The abhorrence of society to the use of involuntary confessions does not turn alone on their inherent untrustworthiness. It also turns on the deep-rooted feeling that the police must obey the law while enforcing the law; that, in the end, life and liberty can be as much endangered from illegal methods used to convict those thought to be criminals as from the actual criminals themselves.
Earl Warren (1891-1974) American jurist and politician; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1953-69)
Majority opinion, Spano v New York, 360 U.S. 315 (1959)
Full text.
A glorious Church is like a magnificent feast; there is all the variety that may be, but every one chooses out a dish or two that he likes, and lets the rest alone: how glorious soever the Church is, every one chooses out of it his own religion, by which he governs himself, and lets the rest alone.
John Selden (1584-1654) English jurist, antiquary, politician, Orientalist
Table Talk, “Church” (1686)
It is a bad plan that admits of no modification.
Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 469
Great virtues may draw attention from defects, they cannot sanctify them. A pebble surrounded by diamonds remains a common stone, and a diamond surrounded by pebbles is still a gem. No one should attempt to refute an argument by pronouncing the name of some man, unless he is willing to adopt all the ideas and beliefs of that man. It is better to give reasons and facts than names. An argument should not depend for its force upon the name of its author. Facts need no pedigree, logic has no heraldry, and the living should not awed by the mistakes of the dead.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
“The Great Infidels” (1881)
(Source)
She always says, my lord, that facts are like cows. If you look them in the face hard enough they generally run away.
Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) English author, translator
Clouds of Witness, ch. 4 [Bunter] (1926)
A comedian can only last till he either takes himself serious or his audience takes him serious.
Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Newspaper column (28 Jun 1931)
Rejecting the idea of running for President.
‘A good heart will help you to a bonny face, my lad,’ I continued, ‘if you were a regular black; and a bad one will turn the bonniest into something worse than ugly.’
Emily Brontë (1818-1848) British novelist, poet [pseud. Ellis Bell]
Wuthering Heights, ch. 7 [Nelly to Heathcliff] (1847)
Full text.
Lay me on an anvil, O God.
Beat me and hammer me into a crowbar.
Let me pry loose old walls.
Let me lift and loosen old foundations.Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) American poet, biographer
“Prayers of Steel” (1920)
And while accepting the fact that some of our press, our radio commentators, our prominent citizens and our movies may at times be blamed legitimately for things they have said and done, still I feel that the fundamental right of freedom of thought and expression is essential. If you curtail what the other fellow says and does, you curtail what you yourself may say and do. In our country we must trust the people to hear and see both the good and the bad and to choose the good.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist
My Day (29 Oct 1947)
On the House Un-American Activities Committee
It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
“The Point of a Pin,” The Scandal of Father Brown (1935)
Morality is everywhere the same for all men, therefore it comes from God; sects differ, therefore they are the work of men.
[La morale est la même chez tous les hommes, donc elle vient de Dieu; le culte est différent, donc il est l’ouvrage des hommes.]
Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Dictionnaire philosophique portatif, “Atheist,” (1764)
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over the harbor and city
on silent haunches, and then moves on.Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) American poet, biographer
“Fog” (1914)
The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Alsatian philosopher, physician, philanthropist, polymath
(Attributed)
I ask for your indulgence when I march out quotations. This is the double syndrome of men who write for a living and men who are over forty. The young smoke pot — we inhale from our Bartlett’s.
Rod Serling (1924-1975) American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, narrator
Speech at Moorpark College, California (3 Dec 1968)
I am less concerned about my relationship with God in the afterlife than I am in my relationship with him in this one.
Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Heaven and Earth, ch. 2 (2002)
Here is my secret. It is very simple. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.
[Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.]
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) French writer, aviator
Le Petit Prince [The Little Prince] (1943)
Alternate translations:
- "Here is my secret. It is very simple: one sees well only with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes."
- "The essential things in life are seen not with the eyes, but with the heart."
Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, ch. 1 “What Makes People Unhappy?” (1930)
Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.
