No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Anglo-Irish statesman, orator, philosopher
On the Sublime and Beautiful, Part II, Sec. 2 (1756)
When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Anglo-Irish statesman, orator, philosopher
“Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents” (23 Apr 1770)
May be the origin of the attributed (but never located in Burke's works): "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."See also Mill.
Certainly, Gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinions high respect; their business unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasure, his satisfactions, to theirs, — and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own.
But his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure, — no, nor from the law and the Constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Anglo-Irish statesman, orator, philosopher
Speech to the electors of Bristol (3 Nov 1774)
The people no longer believe in principles, but will probably periodically believe in saviors.
Jacob Christoph Burckhardt (1818-1897) Swiss historian
(Attributed)
At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope that it can be done, then they see that it can be done
Frances Burnett (1849-1924) American writer [nee Hodgson]
The Secret Garden, ch. 27 (1911)
Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism.
David M. Burns (contemp.) American medical professor, researcher
(Attributed)
Actually, it only takes one drink to get me loaded. Trouble is, I can’t remember if it’s the thirteenth or fourteenth.
George Burns (1896-1996) American comedian
(Attributed)
I’d rather be a failure at something I enjoy than a success at something I hate.
George Burns (1896-1996) American comedian
(Attributed)
I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what we’re lead to is a life not fully lived. Cynicism is fear, and it’s worse than fear – it’s active disengagement.
Ken Burns (b. 1953) American filmmaker
The Shambala Sun, “E Pluribus Unum,” Interview (Nov. 1997)
http://www.shambhalasun.com/Archives/Features/1997/Nov97/KenBurns.htm
O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An’ foolish notion ….Robert Burns (1759-1796) Scottish national poet
“To a Louse,” l.43-46 (1786)
The poem is reprinted in various forms and anglicizations of Burns' Scottish, e.g.,O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us
An foolish notionO would some Power the gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a blunder free us,
And foolish notion:
I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see.
John Burroughs (1837-1921) American naturalist
(Attributed)
Nature does not care whether the hunter slays the beast or the beast the hunter. She will make good compost of both, and her ends are prospered whichever succeeds.
John Burroughs (1837-1921) American naturalist
Birds & Poets, ch. 2 (1877)
http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04/7bpoe10.txt
All Faith is false, all Faith is true: truth is the shattered mirror strown
In myriad bits; while each believes his little bit the whole to own.Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) British explorer and orientalist
The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû Al-Yazdi (1900)
(Source)
One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: “To rise above the little things.”
John Burroughs (1837-1921) American naturalist
(Attributed)
Love each day as if it were your last because one of these days you’re going to be right.
Leo Buscaglia (1925-1998) American psychologist, writer
(Attributed)
No, I don’t know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.
George H. W. Bush (1924-2018) American politician, diplomat, US President (1989-1993)
News Conference, O’Hare Airport, Chicago (27 Aug. 1987)
Just as Poland had a rebellion against totalitarianism, I am rebelling against broccoli, and I refuse to give ground. I do not like broccoli, and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.
George H. W. Bush (1924-2018) American politician, diplomat, US President (1989-1993)
Comment at State Dinner for Polish PM Tadeusz Mazowiecki (21 Mar 1990)
In a free society, diversity is not disorder. Debate is not strife. And dissent is not revolution.
George W. Bush (b. 1946) US President (2001-2009)
Speech in Beijing, China (Feb. 2002)
You do not reform a world by ignoring it.
George H. W. Bush (1924-2018) American politician, diplomat, US President (1989-1993)
Commencement Speech, Yale University (27 May 1991)
Absence is to love what wind is to fire;
It extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great.[L’absence est a l’amour ce qu’est au feu le vent;
Il eteint le petit, il allume le grand.]Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy (1618-1693) French soldier, libertine, writer [a.k.a. Roger Bussy-Rabutin]
Histoire amoureuse des Gaules, “Maximes d’amour [Maxims of Love]” (1660)
See La Rochefoucauld.
The function of the expert is not to be more right than other people, but to be wrong for more sophisticated reasons.
