Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.
Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) American statesman, author
The Federalist #15 (Dec 1787)
As honest as you can expect a man to be in a world where its going out of style.
Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) American novelist
The Big Sleep (1939)
Never trust to prayer without using every means in your power, and never use the means without trusting in prayer. Get your evidences of grace by pressing forward to the mark, and not by groping with a lantern after the boundary-lines, — and so, boys, go, and God bless you!
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
Old Town Folks, ch. 39 (1869)
One could say that the courage to be is the courage to accept oneself as accepted in spite of being unacceptable.
Paul Tillich (1886-1965) American theologian and philosopher
The Courage to Be, ch. 6 “Courage and Transcendence” (c) (1952)
Why can’t somebody give us a list of things that everybody thinks and nobody says, and another list of things that everybody says and nobody thinks?
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
The Professor at the Breakfast Table (1859)
Remorse is impotence, impotence which sins again. Repentance alone is powerful; it ends all.
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright
Seraphita [Séraphîta], ch. 3 (1835) [tr. Wormeley]
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.
T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935) British officer, diplomat, linguist, memoirist, writer [Thomas Edward Lawrence, "Lawrence of Arabia"]
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Introduction (1922)
Variant in other editions: "This, therefore, is a faded dream of the time when I went down into the dust and noise of the Eastern market-place, and with my brain and muscles, with sweat and constant thinking, made others see my visions coming true. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible."
Our tragedy begins with the segregation of God, with the bifurcation of the secular and sacred. We worry more about the purity of dogma than about the integrity of love.
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Insecurity of Freedom, ch. 6 “Religion and Race” (3) (1963)
Full text.
Men are disposed to live honestly, if the means of doing so are open to them.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to François de Marbois (14 Jun 1817)
(Source)
Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
Speech, Royal Academy of Art banquet, London (30 Apr 1953)
(Source)
BECKET: Saintliness is also a temptation.
Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
Becket or The Honor of God [Becket ou l’honneur de Dieu], Act 3 (1959)
Religion has often suffered from the tendency to become parochial, self-indulgent, self-seeking; as if the task were not to ennoble human nature but to enhance the power and beauty of its institutions or to enlarge the body of doctrines. It has often done more to canonize prejudices than to wrestle for truth; to petrify the sacred than to sanctify the secular. Yet the task of religion is to be a challenge to the stabilization of values. Religion is not for religion’s sake but for God’s sake.
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
God in Search of Man, ch. 42 “The Spirit of Judaism” (1976)
Full text.
Detested sport,
That owes its pleasures to another’s pain,
That feeds upon the sobs and dying shrieks
Of harmless nature, dumb, but yet endued
With eloquence, that agonies inspire,
Of silent tears and heart-distending sighs!William Cowper (1731-1800) English poet
The Task, 3.326 (1785)
On hunting.
God has created Man to be God’s free partner in the work of creation.
Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) English historian
“Man Owes His Freedom to God,” Collier’s (30 Mar 1956)
Who made the world I cannot tell;
‘Tis made, and here am I in hell.
My hand, though now my knuckles bleed,
I never soiled with such a deed.A. E. Housman (1859-1936) English scholar and poet [Alfred Edward Housman]
More Poems, No. 19, st. 2 (1936)
Full text.
In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: Not necessarily to Win, but mainly to keep from Losing Completely.
Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005) American journalist, writer
Gonzo Papers, Vol. 1: The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time (1979)
Commenting on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
You shall not enter Paradise until you have faith, and you will not complete your faith until you love one another.
Muhammad (570-632) Arabian merchant, prophet, founder of Islam [Mohammed]
The Sayings of Muhammad, #176 [tr. al-Suhrawardy (1941)]
Years subdue the ardour of passion, but in lieu thereof a Friendship and affection deep Rooted subsists which defies the Ravages of Time, and will survive whilst the vital flame exists.
