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 (8 Sep. 1952)
Silent gratitude isn’t very much use to anyone.
G. B. Stern (1890-1973) British writer [Gladys Bronwyn Stern]
(Attributed)
Whether we like it or not, the natural and the human environment are inseparable. It would be a great mistake to try to completely erase human traces from any part of the landscape. We need to protect the natural world, but we also need to protect reminders of the human past so that we can learn from them.
Bonnie Stepenoff (b. 1949) American writer, researcher, historian
“Landscapes Remember”
The difference between ignorant and educated people is that the latter know more facts. But that has nothing to do with whether they are stupid or intelligent. The difference between stupid and intelligent people — and this is true whether or not they are well educated — is that intelligent people can handle subtlety. They are not baffled by ambiguous or even contradictory situations — in fact, they expect them and are apt to become suspicious when things seem overly straightforward.
Neal Stephenson (b. 1959) American novelist
The Diamond Age (1995)
There are no foolish questions and no man becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions
Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865-1923) American electrical engineer
(Attributed)
Quoted in John J. B. Morgan and T. Webb Ewing, Making the Most of Your Life (2005).Sometimes given as: "No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions."
No one wants advice — only corroboration.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
The Winter of Our Discontent, Part I, ch. 6 (1961)
A fella ain’t got a soul of his own, but on’y a piece of a big one.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
The Grapes of Wrath, ch 28 (1939)
The wise person questions the wisdom of others because they question their own; the foolish one, because it is different from their own.
Leo Stein (1872-1947) American art collector, writer
(Attributed)
If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.
Herb Stein (1916-1999) American economist
Stein’s Law (c. 1980)This was a frequent statement by Stein. He explained it: "This proposition, arising first in a discussion of the balance-of-payments deficit, is a response to those who think that if something cannot go on forever, steps must be taken to stop it -- even to stop it at once."
Variants.:
- "If something can’t go on forever, it won’t."
- "Anything that can’t go on, won’t."
- "Trends that can't continue won't.
The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want.
Ben Stein (b. 1944) American actor, lawyer, economist, political writer [Benjamin Jeremy Stein]
(Attributed)
You can plan all you want to. You can lie in your morning bed and fill whole notebooks with schemes and intentions. But within a single afternoon, within hours or minutes, everything you plan and everything you have fought to make yourself can be undone as a slug is undone when salt is poured on him. And right up to the moment when you find yourself dissolving into foam you can still believe you are doing fine.
Wallace Stegner (1909-1993) American novelist
Crossing to Safety (1987)
Morality is only moral when it is voluntary.
Lincoln Steffens (1866-1936) American journalist
(Attributed)
Men do not seek the truth. It is the truth that pursues men who run away and will not look around.
Lincoln Steffens (1866-1936) American journalist
(Attributed)
Whoever kindles the flames of intolerance is lighting a fire underneath his own home.
Harold E. Stassen (1907-2001) American politician, lawyer, educator
(Attributed) (1947)
Real spirituality has to come to terms with accident, with chance, with the great mystery that things happen and there may not be any direct cause for them.
Starhawk (b. 1951) American writer, activist, feminist theologian [b. Miriam Simos]
(Attributed)
But the final price of freedom is the willingness to face that most frightening of all beings, one’s own self.
Starhawk (b. 1951) American writer, activist, feminist theologian [b. Miriam Simos]
The Spiral Dance (1979)
If I had all the money I’ve spent on drink, I’d spend it on drink.
Vivian Stanshall (1943-1995) British singer-songwriter, author, poet and wit
Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1978)
A single death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.
Josef Stalin (1879-1953) Georgian revolutionary and Soviet dictator
(Attributed)
Alternate versions:The actual quote (such as is supported) appears to be "When one man dies it is a tragedy, when thousands die it's statistics." It is found in David McCullough, Truman (1992), said by Stalin to Churchill in Tehran when the latter was concerned over the potential casualties of opening a second front in France prematurely. McCullough cites it to Anton Antonov-Ovseyenko, The Time of Stalin: Portrait of Tyranny (1981).