Carl Sagan (1934-1996) American scientist and writer
Cosmos (1980)
Among the wise and high-minded people who in self-respecting and genuine fashion strive earnestly for peace, there are the foolish fanatics always to be found in such a movement and always discrediting it — the men who form the lunatic fringe in all reform movements.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
An Autobiography, ch. 7 “The War of American and the Unready” (1913)
Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.
Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Phaedra, fragment 842
Also "Fortune never helps the fainthearted" [Fragments, l. 666]
Generally, old media don’t die. They just have to grow old gracefully. Guess what, we still have stone masons. They haven’t been the primary purveyors of the written word for a while now of course, but they still have a role because you wouldn’t want a TV screen on your headstone.
Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English writer
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Future (2001)
The greatest hatred, like the greatest virtue and the worst dogs, is silent.
Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825) German writer, art historian, philosopher, littérateur [Johann Paul Friedrich Richter; pseud. Jean Paul]
Hesperus, ch. 12 (1795)
Most of the change we think we see in life
Is due to truths being in and out of favor.
I’m sorry to say so
But, sadly it’s true
That bang-ups and hang-ups
Can happen to you.Dr. Seuss (1904-1991) American author, illustrator [pseud. of Theodor Geisel]
Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (1990)
The man with toothache thinks everyone happy whose teeth are sound. The poverty stricken man makes the same mistake about the rich man,
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Man and Superman, “Maxims for Revolutionists,” “Beauty and Happiness, Art and Riches” (1903)
Full text.
When the Judgment Day comes civilization will have an alibi, “I never took a human life, I only sold the fellow the gun to take it with.”
Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
(Attributed)
Well done is better than well said.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (May 1737)
Every writer is a frustrated actor who recites his lines in the hidden auditorium of his skull.
Rod Serling (1924-1975) American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, narrator
Vogue (1 Apr 1957)
No orthodox church ever had power that it did not endeavor to make people think its way by force and flame.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
Trial of C.B. Reynolds for blasphemy (May 1887)
(Source)
She has a sense of humor … and brains … life wouldn’t be dull. One would wake up, and there would be a whole day full of jolly things to do. And then we would come home and go to bed… and that would be jolly too.
Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) English author, translator
Strong Poison [Wimsey] (1930)
Surely it must be plain that an ingenious man could speculate without end on both sides, and find analogies for all his dreams. Nor does it help me to tell me that the aspirations of mankind — that my own highest aspirations even — lead me towards the doctrine of immortality. I doubt the fact, to begin with, but if it be so even, what is this but in grand words asking me to believe a thing because I like it.
Science has taught to me the opposite lesson. She warns me to be careful how I adopt a view which jumps with my preconceptions, and to require stronger evidence for such belief than for one to which I was previously hostile. My business is to teach my aspirations to conform themselves to fact, not to try and make facts harmonise with my aspirations.
T. H. Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [Thomas Henry Huxley]
Letter to Charles Kingsley (23 Sep 1860)
Full text.
Life is only error,
And death is knowledge.Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) German poet, playwright, critic [Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller]
“Cassandra” (1802)
If you begin by sacrificing yourself to those you love, you will end by hating those to whom you have sacrificed yourself.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Man and Superman, “Maxims for Revolutionists,” “Self-Sacrifice” (1903)
Full text.
I do not want to die … until I have faithfully made the most of my talent and cultivated the seed that was placed in me until the last small twig has grown.
Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) German artist
Diaries and Letters (15 Feb 1915)
I was one of those who was very happy when the original prohibition amendment passed. I thought innocently that a law in this country would automatically be complied with, and my own observation led me to feel rather ardently that the less strong liquor anyone consumed the better it was. During prohibition I observed the law meticulously, but I came gradually to see that laws are only observed with the consent of the individuals concerned and a moral change still depends on the individual and not on the passage of any law.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist
My Day (14 Jul 1939)
Ideas are dangerous, but the man to whom they are least dangerous is the man of ideas. He is acquainted with ideas, and moves among them like a lion-tamer. Ideas are dangerous, but the man to whom they are most dangerous is the man of no ideas. The man of no ideas will find the first idea fly to his head like wine to the head of a teetotaller.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
Heretics, ch. 20 (1905)
Opinions have caused more ills than the plague or earthquakes on this little globe of ours.
