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.
Pain is short, and joy is eternal.
Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) German poet, playwright, critic [Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller]
The Maid of Orleans [Die Jungfrau von Orleans], final line (1801)
Formerly there were those who said: You believe things that are incomprehensible, inconsistent, impossible because we have commanded you to believe them; go then and do what is unjust because we command it. Such people show admirable reasoning. Truly, whoever is able to make you absurd is able to make you unjust. If the God-given understanding of your mind does not resist a demand to believe what is impossible, then you will not resist a demand to do wrong to that God-given sense of justice in your heart. As soon as one faculty of your soul has been dominated, other faculties will follow as well. And from this derives all those crimes of religion which have overrun the world.
[Il y a eu des gens qui ont dit autrefois: Vous croyez des choses incompréhensibles, contradictoires, impossibles, parce que nous vous l’avons ordonné; faites donc des choses injustes parce que nous vous l’ordonnons. Ces gens-là raisonnaient à merveille. Certainement qui est en droit de vous rendre absurde est en droit de vous rendre injuste. Si vous n’opposez point aux ordres de croire l’impossible l’intelligence que Dieu a mise dans votre esprit, vous ne devez point opposer aux ordres de malfaire la justice que Dieu a mise dans votre coeur. Une faculté de votre âme étant une fois tyrannisée, toutes les autres facultés doivent l’être également. Et c’est là ce qui a produit tous les crimes religieux dont la terre a été inondée.]
Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Questions sur les miracles (1765)
(Source)
Commonly translated: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
Heretics, ch. 3 (1905)
Man was born to live with his fellow human beings. Separate him, isolate him, his character will go bad, a thousand ridiculous affects will invade his heart, extravagant thoughts will germinate in his brain, like thorns in an uncultivated land.
Denis Diderot (1713-1784) French editor, philosopher
La Religieuse [The Nun] [Suzanne Simon] (1796)
The infinity of God is not mysterious, it is only unfathomable; not concealed, but incomprehensible; it is a clear infinity, the darkness of the pure unsearchable sea.
John Ruskin (1819-1900) English art critic, painter, writer, social thinker
Modern Painters (1843-1860), vol II, part iii, ch. 5 (1846)
We must know what we think and speak out, even at the risk of unpopularity. In the final analysis, a democratic government represents the sum total of the courage and the integrity of its individuals. It cannot be better than they are.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist
Tomorrow Is Now (1963)
All fantasy should have a solid base in reality.
Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) English parodist, caricaturist, wit, writer [Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm]
Zuleika Dobson, Note (1946 ed.)
Full text.
When yu’ can’t have what you choose, yu’ just choose what you have.
Owen Wister (1860-1938) American novelist
The Virginian, ch. 13 (1929)
What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.
[Ce qui embellit le désert, dit le petit prince, c’est qu’il cache un puits quelque part.]
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) French writer, aviator
Le Petit Prince [The Little Prince] (1943)
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Marriage and Morals, ch. 5 “Christian Ethics” (1929)
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
[Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein.]
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
Jenseits von Gut und Böse [Beyond Good and Evil], Aphorism 146 (1886) [tr. Hollingdale (1973, 1990)]
(Source)
Alternate translations:
He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby becomes a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.
[tr. Zimmern (1906)]
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.
[tr. Kaufmann (1966)]
If you can bring to your children the self that you truly are, as opposed to some amalgam of manners and mannerisms, expectations and fears that you have acquired as a carapace along the way, you will give them, too, a great gift. You will teach them by example not to be terrorized by the narrow and parsimonious expectations of the world, a world that often likes to color within the lines when a spray of paint, a scrawl of crayon, is what is truly wanted.
Anna Quindlen (b. 1953) American journalist, novelist
Commencement Speech at Mount Holyoke College (23 May 1999)
Full text.
Naturally, every age thinks that all ages before it were prejudiced, and today we think this more then ever and are just as wrong as all previous ages that thought so.
Carl Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychologist
Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle (1960)
The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.
Carl Sagan (1934-1996) American scientist and writer
“In the Valley of the Shadow,” Parade (10 Mar 1996)
Let every man in mankind’s frailty
Consider his last day; and let none
Presume on his good fortune until he find
Life, at his death, a memory without pain.Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Oedipus Rex, l. 1529 (concluding words)
Young translation:
And of no moral say
"That man is happy," till
Vexed by no grievous ill
He pass Life's goal.
In short, in life, as in a foot-ball game, the principle to follow is:
Hit the line hard; don’t foul and don’t shirk, but hit the line hard!Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
“What We Can Expect of the American Boy,” St. Nicholas Magazine (1900-05)
(Source)
Reprinted as "The American Boy" in Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life (1900).
Roosevelt used this general phrasing on multiple occasions, so various forms can be found attributed or associated to him, such as:
- "In life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Never flinch. Never foul. Hit the line hard."
[Source]- "Don't flinch. Don't foul. Hit the line hard."
[Puck]- "Don't fowl, don't shirk, and hit the line hard!"
[Autograph]- "Don't flinch, don't fowl, and hit the line hard."
[Speech (1913-07-03)]
The World is full of fools and faint hearts; and yet every one has courage enough to bear the misfortunes, and wisdom enough to manage the Affairs of his neighbour.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (1743)
Full text.
We cannot abdicate our conscience to an organization, nor to a government. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ Most certainly I am! I cannot escape my responsibility by saying the State will do all that is necessary. It is a tragedy that nowadays so many think and feel otherwise.
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Alsatian philosopher, physician, philanthropist, polymath
The Spiritual Life (1947)
I meant what I said,
and I said what I meant
An elephant’s faithful,
One hundred percent.Dr. Seuss (1904-1991) American author, illustrator [pseud. of Theodor Geisel]
Horton Hatches the Egg (1940)