- "Death of one man is a tragedy. Death of a million is a statistic."
- "One death is a tragedy. A million deaths is just a statistic."
- "When one dies, it is a tragedy. When a million die, it is a statistic."
- "The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic."
On the other hand, Mary Soames (Churchill's daughter) said in a BBC interview with Andrew Marr (11 Nov 2011) that she overhead Stalin say this to her father at Potsdam, when Churchill was upset over the death of a family friend and then apologized to Stalin given the high number of Russian war casualties.
The earliest mention of the quote and Stalin is a 28 Sep 1958 book review.
Compare to Erich Maria Remarque, Der schwarze Obelisk (1956): "Sonderbar, denke ich, wir alle haben doch so viele Tote im Kriege gesehen, und wir wissen, daß über zwei Millionen von uns nutzlos gefallen sind — warum sind wir da so erregt wegen eines einzelnen, und die zwei Millionen haben wir schon fast vergessen? Aber das ist wohl so, weil ein einzelner immer der Tod ist — und zwei Millionen immer nur eine Statistik." [Strangely, I think we all have seen so many dead in the war, and we know that more than two million of us are unvalued -- why we are so excited because of an individual, and we have two million almost forgotten already? But that is probably so because a single death is always a death -- and two million only a statistic.]
Also compare to a 1925 essay on French humor, "Französischer Witz," by Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist, pacifist, and satirist. He wrote of a diplomat in the French Ministry of Foreign affairs, who said: "The war? I cannot find it to be so bad! The death of one man: this is a catastrophe. Hundreds of thousands of deaths: that is a statistic!" ["Darauf sagt ein Diplomat vom Quai d'Orsay: «Der Krieg? Ich kann das nicht so schrecklich finden! Der Tod eines Menschen: das ist eine Katastrophe. Hunderttausend Tote: das ist eine Statistik!"]
It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.
[Я считаю, что совершенно неважно, кто и как будет в партии голосовать; но вот что чрезвычайно важно, это – кто и как будет считать голоса.]
Josef Stalin (1879-1953) Georgian revolutionary and Soviet dictator
Comment (1923)
Alternate translation: "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything."
Alternate translation: "I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this -- who will count the votes, and how." Quoted in B. Bazhanov, The Memoirs of Stalin's Former Secretary (1992) [Борис Бажанов. Воспоминания бывшего секретаря Сталина], regarding elections to the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
The quotation is considered dubious by a number of sources.
The phrase was used by Tom Stoppard in Jumpers (1972): "It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting."
Under any conditions, anywhere, whatever you are doing, there is some ordinance under which you can be booked.
Robert D. Specht (1913-1996) American research analyst
(Attributed)
Summarized in various Murphy's Laws lists as "Specht's Meta-Law," as in Paul Dickson, The Official Rules. See also Cardinal Richelieu.
Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.
Benjamin Spock (1903-1998) American pediatrician, writer, activist
The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, “Preparing for the Baby” (1946)
All happiness or unhappiness solely depends upon the quality of the object to which we are attached by love.
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) Dutch philosopher
“On the Improvement of the Understanding” Para. 9 (1662)
Tractatus de intellectus emendatione. Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1016
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) English philosopher, naturalist
Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative Vol. 3, ch. IX, “State Tamperings with Money and Banks” (1891)
This essay is also cited to be found in Essays: Moral, Political and Aesthetic (1866).
The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) English philosopher, naturalist
(Attributed)
Many customs in this life persist because they ease friction and promote productivity as a result of universal agreement, and whether they are precisely the optimal choices is much less important.
Henry Spencer (b. 1955) Canadian computer scientist, space enthusiast
The Ten Commandments for C Programmers (Annotated Ed.) (1992)
Belief is no substitute for arithmetic.
Henry Spencer (b. 1955) Canadian computer scientist, space enthusiast
(Attributed)
Cf. "Anecdote is no substitute for arithmatic," cited as a Hebrew Proverb.
The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do something stupid.
Art Spander (contemp.) American sports writer
(Attributed)
If you are never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take chances.