[Les opinions ont plus causé de maux sur ce petit globe que la peste et les tremblements de terre.]
Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Letter to Élie Bertrand (5 Jan 1759)
Struggles to coerce uniformity of sentiment in support of some end thought essential to their time and country have been waged by many good, as well as by evil, men. Nationalism is a relatively recent phenomenon, but, at other times and places, the ends have been racial or territorial security, support of a dynasty or regime, and particular plans for saving souls. As first and moderate methods to attain unity have failed, those bent on its accomplishment must resort to an ever-increasing severity. […] Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.
Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 318-319 U.S. 624 (1943) [majority opinion]
(Source)
Faith which refuses to face indisputable facts is but little faith. Truth is always gain, however hard it is to accommodate ourselves to it. To linger in any kind of untruth proves to be a departure from the straight way of faith.
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Alsatian philosopher, physician, philanthropist, polymath
The Spiritual Life (1947)
Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.
[Aimer, ce n’est pas se regarder l’un l’autre, c’est regarder ensemble dans la même direction.]
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) French writer, aviator
Terre des Hommes [Wind, Sand and Stars] (1939)
Why is propaganda so much more successful when it stirs up hatred than when it tries to stir up friendly feeling?
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, ch. 6 “Envy” (1930)
Truth is always in danger of being sacrificed on the altars of good taste and social stability.
William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (1924-2006) American minister, social activist
Credo, “Social Justice and Civil Liberties” (2004)
(Source)
All humor is based on telling the absolute truth when it’s apparent for everybody to see but they’re either afraid to see it or don’t say it. And that resonates with everyone.
Carl Reiner (1922-2020) American comedian, writer, producer
Interview, TV Guide (16 Jan 2008)
Full text.
To doubt one’s own first principles is the mark of a civilized man. Don’t defend past actions; what is right today may be wrong tomorrow. Don’t be consistent; consistency is the refuge of fools.
Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) US Navy Admiral
Address to US Naval Post-Graduate School (16 Mar 1954)
Death is not the worst evil, but rather when we wish to die and cannot.
Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Electra, l. 1007
Alt. trans.: "For death is not the worst, but when one wants to die and is not able even to have that."
No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man’s permission when we require him to obey it. Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
State of the Union Address (7 Dec 1903)
Full text.
We can’t all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.
Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
(Attributed)
Alt.: "We all can't be heroes, for someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by."
The actions of men [are] the best interpreters of their thoughts.
John Locke (1632-1704) English philosopher
“An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” 1.2.3 (1690)
Light a Lucky and you’ll never miss sweets that make you fat.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Cigarette ad, American Tobacco Co., quoting “Charming Motion Picture Star” Constance Talmadge (1929)
Men differ daily, about things which are subject to Sense, is it likely then they should agree about things invisible.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (1743)
Full text.
I wish to God that you had as much pleasure in following my advice, as I have in giving it [to] you.
Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #216 (5 Feb 1750)
(Source)
Books … are like lobster shells, we surround ourselves with ’em, then we grow out of ’em and leave ’em behind, as evidence of our earlier stages of development.
Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) English author, translator
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club [Wimsey] (1928)
All the martyrs in the history of the world are not sufficient to establish the correctness of an opinion. Martyrdom, as a rule, establishes the sincerity of the martyr, — never the correctness of his thought. Things are true or false in themselves. Truth cannot be affected by opinions; it cannot be changed, established, or affected by martyrdom. An error cannot be believed sincerely enough to make it a truth.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
“The Great Infidels” (1881)
(Source)
The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, scepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin. And it cannot be otherwise, for every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority, the cherishing of the keenest scepticism, the annihilation of the spirit of blind faith; and the most ardent votary of science holds his firmest convictions, not because the men he most venerates hold them; not because their verity is testified by portents and wonders; but because his experience teaches him that whenever he chooses to bring these convictions into contact with their primary source, Nature — whenever he thinks fit to test them by appealing to experiment and to observation — Nature will confirm them. The man of science has learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but by verification.
T. H. Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [Thomas Henry Huxley]
“On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge” (1866)
Full text.