David Butler (b. 1924) British social scientist, psephologist
The Observer (1969)
Such as do build their faith upon
The holy text of pike and gun …
And prove their doctrine orthodox
By apostolic blows and knocks.Samuel Butler (1612-1680) English poet, satirist, painter, philosopher [Hudibras Butler]
Hudibras, Part i. Canto i. Line 199 (1662; 1663; 1678)
He that complies against his Will
Is of his own opinion still.Samuel Butler (1612-1680) English poet, satirist, painter, philosopher [Hudibras Butler]
Hudibras, Part III, canto 3, l. 547 (1662; 1663; 1678)
There is no such source of error as the pursuit of absolute truth.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
The first undertakers in all great attempts commonly miscarry, and leave the advantages of their losses to those that came after them.
Samuel Butler (1612-1680) English poet, satirist, painter, philosopher [Hudibras Butler]
Prose Observations (1660-80)
If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
Life is one long process of getting tired.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
Going away: I can generally bear the separation, but I don’t like the leave-taking.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
(Attributed)
The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
Life is like music, it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule. Nevertheless one had better know the rules, for they sometimes guide in doubtful cases, though not often.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, ch. 1, “Life” (1912)
(Source)
Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, ch. 1 “Life,” ix (1912)
Full text.
There are two great rules in life, the one general and the other particular. The first is that every one can in the end get what he wants if he only tries. This is the general rule. The particular rule is that every individual is more or less of an exception to the general rule.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
(Source)
Half the vices that the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderate use rather than total abstinence.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Way of All Flesh, ch. 52 (1903)
(Source)
To know God better is only to realize how impossible it is that we should ever know him at all. I know not which is more childish, to deny him, or define him.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, “Dogs” (1912)
(Source)
Death, like life, is an affair of being more frightened than hurt.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
Erewhon (1872)
Christ and The Church: If he were to apply for a divorce on the grounds of cruelty, adultery and desertion, he would probably get one.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
Laziness grows on people; it begins in cobwebs and ends in iron chains. The more one has to do, the more he is able to accomplish.
Sir Thomas Buxton (1786-1845) English philanthropist
(Attributed)
(also attrib. Sir Matthew. Hale, Sir Matthew Hale (1609-76))
You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.
Charles Buxton (1823-1871) English brewer, philanthropist, writer, politician
Notes of Thought, #488 (1873)
(Source)
Old is when your wife says “Let’s go upstairs and make love,” and you answer, “Honey, I can’t do both.”
Red Buttons (1919-2006) American comic [b. Aaron Chwatt]
(Attributed)
Never raise your hands to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.
Red Buttons (1919-2006) American comic [b. Aaron Chwatt]
(Attributed)
All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, ch. 1 “Life” (1912)
(Source)
Give wind and tide a chance to change.
Admiral Richard E. Byrd (1888-1957) American aviator
(Attributed)
And I will war, at least in words (and — should
My chance so happen — deeds), with all who war
With Thought; — and of Thought’s foes by far most rude,
Tyrants and sycophants have been and are.
I know not who may conquer: if I could
Have such a prescience, it should be no bar
To this my plain, sworn, downright detestation
Of every despotism in every nation.
And if I laugh at any mortal thing,
‘Tis that I may not weep.
Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded
That all the Apostles would have done as they did.
I wish men to be free
As much from mobs as kings — from you as me.
All tragedies are finish’d by a death,
All comedies are ended by a marriage;
The future states of both are left to faith.
Who would be free themselves must strike the blow.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 2, st. 76 (1818)
(Source)
Always laugh when you can; it is cheap medicine.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
(Attributed)
Widely attributed to Byron, but no source cited.
He who is only just is cruel. Who on earth could live were all judged justly?
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Arino Faliero, Doge of Venice, Act 5, sc. 1 [Angiolina] (1820)
(Source)
All bad precedents begin with justifiable measures.
Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) Roman general and statesman [Gaius Julius Caesar]
“On the Punishment of the Catiline Conspirators,” 9 (63 BC)
The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.
James Branch Caball (1879-1958) American novelist and essayist
The Silver Stallion (1926)
People readily believe what they want to believe.
Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) Roman general and statesman [Gaius Julius Caesar]
The Gallic Wars [De Bello Gallico], Book 3, sec. 18 (49 BC)
Alt. trans.: "Men believe that willingly which they wish to be true."
Study first Propriety: for she is indeed the Pole-star.