Rosalyn Drexler (b. 1926) American visual artist, novelist, playwright, screenwriter [pseud. Julia Sorel]
See How She Runs (1978)
Based on the screenplay by Marvin Gluck. As Julia Sorrel (sometimes attrib. "Julia Soul").
It isn’t the incompetent who destroy an organization. The incompetent never get into a position to destroy it. It is those who have achieved something and want to rest upon their achievements who are forever clogging things up.
Charles E. Sorenson (1881-1968) American engineer, executive
My Forty Years with Ford, ch. 5 (1956)
Full text.
The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.
Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Oedipus Rex, l. 1231
Alt. trans. "The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves."
O my son!
These are no trifles! Think: all men make mistakes,
But a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong,
And repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Antigone, l. 1022ff [Tiresias] (441 BC) [tr. Fitts/Fitzgerald (1939), ll. 803ff]
(Source)
Alt. trans.:Then take these things to heart, my son: for error
Is as the universal lot of man;
But whenso'er he errs, that man no longer
Is witless or unblessed, who, having fallen
Into misfortune, seeks to mend his ways
And is not obstinate: the stiffneckt temper
Must oft plead guilty to the charge of folly.
[tr. Donaldson (1848)]Now, then, my son, take thought. A man may err;
But he is not insensate or foredoomed
To ruin, who, when he hath lapsed to evil,
Stands not inflexible, but heals the harm.
The obstinate man still earns the name of fool.
[tr. Campbell (1873)]O ponder this, my son. To err is common
To all men, but the man who having erred
Hugs not his errors, but repents and seeks
The cure, is not a wastrel nor unwise.
No fool, the saw goes, like the obstinate fool.
[tr. Storr (1859)]Think, therefore, on these things, my son. All men are liable to err. But when an error is made, that man is no longer unwise or unblessed who heals the evil into which he has fallen and does not remain stubborn. Self-will, we know, invites the charge of foolishness.
[tr. Jebb (1891)]Consider this, my son! and, O remember,
To err is human; 'tis the common lot
Of frail mortality; and he alone
Is wise and happy, who, when ills are done,
Persists not, but would heal the wound he made.
[tr. Werner (1892)]Think, then, on these things, my son. All men are liable to err; but when an error hath been made, that man is no longer witless or unblest who heals the ill into which he hath fallen, and remains not stubborn. Self-will, we know, incurs the charge of folly.
[tr. Jebb (1917)]Mark this, my son: all men fall into sin.
But sinning, he is not forever lost
Hapless and helpless, who can make amends
And has not set his face against repentance.
Only a fool is governed by self-will.
[tr. Watling (1939)]Think of these things, my son. All men may err
but error once committed, he's no fool
nor yet unfortunate, who gives up his stiffness
ad cures the trouble he has fallen in.
Stubbornness and stupidity are twins.
[tr. Wyckoff (1954)]Be warned, my son, No man alive is free
From error, but the wise and prudent man
When he has fallen into evil courses
Does not persist, but tries to find amendment ....
[tr. Kitto (1962)]Take these things to heart, my son, I warn you.
All men make mistakes, it is only human.
But once the wrong is done, a man
can turn his back on folly, misfortune too,
if he tries to make amends, however low he's fallen,
and stops his bullnecked ways. Stubbornness
brands you for stupidity -- pride is a crime
[tr. Fagles (1982), l. 1131ff]Therefore, think about this, child. For men,
all of them, it is common to make mistakes.
Whenever he does make a mistake, that man is still not
foolish or unhappy who, fallen into evil,
applies a remedy and does not become immovable.
Stubborn self-will incurs a charge of stupidity.
[tr. Tyrell/Bennett (2002)]Understand this: All men make mistakes. But when they do, it would be a wise and well acting man who corrected that mistake and moved on rather than stayed there stubbornly and unrepentant. The stubborn man is rewarded with more errors.
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]Consider this, my son.
All men make mistakes -- that's not uncommon.
But when they do, they’re no longer foolish
or subject to bad luck if they try to fix
the evil into which they’ve fallen,
once they give up their intransigence.
Men who put their stubbornness on show
invite accusations of stupidity.