Abigail Adams (1744-1818) American correspondent, First Lady (1797-1801)
Letter to John Adams (7 Jan 1793)
John replied in his following letter, "I am, with all the Ardour of Youth, yours."
We are told that the love of money is the root of all evil; but money itself is one of the most useful contrivances ever invented: it is not its fault that some people are foolish or miserly enough to be fonder of it than of their own souls.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism, Capitalism, Sovietism and Fascism, ch. 6 (1928)
The pounding of the cylinders increased: ta-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa.
James Thurber (1894-1961) American cartoonist and writer
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1942)
A rose, but one, none other rose had I,
A rose, one rose, and this was wondrous fair,
One rose, a rose that gladdened earth and sky,
One rose, my rose, that sweetened all mine air —
I cared not for the thorns; the thorns were there.Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) English poet
Idylls of the King, “Pelleas and Ettarre” (1859-1885)
The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemy’s.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor, military leader
(Attributed)
Frequently misquoted, ungrammatically, as "... both his own and the enemies."
A good half of the humor of the late Mark Twain consisted of admitting frankly the possession of vices and weaknesses that all of us have and few care to acknowledge. Practically all of the sagacity of George Bernard Shaw consists of bellowing vociferously what everyone knows.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
“The Ulster Problem,” Prejudices: The First Series (1919)
What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on the top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that, oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell. Me, I was part of the nastiness now. Far more a part of it than Rusty Regan was.
Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) American novelist
The Big Sleep (1939)
The greater the interest involved in a truth the more careful, self-distrustful, and patient should be the inquiry. I would not attack the faith of a heathen without being sure I had a better one to put in its place, because, such as it is, it is better than nothing.
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
Letter to William Lloyd Garrison (1853)
The greatest heresy is despair, despair of men’s power for goodness, men’s power for love.
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
“The Religious Basis of Equality of Opportunity – The Segregation of God,” National Conference for Religion and Race, Chicago (1963)
Humor is the shock absorber of life; it helps us take the blows.
Peggy Noonan (b. 1950) American writer
What I Saw at the Revolution, ch. 8 (1990)
Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.
George Washington (1732-1799) American military leader, Founding Father, US President (1789-1797)
Letter to Bushrod Washington (15 Jan 1783)
Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day, like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
The Professor at the Breakfast Table (1859)
It is easier to be a lover than a husband, for the same reason that it is more difficult to be witty every day, than to say bright things from time to time.
[Il est plus facile d’être amant que mari, par la raison qu’il est plus difficile d’avoir de l’esprit tous les jours que de dire de jolies choses de temps en temps.]
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright
Physiology of Marriage [Physiologie du Mariage], Part 1, Meditation 5 “Of the Predestined,” Aphorism 49 (1829) [tr. McSpadden]
Full text. Sometimes quoted as Aphorism 64.
Say what is true, although it may be bitter and displeasing to people.
Muhammad (570-632) Arabian merchant, prophet, founder of Islam [Mohammed]
The Sayings of Muhammed, #238 [tr. Al-Suhrawardy]
Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never Is, but always To be blest.Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet
An Essay on Man, 1.95 (1734)
An honest God’s the noblest work of man.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
Further Extracts from the Note-Books of Samuel Butler, ch. 1 (1934)
See Pope.
The object of Parliament is to substitute argument for fisticuffs.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
Speech, House of Commons (6 Jun 1951)
BECKET: Until the day of his death, no man can be sure of his courage.
Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
Becket or The Honor of God [Becket ou l’honneur de Dieu], Act 1 (1959)
Where was God in all this? Was this another test, one more? Or a punishment? And if so, for what sins? What crimes were being punished? Was there a misdeed that deserved so many mass graves? Would it ever again be possible to speak of justice, of truth, of divine charity, after the murder of one million Jewish children?
Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) Romanian-American novelist, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate.
A Jew Today, “To Be a Jew” (1978)
On the Holocaust.
