THIRD CITIZEN: Ingratitude is monstrous.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Coriolanus, Act 2, sc. 3, l. 10 (2.3.10) (c. 1608)
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ROSENCRANTZ: Many wearing rapiers are afraid of goosequills.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Hamlet, Act 2, sc. 2, l. 366ff (2.2.366) (c. 1600)
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NORFOLK: Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry VIII, Act 1, sc. 1, l. 168ff (1.1.168-169) (1613)
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ANTONIO: In nature there’s no blemish but the mind;
None can be called deformed but the unkind.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 3, sc. 4, l. 386ff (3.4.386-387) (1601)
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OPHELIA: Lord, we know what we are but know not what we may be.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Hamlet, Act 4, sc. 5, l. 48ff (4.5.48-49) (c. 1600)
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ANTONY: To business that we love we rise betime
And go to ’t with delight.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Antony and Cleopatra, Act 4, sc. 4, l. 27ff (4.4.27-28) (1607)
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MESSENGER: Frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms, and lengthens life.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Taming of the Shrew, Induction, sc. 2, l. 137ff (c. 1591)
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MENAS: We, ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit
By losing of our prayers.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Antony and Cleopatra, Act 2, sc. 1, l. 7ff (2.1.7-10) (1607)
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MALCOLM: Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 4, sc. 3, l. 246ff (4.3.246-247) (1606)
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HENRY: Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry VI, Part 3, Act 4, sc. 6, l. 39ff (4.6.39) (1591)
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ALBANY: Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
King Lear, Act 1, sc. 4, l. 369 (1.4.369) (1606)
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SAYE: Ignorance is the curse of God,
Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry VI, Part 2, Act 4, sc. 7, l. 73ff (4.7.73-74) (1591)
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CASSIUS: Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Julius Caesar, Act 1, sc. 2, l. 142ff (1.2.142-148) (1599)
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AUSTRIA: For courage mounteth with occasion.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
King John, Act 2, sc. 1, l. 82 (2.1.82) (1596)
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ANGELO: ‘Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus,
Another thing to fall.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Measure for Measure, Act 2, sc. 1, l. 18ff (2.1.18-19) (1604)
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POLONIUS: This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Shakespare - to thine own self be true - wist_info quote

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Hamlet, Act 1, sc. 3, l. 84ff (1.3.84-86) (c. 1600)
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VOLUMNIA: Action is eloquence.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Coriolanus, Act 3, sc. 2, l. 95 (3.2.95) (c. 1608)
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I was going to buy a copy of The Power of Positive Thinking, and then I thought: What the hell good would that do?

Ronnie Shakes
Ronnie Shakes (1947-1987) American comedian [Ronald Michael Sakele]
(Attributed)
 
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One of the tragedies of modern times is that people have come to believe that something said by someone in the past, perhaps for illustrative or provocation purposes, actually represents that person’s beliefs at the time.

Idries Shah (1924-1996) Indian- British writer, Sufi teacher
(Attributed)
 
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Truth is the most powerful thing in the world, since even fiction itself must be governed by it, and can only please by its resemblance.

Anthony Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713) English politician and philosopher
Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, Vol. 1 “A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm” (1711)
 
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Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don’t have the balls to live in the real world.

Mary Shafer (contemp.) American aeronautics engineer
(Attributed)
 
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There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham.

Anna Sewell (1820-1878) English novelist
Black Beauty, Part 1, ch. 13 “The Devil’s Trade-Mark” (1877)
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If you never did, you should.
These things are fun, and fun is good.

Dr. Seuss (1904-1991) American author, illustrator [pseud. of Theodor Geisel]
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish (1960)
 
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It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper.

Rod Serling (1924-1975) American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, narrator
(Attributed)

Unsourced. An alternate (parallel?) quote from the documentary Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval: "How can you put out a meaningful drama when every fifteen minutes proceedings are interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits with toilet paper? No dramatic art form should be dictated and controlled by men whose training and instincts are cut of an entirely different cloth. The fact remains that these gentlemen sell consumer goods, not an art form."
 
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True happiness is founded upon virtue.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Essays, “On the Happy Life” [De Vita Beata]“, 16.1 [tr. Basore (1932)]
 
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If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium]

Sometimes attributed to Seneca the Elder (Marcus Annaeus Seneca), his father.
 
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Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
(Attributed)
 
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Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium], letter 71, sec. 3 “On the Supreme Good” [tr. Grummere (1918)]
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Alt trans.: "If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable."
 
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Life’s like a play; it’s not the length but the excellence of the acting that matters.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium], letter 77

Alt trans. by R. Gummere: "It is with life as it is with a play, - it matters not how long the action is spun out, but how good the acting is." Full text.
 
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The willing, Destiny guides them; the unwilling, Destiny drags them.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium], “On Obedience to the Universal Will”

Actually translating Cleanthes. Alt. trans: "Fate leads, but the unwilling drags along." "Fate leads the willing and drags along the unwilling." R. Gummere: "Aye, the willing soul / Fate leads, but the unwilling drags along." Source. Sometimes attributed to Seneca the Elder.
 