[tr. Johnston (2005), l. 1138ff]Therefore, think on these things, my child; for every human being makes mistakes, but when he has made a mistake, that man is no longer foolish and unhappy who remedies the evil into which he has fallen and is not stubborn. Obstinacy brings the charge of stupidity.
[tr. Thomas (2005)]
Well one must learn
By doing the thing; for though you think you know it
You have no certainty, until you try.Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Trachiniae [The Women of Trachis], [First Lady] [tr. Young]
Full text.
Ever negotiate with lawyers at a huge company? If they saw you drowning 100 feet from the shore, they’d through you a 51-foot rope and say they went more than halfway.
Paul Somerson (1950-2018) American technology writer
PC Computing (1996)
If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a part of his own heart?
Alexander Solzhenitsen (1918-2008) Russian novelist, emigre [Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn]
The Gulag Archipelago (1973)
For to fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise without really being wise, for it is to think that we know what we do not know. For no one knows whether death may not be the greatest good that can happen to man. But men fear it as if they knew quite well that it was the greatest of evils.
Socrates (c.470-399 BC) Greek philosopher
In Plato, Apology, sec. 29
If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be content to take their own and depart.
Socrates (c.470-399 BC) Greek philosopher
In Plutarch, Consolation to Apollonius
Alt trans.: "If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence everyone must take an equal portion, most persons would be contented to take their own and depart."
By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you’ll be happy. If you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.
Socrates (c.470-399 BC) Greek philosopher
(Attributed)
No man undertakes a trade he has not learned, even the meanest; yet everyone thinks himself sufficiently qualified for the hardest of all trades — that of government.
Socrates (c.470-399 BC) Greek philosopher
Paraphrased from Plato, Protagoras, 319b-d
In Henry St. John Bolingbroke, Political Writings (1736). Original Plato passage (tr. Jowett) here (search).
If the whole world depends on today’s youth, I can’t see the world lasting another 100 years.
Socrates (c.470-399 BC) Greek philosopher
(Attributed)
Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know.
Socrates (c.470-399 BC) Greek philosopher
In Plato, Apology, sec. 19
Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of — for credit is like fire; when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extinguish it, you will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again. The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.
We must remember that the test of courage comes when we are in the minority, but the test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.
Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970) American Methodist clergyman
“The Open Mind,” Protestantism: A Symposium, ed. William K. Anderson (1944)
Full text.
Red meat is not bad for you. Now blue-green meat, that’s bad for you!
Tommy Smothers (b. 1937) American comedian, folk musician, winemaker [Thomas Bolyn Smothers III]
(Attributed)
Diplomacy has rarely been able to gain at the conference table what cannot be gained or held on the battlefield.
Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith (1895-1961) American soldier, diplomat
Comments on the Geneva Conference on French Indochina (23 Jul 1954)
Quote in The Pentagon Papers (1971).
Sometimes the majority only means that all the fools are on the same side.
Michael W. Smith (b. 1959) American Christian singer
(Attributed)
There are few sorrows, however poignant, in which a good income is of no avail.
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Life and Human Nature” (1931)
All Reformers, however strict their social conscience, live in houses just as big as they can pay for.
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Other People” (1931)
To deny we need and want power is to deny that we hope to be effective.
Liz Smith (1923-2017) American entertainment journalist [Mary Elizabeth Smith]
(Attributed)
Faith and doubt both are needed — not as antagonists, but working side by side — to take us around the unknown curve.
Lillian Smith (1897-1966) American author
(Attributed)
BETHANY: What’s he like? God?
METATRON: Lonely. But funny. He’s got a great sense of humor.Kevin Smith (b. 1970) American writer, film director, actor
Dogma (1999)
SERENDIPITY: I have issues with anyone who treats faith as a burden instead of a blessing. You people don’t celebrate your faith; you mourn it.
Kevin Smith (b. 1970) American writer, film director, actor
Dogma (1999)
METATRON: You people! If it hasn’t been made into a movie, it’s not worth knowing about, is that it?