Home is where the heart is.
Pliny the Younger (c. 61-c. 113) Roman politician, writer [Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus]
(Attributed)
I myself believe that the evidence for God lies primarily in inner personal experiences.
William James (1842-1910) American psychologist and philosopher
Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking, Lecture 3 “Some Metaphysical Problems Pragmatically Considered” (1907)
Full text.
The laws of God, the laws of man,
He may keep that will and can;
Now I: let God and man decree
Laws for themselves and not for me.A. E. Housman (1859-1936) English scholar and poet [Alfred Edward Housman]
Last Poems, No. 12, l. 1-4 (1922)
Full text.
Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men’s reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of ‘the rat race’ is not yet final.
Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005) American journalist, writer
Gonzo Papers, Vol. 1: The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time (1979)
If you turn your back on these people, you yourself are an animal. You may be a well-dressed animal, but you are nevertheless an animal.
Ed Koch (1924-2013) American lawyer, politician, political commentator
State of the City Address (16 Mar 1987)
On the AIDS epidemic and New York City's response.
The hope of the world lies in what one demands, not of others, but of oneself.
James Baldwin (1924-1987) American novelist, playwright, activist
“Malcolm and Martin,” Esquire (Apr 1972)
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
1 Timothy 6:9-10 [KJV (1611)]
(Source)
Alternate translations:
People who long to be rich are a prey to temptation; they get trapped into all sorts of foolish and dangerous ambitions which eventually plunge them into ruin and destruction. "The love of money is the root of all evils" and there are some who, pursuing it, have wandered away from the faith, and so given their souls any number of fatal wounds.
[Jerusalem (1966)]
But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and are caught in the trap of many foolish and harmful desires, which pull them down to ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows.
[GNT (1976)]
But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
[NRSV (1989)]
That loss is common would not make
My own less bitter, rather more:
Too common! Never morning wore
To evening, but some heart did break.Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) English poet
“In Memoriam A. H. H.” [Arthur Henry Hallam], Part 6, st. 1-2 (1849)
Wait for that wisest of all counselors, Time.
Pericles (c. 495-429 BC) Greek statesman
In Plutarch, Life of Pericles
Alt. trans.: "Be ruled by time, the wisest counsellor of all."
Do not worry about what others are doing. Each of us should turn the searchlight inward and purify his or her own heart as much as possible.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian philosopher and nationalist [Mahatma Gandhi]
Speech, All-India Radio (1948-01-16)
(Source)
Two weeks before his death. In Louis Fischer, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi, Part 3, ch. 9 "The Last Fast" (1957).
I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room.
Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) American novelist
Farewell, My Lovely, chapter 34 (1940)
All this was inspired by the principle — which is quite true in itself — that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods.
Adolph Hitler (1889-1945) German leader
Mein Kampf [My Struggle], Vol. 1, ch. 10 (1925)
There are only two mistakes one can make on the road to truth: not going all the way and not starting.
Buddha (c.563-483 BC) Indian mystic, philosopher [b. Siddharta Gautama]
(Attributed)
Honor and shame from no Condition rise;
Act well your part: there all the honor lies.Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet
“An Essay on Man,” 4.193 (1734)
We appreciate what we share, we do not appreciate what we receive. Friendship, affection is not acquired by giving presents. Friendship, affection comes about by two people sharing a significant moment, by having an experience in common.
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Insecurity of Freedom, 5.3 (1967)
The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a deal longer.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
The Professor at the Breakfast Table (1859)
“I am tormented by temptations.”
“What kind? There is a cure for temptation.”
“What?”
“Yielding to it.”[Je suis tourmenté par de mauvaises idées.
En quel genre? Ça se guérit, les idées.
Comment?
En y succombant.]Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright
Le Père Goriot, Part 2 (1835) [tr. Marriage]
He who hesitates is last.
Mae West (1892-1980) American film actress
(Attributed)
