I had rather live and love where death is king, than have eternal life where love is not.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
“At a Child’s Grave” (8 Jan 1882)
(Source)
O, my Luve’s like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve’s like the melodie
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.Robert Burns (1759-1796) Scottish national poet
“A Red Red Rose” (1796)
Burns derived the text from various folk songs.
The public buys its opinions as it buys its meat, or takes in its milk, on the principle that it is cheaper to do this than to keep a cow. So it is, but the milk is more likely to be watered.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, ch. 17 (1912)
He who is bent on doing evil can never want occasion.
Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 459
There never has been security. No man has ever known what he would meet around the next corner; if life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist
Tomorrow Is Now (1963)
The Religion that is afraid of science dishonours God and commits suicide.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1831-03-04)
Art is the signature of civilizations.
Beverly Sills (1929-2007) American opera singer [b. Belle Silverman]
NBC Television interview (4 May 1985)
Money is always to be found when men are to be sent to the frontiers to be destroyed: when the object is to preserve them, it is no longer so.
[On en trouve [l’argent] toujours quand il s’agit d’aller faire tuer des hommes sur la frontière: il n’y en a plus quand il faut les sauver.]
Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Questions on the Encyclopedia [Questions sur l’Encyclopédie], “Charity [Charité]” (1770) [tr. Fleming]
(Source)
Referring to the scandalous conditions at the Hôtel Dieu charity hospital in Paris.
(Source (French)). Subsequently folded into later editions of the Philosophical Dictionary [Dictionnaire Philosophique].
There’s nothing more humbling than seeing your best quotes in a list, and thinking they could have been written by a coma patient with a keyboard and spasms.
Scott Adams (b. 1957) American cartoonist
Dilbert Blog, “Quotes” (26 Feb 2007)
Wherever one finds oneself inclined to bitterness, it is a sign of emotional failure: a larger heart, and a greater self-restraint, would put a calm autumnal sadness in the place of the instinctive outcry of pain.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Letter to Lucy Donnelly (13 Apr 1903)
Full text.
We love the things we love for what they are.
Thing that got me was not her list of things she hated, since she was obviously crazy as a Cyborg, but fact that always somebody agreed with her prohibitions. Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws — always for other fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up. Because not one of those people said: “Please pass this so that I won’t be able to do something I know I should stop.” Nyet, tovarishchee, was always something they hated to see neighbors doing. Stop them “for their own good” — not because speaker claimed to be harmed by it.
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress [Manny] (1966)
The trade of authorship is a violent, and indestructible obsession.
George Sand (1804-1876) French novelist, feminist [pseud. for Aurore Dupin]
Letter (4 Mar 1831)
It is a human inclination to hope things will work out, despite evidence or doubt to the contrary. A successful manager must resist this temptation. This is particularly hard if one has invested much time and energy on a project and thus has come to feel possessive about it. Although it is not easy to admit what a person once thought correct now appears to be wrong, one must discipline himself to face the facts objectively and make the necessary changes — regardless of the consequences to himself. The man in charge must personally set the example in this respect. He must be able, in effect, to “kill his own child” if necessary and must require his subordinates to do likewise.
Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) US Navy Admiral
Quoted in T. Rockwell, The Rickover Effect, Part 3, ch. 2, epigraph (1992)
(Source)
I don’t oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. […] A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.
Barack Obama (b. 1961) American politician, US President (2009-2017)
Speech at Anti-War Rally, Chicago (2 Oct 2002)
Full text.
If we hate ourselves, we can never love others, for love is the gift of oneself. How will you make a gift of that which you hate?
William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (1924-2006) American minister, social activist
Credo, “Faith, Hope, Love” (2004)
(Source)
The truth is always the strongest argument.
Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Phaedra, frag. 737
If we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.
Carl Sagan (1934-1996) American scientist and writer
Cosmos (1980)
The wind and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) English historian
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. 68 (1776-88)
Nothing that man does is eternal.
Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005) Austrian-American business consultant
“How to be an Effective Executive,” Nation’s Business (Apr 1961)
Most men ebb and flow in wretchedness between the fear of death and the hardship of life; they are unwilling to live, and yet they do not know how to die.
Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium], letter 4, sec. 6
A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest, as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of man.
John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
“Discourses on Davila: A Series of Papers on Political History,” Gazette of the United States, #4 (1790-1791)
Bugs, Mr. Rico! Zillions of ’em!
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Starship Troopers, ch. 10 (1959)
A little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the wisest men.Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
“Sir Roger on the Bench”
Never find your delight in another’s misfortune.
Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 467
And then, do you know, I like to think that love is eternal; that if you really love the woman, for her sake, you will love her no matter what she may do; that if she really loves you, for your sake, the same; that love does not look at alterations, through the wrinkles of time, through the mask of years — if you really love her you will always see the face you loved and won. And I like to think of it. If a man loves a woman she does not ever grow old to him. And the woman who really loves a man does not see that he is growing older. He is not decrepit to her. He is not tremulous. He is not old. He is not bowed. She always sees the same gallant fellow that won her hand and heart. I like to think of it in that way, and as Shakespeare says: “Let Time reach with his sickle as far as ever he can; although he can reach ruddy cheeks and ripe lips, and flashing eyes, he can not quite reach love.” I like to think of it. We will go down the hill of life together, and enter the shadow one with the other, and as we go down we may hear the ripple of the laughter of our grandchildren, and the birds, and spring, and youth, and love will sing once more upon the leafless branches of the tree of age. I love to think of it in that way — absolute equals, happy, happy, and free, all our own.