Kevin Smith (b. 1970) American writer, film director, actor
Dogma (1999)
METATRON: Human beings have neither the aural nor the psychological capacity to withstand the awesome power of God’s true voice. Were you to hear it, your mind would cave in and your heart would explode within your chest. We went through five Adams before we figured that out.
Kevin Smith (b. 1970) American writer, film director, actor
Dogma (1999)
The mother eagle teaches her little ones to fly by making their nest so uncomfortable that they are forced to leave it and commit themselves to the unknown world of air outside. And just so does our God to us. He stirs up our comfortable nests, and pushes us over the edge of them, and we are forced to use our wings to save our selves from fatal falling. Read your trials in this light, and see if you cannot begin to get a glimpse of their meaning. Your wings are being developed.
Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911) American evangelist, suffragist, author
A Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, “The Life on Wings,” (1875)
Full text.
A man gazing on the stars is proverbially at the mercy of the puddles on the road.
Alexander Smith (1830-1867) Scottish poet
“Men of Letters”
The real price of everything, what everything really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.
Adam Smith (1723-1790) Scottish economist
The Wealth of Nations
Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience.
Adam Smith (1723-1790) Scottish economist
The Wealth of Nations Introduction (1776)
Beware of pretty faces that you find.
A pretty face can hide an evil mind.P. F. Sloan (1945-2015) American singer-songwriter [Philip Gary "Flip" Sloan, b. Philip Gary Schlein]
Secret Agent Man
(with Steve Barri, sung by Johnny Rivers)
If I told you how I really felt about you it would probably sound like a medley of clichés from popular songs.
Bernard Slade (1930-2019) Canadian-American playwright and screenwriter
Same Time, Next Year (1978)
Slade wrote the screenplay and original stage play (1975).
Our principles are the springs of our actions; our actions the springs of our happiness or misery. Too much care, therefore, cannot be taken in forming our principles.
Philip Skelton (1707-1787) Irish clergyman, philosopher, scholar
“Hylema” #92
Source. Sometimes attributed to Red Skelton.
I am patient with stupidity, but not with those who are proud of it.
Edith Sitwell (1887-1964) English poet
(Attributed)
Quoted in Elizabeth Salter, The Last Years of a Rebel : A Memoir of Edith Sitwell (1967).
Even in the worm that crawls in the earth there glows a divine spark. When you slaughter a creature, you slaughter God.
Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991) Polish-American writer, Nobel laureate (b. Icek-Hersz Zynger)
(Attributed)
Democracy encourages the majority to decide things about which the majority is blissfully ignorant.
John A. Simon (1873-1954) English statesman and politician
(Attributed)
Unsourced, but attributed in several locations. Sometimes misattributed (?) to Serbian-American critic John (Ivan) Simon (b. 1925).
The great atrocities of our civilization have rarely been the acts of generals or presidents or kings. They have been the doings of petty bureaucrats acting within the strict confines of the law.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Alain Simon
Easy enough to talk of soul and spirit and essential worth, but not when you’re three feet high.
Richard Alan Simmons (1924-2004) American screenwriter, producer
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
(with Richard Matheson)
I’m not happy. I’m cheerful. There’s a difference. A happy woman has no cares at all. A cheerful woman has cares but has learned how to deal with them.
Beverly Sills (1929-2007) American opera singer [b. Belle Silverman]
(Attributed)
I really do believe I can accomplish a great deal with a big grin. I know some people find that disconcerting, but that doesn’t matter.
Beverly Sills (1929-2007) American opera singer [b. Belle Silverman]
(Attributed)
There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.
Beverly Sills (1929-2007) American opera singer [b. Belle Silverman]
(Attributed)
Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years. That is what makes a marriage last — more than passion or even sex!
Simone Signoret (1921-1985) German-French actress [b. Simone Kaminker]
Daily Mail (London) (4 Jul 1978)
Don’t expect perfect products unless you are willing to pay for perfection.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Robert Siegmeister
COLE: I once drew a picture of a man being stabbed in the neck by another man with a screwdriver. They had a meeting over it. My mama cried. I don’t draw pictures like that anymore.
MALCOLM: What do you draw pictures of?