Charles Stuart Calverley (1831-1884) English poet and parodist
Proverbial Philosophy, “Of Propriety”
Assuredly there is but one way in which to achieve what is not merely difficult but utterly against human nature: to love those who hate us, to repay their evil deeds with benefits, to return blessings for reproaches. It is that we remember not to consider men’s evil intention but to look upon the image of God in them, which cancels and effaces their transgressions, and with its beauty and dignity allures us to love and embrace them.
John Calvin (1509-1564) French theologian and reformer
The Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)
God not only provides for men’s necessity… but that in his goodness he deals still more bountifully with them by cheering their hearts with wine. It is lawful to use wine not only in cases of necessity but also thereby to make us merry.
John Calvin (1509-1564) French theologian and reformer
Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 104:15 (1557)
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom11.all.html#xiii.iii
But those who wish to prove to unbelievers that Scripture is the Word of God are acting foolishly, for only by faith can this be known.
John Calvin (1509-1564) French theologian and reformer
The Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)
The perils of ambulatory reading. If you have never said “Excuse me” to a parking meter or bashed your shins on a fireplug, you are probably wasting too much valuable reading time.
Sherri Chasin Calvo (contemp.) American computer scientist
(Attributed)
BISHOP: I’m afraid I have some bad news.
HUDSON: Well that’s a switch.James Cameron (b. 1954) Canadian film director, producer, screenwriter
Aliens (1986)
Now that they are called masters, they are ashamed again to become disciples.
Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639) Italian philosopher and monk
The Defense of Galileo (1616)
Does it really matter what these affectionate people do — so long as they don’t do it in the streets and frighten the horses!
Beatrice Campbell (1865-1940) English actress [Mrs. Patrick Campbell, née Beatrice Stella Tanner]
(Attributed)
Apocryphally a rebuke c. 1910 to a young actress who criticized an older actor as seeming too affectionate toward the handsome leading man in the production. Most famously given in this form in Alan Dent, Mrs. Patrick Campbell (1961).
Further discussion and variants:
Be good at something, good enough so that you can take quiet pride in knowing that you are a valuable person, that you can do at least one thing well.
David H. Campbell, Jr. (contemp.) American careers expert
If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, You’ll Probably End Up Somewhere (1974)
History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells “Can’t you remember anything I told you?” and lets fly with a club.
John W. Campbell (1910-1971) American writer and editor
(Attributed)
Discipline is remembering what you want.
David H. Campbell, Jr. (contemp.) American careers expert
(Attributed)
Why should it be that whenever men have looked for something solid on which to found their lives, they have chosen not the facts in which the world abounds, but the myths of an immemorial imagination.
Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) American writer, professor of literature
The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology (1987)
The myth is the public domain and the dream is the private myth. If your private myth, your dream, happens to coincide with that of the society, you are in good accord with your group. If it isn’t, you’ve got a long adventure in the dark forest ahead of you.
Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) American writer, professor of literature
(Attributed)
When people think that they, or their guru, have The Truth — ‘This is It!’ — they are what Nietzsche calls ‘epileptics of the concept’: people who have gotten an idea that’s driven them crazy.
Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) American writer, professor of literature
(Attributed)
One thing that comes out in myths is that at the bottom of the abyss comes the voice of salvation. The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light.
Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) American writer, professor of literature
The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1972)
Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.
Albert Camus (1913-1960) Algerian-French novelist, essayist, playwright
Resistance, Rebellion, and Death (1960)
A free press can of course be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad. … Freedom means nothing but a chance to be better, whereas enslavement is a certainty of the worse.
Albert Camus (1913-1960) Algerian-French novelist, essayist, playwright
Resistance, Rebellion and Death (1960)
You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.
Alphonse Capone (1899-1957) American gangster
(Attributed)
And what if you were told: One more hour?
Elias Canetti (1905-1994) Bulgarian-British author
The Secret Heart of the Clock: Notes, Aphorisms, Fragments (1985)
tr. Joel Agee, 1989.
It’s like the thing with violent video games now. What violent video game did Jack the Ripper play? Did Hitler play Risk in high school and that’s why he wanted to take over the world? It’s insane logic.
Drew Carey (b. 1958) American comedian
Maxim, interview (Sep. 1999)
http://www.maximonline.com/world_o_sex/articles/article_1807.html
If you can’t beat them, arrange to have them beaten.