Somehow or other, and with the best of intentions, we have shown the world the typical Christian in the likeness of a crashing and rather ill-natured bore—and this in the name of one who assuredly never bored a soul in those thirty-three years during which he passed through the world like a flame.
Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) English author, translator
“The Dogma is the Drama” (1938)
Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you shall allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to make war at pleasure. Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect. If today he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, “I see no probability of the British invading us”; but he will say to you, “Be silent: I see it if you don’t.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter to William Herndon (15 Feb 1848)
Full text.
One can judge from experiment, or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits. To the academic mind, authority is everything and facts are junked when they do not fit theory laid down by authority.
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
“Life-Line” [Pinero] (1939)
It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist
Voice of America broadcast (11 Nov 1951)
I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.
[J’aime fort la vérité, mais je n’aime point du tout le martyre.]Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Letter to Jean le Rond d’Alembert (8 Feb 1776)
The world isn’t fair, but as long as it’s tilting in my direction I find that there’s a natural cap to my righteous indignation.
Scott Adams (b. 1957) American cartoonist
Dilbert Blog, “The Benefits of Getting Old” (Aug 2006)
If it is true that wars are won by believers, it is also true that peace treaties are sometimes signed by businessmen.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) French writer, aviator
“Letter to an American” (1944)
All government is an ugly necessity.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
A Short History of England (1917)
We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.
Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
The Illiterate Digest, “The World Tomorrow (After the Manner of Great Journalists)” (1924)
Home is the place where, when you have to go there,
They have to take you in.
Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
“The Best Answers to Fanaticism,” New York Times, “A Liberal Decalogue,” Commandment 7 (1951-12-16)
Full text.
Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Alsatian philosopher, physician, philanthropist, polymath
(Attributed)
Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith, “A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all nor be afraid!”Robert Browning (1812-1889) English poet
“Rabbi Ben Ezra,” st. 1 (1864)
Wisdom is a curse when wisdom does nothing for the man who has it.
Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Oedipus Rex, l. 316 [Teiresias]
Alt trans: "How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be When there's no help in truth!"
Persecution is a bad and indirect way to plant religion.
Thomas Browne (1605-1682) English physician and author
Religio Medici, pt. I, sec. 25 (1643)
Oh the shark has pretty teeth, dear,
And he shows them pearly white.
Just a jack-knife has MacHeath, dea,r
And he keeps it out of sight.[Und der Haifisch, der had Zähne
Und die trägt er im Gesicht
Und MacHeath, der had ein Messer
Doch das Messer sieht man nicht.]Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) German poet, playwright, director, dramaturgist
Die Dreigroschenoper [The Three-Penny Opera], Prologue, “The Ballad of Mackie the Knife” (1928)
English lyrics to "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" (Weill, Kurt / Berthold Brecht / Marc Blitzstein)
Alt: translation: "And the shark he has his teeth and / There they are for all to see / And MacHeath he has his knife but / No one knows where it may be."
Heroing is one of the shortest-lived professions there is.
Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
New York Times (15 Feb 1925)
Every great work, every big accomplishment, has been brought into manifestation through holding to the vision, and often just before the big achievement, comes apparent failure and discouragement.
Florence Scovel Shinn (1870-1940) American illustrator, metaphysicist
The Game of Life and How to Play It (1925)
Certainly nothing is unnatural that is not physically impossible.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) Irish dramatist, satirist, politician
The Critic, act II, sc. i (1779)
Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness.
Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium], letter 83, sec. 18
Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it.
John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter to John Quincy Adams (13 Nov 1816)
Man, being reasonable, must get drunk;
The best of life is but intoxication;
Glory, the grape, love, gold, in these are sunk
The hopes of all men, and of every nation.
When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider that great day when we shall all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance together.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Thoughts in Westminster Abbey (1711)
No man is happy who does not think himself so.
Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 584
Trouble shared is trouble halved.
Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) English author, translator
The Five Red Herrings, ch. 9 [Wimsey] (1939)
I do not say, and I do not believe, that Christians are as bad as their creeds. In spite of church and dogma, there have been millions and millions of men and women true to the loftiest and most generous promptings of the human heart. They have been true to their convictions, and, with a self-denial and fortitude excelled by none, have labored and suffered for the salvation of men. Imbued with the spirit of self-sacrifice, believing that by personal effort they could rescue at least a few souls from the infinite shadow of hell, they have cheerfully endured every hardship and scorned every danger. And yet, notwithstanding all this, they believed that honest error was a crime. They knew that the Bible so declared, and they believed that all unbelievers would be eternally lost. They believed that religion was of God, and all heresy of the devil. They killed heretics in defence of their own souls and the souls of their children. They killed them because, according to their idea, they were the enemies of God, and because the Bible teaches that the blood of the unbeliever is a most acceptable sacrifice to heaven.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
“Heretics and Heresies” (1874)
(Source)
There is not a passion so strongly rooted in the human heart as envy.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) Irish dramatist, satirist, politician
The Critic Act I, sc. i (1779)
I have never felt that anything really mattered but the satisfaction of knowing that you stood for the things in which you believed and had done the very best you could.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist
My Day (8 Nov 1944)
If she [America] forgets where she came from, if the people lose sight of what brought them along, if she listens to the deniers and mockers, then will begin the rot and dissolution.
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) American poet, biographer
Remembrance Rock, epilogue, ch. 2 (1948)