COLE: Men smiling, dogs running, rainbows. They don’t have meetings about rainbows.M. Night Shyamalan (b. 1970) Indian-American screenwriter, director
The Sixth Sense (1999)
One very important ingredient of success is a good, wide-awake, persistent, tireless enemy.
Frank B. Shutts (1870-1947) American attorney, publisher
(Attributed)
Trouble is a part of your life, and if you don’t share it, you don’t give the person who loves you enough chance to love you enough.
Dinah Shore (1917-1994) American actress, singer
(Attributed)
The game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy.
Florence Scovel Shinn (1870-1940) American illustrator, metaphysicist
The Game of Life and How to Play It (1925)
When you meet your antagonist, do everything in a mild and agreeable manner. Let your courage be as keen, but at the same time as polished, as your sword.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) Irish dramatist, satirist, politician
(Attributed)
A rain came along last night and gently wet San Diego. It cleaned off my car except for a stubborn bird blessing on the hood. I had been staring at it for several days and the rain cleaned everything except that single spot. (sigh) For the most part, things take care of themselves if we just let them, but every now and again we’ve got to get involved, and dirty our hands.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Jeff Shepherd, Jeff’s Weekly Quotations, #39 (1994)
It’s a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one’s safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract.
Alan B. Shepherd, Jr. (1923-1998) American astronaut
(Attributed)
A liar begins with making falsehood appear like truth, and ends with making truth itself appear like falsehood.
William Shenstone (1714-1763) English poet
(Attributed)
Love withers under constraint: its very essence is liberty: it is compatible neither with obedience, jealousy, nor fear.
Familiar acts are beautiful through love.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) English poet
Prometheus Unbound, “The Earth,” Act IV, l. 403 (1819)
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs
Are those that tell of saddest thought.
Whether one has natural talent or not, any learning period requires the willingness to suffer uncertainty and embarrassment.
Gail Sheehy (1936-2020) American writer, journalist, editor
(Attributed)
If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we are not really living. Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.
Gail Sheehy (1936-2020) American writer, journalist, editor
Passages (1976)
A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
John Augustus Shedd (1859-1928) American writer, educator
Salt from My Attic (1928)Variants:
More information on this quotation here. Sometimes (mis)attributed to William Greenough Thayer Shedd.- "Ships in harbor are safe, but that is not what ships are built for."
- "A ship in port is safe. But that’s not what ships were built for." (used by Grace Hopper)
- "A ship is always safe at shore, but that is not what it is built for." (frequently misattributed to Albert Einstein)
When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most insane, most delusive and most transient of passions, they are required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal and exhausting condition until death do them part.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Getting Married, Preface (1908)
Full text.
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
(Attributed)
The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure is occupation.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
(Attributed)
The savage bows down to idols of wood and stone: the civilized man to idols of flesh and blood.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Man and Superman, “Maxims for Revolutionists,” “Idolatry” (1903)
Full text.
When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Caesar and Cleopatra, Act 3 [Apollodorus] (1898)
The only man who behaved sensibly was my tailor; he took my measurement anew every time he saw me, while all the rest went on with their old measurements and expected them to fit me.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Man and Superman, Act I [Tanner] (1903)
Full text.
Poverty does not produce unhappiness: It produces degradation.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
(Attributed)
Every fool believes what his teachers tell him, and calls his credulity science or morality as confidently as his father called it divine revelation.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Man and Superman, “Maxims for Revolutionists,” “Education” (1903)
Full text.
It is no use my liking or disliking; I do what must be done, and have no time to attend myself. That is not happiness, but it is greatness.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Caesar and Cleopatra, Act IV [Cleopatra] (1898)
Full text. An variation on this is frequently quoted, but I haven't been able to find a source: "Forget about likes and dislikes. They are of no consequence. Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness."
If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
(Attributed)
The churches must learn humility as well as teach it.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Saint Joan, Preface
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Mrs. Warren s Profession, Act III (1893)
We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Candida, Act I (1898)
All great truths begin as blasphemies.
A nation’s morals are like its teeth; when they’re rotten it hurts to touch them.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
(Attributed)