George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
Brain Droppings (1998)
Those who dance are considered insane by those who can’t hear the music.
George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
Brain Droppings (1998)
Anyone who goes faster than me is an idiot. Anyone who goes slower than me is a moron. “Look at that idiot! Get outta my way, you moron! Look at that idiot!”
George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
(Attributed)
How about “just be yourself, and the people who like you will like you for who you really are, and not who you are pretending to be”? You should be polite to the others because we need more politeness, but otherwise they can just go screw themselves with a shattered-glass-encrusted baseball bat.
Marc Carlson (contemp.) American librarian, historian
Belief-L
Remember, earthquakes are God’s gentle little reminders that “Excuse me, I’m putting a mountain right where you are standing.”
Marc Carlson (contemp.) American librarian, historian
Belief-L (16 Feb. 2001)
May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.
George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
(Attributed)
[T]here seems to be with some people a feeling that you can tell a deeper truth by way of myths. I disagree with it in principle; I can not always disagree with it in practice.
Marc Carlson (contemp.) American librarian, historian
Belief-L (13 Jul. 2000)
At the very least, experience furnishes the houses of our lives — but we choose whether to live in them.
Marc Carlson (contemp.) American librarian, historian
Belief-L
My ancestors evolved to stop eating fish.
Marc Carlson (contemp.) American librarian, historian
(Attributed)
To put it bluntly, if we lived in a universe where all things were decided by God, and “free will” were nothing but a polite lie, then the universe would be nothing but masturbatory exercises of the Almighty, pre-scripted and acted out by the well-trained monkey people led about by “God’s Will”. I choose to not accept this possibility, since the universe would then have no purpose that could possibly interest me.
Marc Carlson (contemp.) American librarian, historian
Belief-L (8 Jan. 1999)
In some cases, all it requires is that you rationally point out that there is a problem. In others, all you can do is turn the other cheek. At the far end of the spectrum are those for whom the only appropriate response is to carve out their still-beating heart and force them to eat it.
Marc Carlson (contemp.) American librarian, historian
Belief-L
Tell a man he is brave, and you help him to become so.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Past and Present (1843)
Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one rascal less in the world.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Attributed)
This can also be found quoted as "one less rascal" and "one less scoundrel." I cannot find an original source for it.
Can there be a more horrible object in existence than an eloquent man not speaking the truth?
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Address as Lord Rector of Edinburgh University (1866)
Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Attributed)
The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History, “The Heroic in History: (1840)
The fine arts once divorcing themselves from truth are quite certain to fall mad, if they do not die.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Latter Day Pamphlet, No. 8 (1850)
The block of granite which was an obstacle in the path of the weak, becomes a steppingstone in the path of the strong.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Attributed)
His religion at best is an anxious wish, — like that of Rabelais, a great Perhaps.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
“Burns,” Edinburgh Review No. 96, Art. 1 (1828-12)
(Source)
A review of Lockhart, The Life of Robert Burns (1828).
Every new opinion, at its starting, is precisely in a minority of one.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History (1840)
Democracy means despair of ever finding any heroes to govern you, and contentedly putting up with the want of them.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Past and Present (1843)
Trust not the heart of that man for whom old clothes are not venerable.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Sartor Resartus, Book 3, ch. 6 (1831)
(Source)
Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity there are a hundred that will stand adversity.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History, Lecture V, “The Hero as a Man of Letters” (1840)
I grow daily to honor facts more and more, and theory less and less.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Letter to Emerson (29 Apr. 1836)
I do not believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
The Age of Reason, “The Author’s Profession of Faith”
In every object there is inexhaustible meaning; the eye sees in it what the eye brings means of seeing.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Misattributed)
Carlyle uses this phrase in his The French Revolution: A History, Part 1, Book 1, ch. 2 (1.1.2) (1837), but brackets it in quotations, and prefaces it with "For indeed it is well said ...." Nevertheless, the phrase is often misattributed directly to Carlyle.
The second half of the phrase (and sometimes the whole thing) has also been misattributed to Johann von Goethe, as "The eye sees only what the eye brings means of seeing." This is not found in Goethe's work, but may be distorted from a line in the Prologue to Goethe's Faust: "Each one sees what he carries in his heart."