport, but in earnest.
Bion of Borysthenes (c. 325-c. 250 BC) Greek philosopher, cynic, wit
In Plutarch, Moralia, xii “Which Are the Most Crafty, Water or Land Animals?”
One does what one is; one becomes what one does.
Robert von Musil (1880-1942) Austrian writer
Kleine Prosa (1930)
I am more afraid of an army of one hundred sheep led by a lion than an army of one hundred lions led by a sheep.
Charles Maurice, Prince de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754-1838) French statesman
(Attributed)
Paraphrase of the statement attributed to Alexander the Great: "I am never afraid of an army of lions led into battle by a lamb. I fear more the army of lambs who have a lion to lead them."
When everyone is against you, it means that you are absolutely wrong — or absolutely right.
Albert Guinon (1863-1923) French playwright
(Attributed)
It was a five hundred mile journey and, surprisingly, quite uneventful. People who are rather more than six feet tall and nearly as broad across the shoulders often have uneventful journeys. People jump out at them from behind rocks then say things like, “Oh. Sorry. I thought you were someone else.”
Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Guards! Guards! (1989)
Thousands upon thousands are yearly brought into a state of real poverty by their great anxiety not to be thought poor.
Robert Mallet (1915-2002) French novelist, poet, playwright, academician
(Attributed)