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Conversation has a kind of charm about it, an insinuating and insidious something that elicits secrets from us just like love or liquor.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium]
 
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It is equally faulty to trust everyone and to trust no one.

[Utrumque enim vitium est et omnibus credere et nulli.]

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium], letter 3 “On True and False Friendship” [tr. Gummere]
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Alt. trans.: "For it is both a vice to believe everyone and no-one."
 
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It is dangerous for a man too suddenly, or too easily, to believe himself. Wherefore let us examine, watch, observe, and inspect our own hearts; for we are ourselves our own greatest flatterers: we should every night call ourselves to account, “What infirmity have I mastered to-day? what passion opposed? what temptation resisted? what virtue acquired?” Our vices will abate of themselves, if they be brought every day to the shrift.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Essays, “On the Happy Life” [De Vita Beata]” [tr. L’Estrange (1834)]
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Sometimes incorrectly quoted as "Our vices will abort of themselves ...."
 
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The poor one is not the man who has little, but the man who craves more.

[Non qui parum habet, sed qui plus cupit, pauper est.]

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium], letter 2 “On Discursiveness in Reading,” sec. 6

Alt trans. (Gummere (1918)): "It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor."
 
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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
(Attributed)

Often either unattributed or sometimes attributed to Seneca the Elder.
 
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As the soil, however rich it may be, cannot be productive without cultivation, so the mind without culture can never produce good fruit.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
(Attributed)
 
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BATMAN: Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb.

Lorenzo Semple Jr
Lorenzo Semple, Jr. (1922-2014) American screenwriter
Batman (the movie) (1966)

As Batman runs around the pier trying to dispose of a large bomb, repeatedly running into drunks, the Salvation Army, nuns, a baby stroller, lovers in a boat, and ducklings in the water.
 
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Wrong? What could be wrong with our child, Robert?

David Seltzer (b. 1940) American screenwriter, director, producer
The Omen (1976)
 
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Ignorance of the law excuses no man; not that all men know the law, but because it is an excuse every man will plead, and no man can tell how to confute him.

John Selden (1584-1654) English jurist, antiquary, politician, Orientalist
Table Talk, “Law” (1686)
 
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While you are upon the earth, enjoy the good things that are here (to the end that they were given), and be not melancholy, and wish yourself in Heaven.

John Selden (1584-1654) English jurist, antiquary, politician, Orientalist
Table Talk, “Pleasure” (1686)
 
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‘Twas an unhappy division that has been made betwixt faith and works; though in my intellect I may divide them just as in the candle, I know there is both heat and light; but yet put out the candle, and they are both gone: one remains not without the other.

John Selden (1584-1654) English jurist, antiquary, politician, Orientalist
Table Talk, ch. 42 “Faith and Works” (1686)
 
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Where lipstick is concerned, the important thing is not color, but to accept God’s final word on where your lips end.

Jerry Seinfeld (b. 1954) American comedian
(Attributed)
 
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Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.

Jerry Seinfeld (b. 1954) American comedian
(Attributed)
 
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There’s very little advice in men’s magazines, because men don’t think there’s a lot they don’t know. Women do. Women want to learn. Men think, “I know what I’m doing, just show me somebody naked.”

Jerry Seinfeld (b. 1954) American comedian
(Attributed)
 
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What? Men dodging this way for single bullets? What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you. They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.

John Sedgwick (1813-1864) American army officer
Report by General Martin T. McMahon

(Nearly) last words by General Sedgwick to his troops during the Battle of Spotsylvania, shortly before being shot and killed by a sniper. Source. Some paraphrases have the last word cut off.
 
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Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean.

David Searls (b. 1947) American journalist, columnist, blogger
(Attributed)
 
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Who o’er the herd would wish to reign,
Fantastic, fickle, fierce, and vain!
Vain as the leaf upon the stream,
And fickle as a changeful dream;
Fantastic as a woman’s mood,
And fierce as Frenzy’s fever’d blood.
Thou many-headed monster thing,
Oh who would wish to be thy king!

Sir Walter Scott
Walter Scott (1771-1832) Scottish writer, historian, biographer
Lady of the Lake, Canto 5, XXX (1810)
 
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The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.

Sir Walter Scott
Walter Scott (1771-1832) Scottish writer, historian, biographer
The Pirate, ch. 36 (1822)
 
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Who ever walked behind anyone to freedom? If we can’t go hand in hand, I don’t want to go.

Hazel Scott (1920-1981) Trinidad-American pianist, singer, writer
Ms., “Great (Hazel) Scott!,” by Margo Jefferson (Nov. 1974)
 
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I have always respected everyone’s religion. As I say, there is only one God and a lot of confused people.

Hazel Scott (1920-1981) Trinidad-American pianist, singer, writer
Interview with Arthur Taylor, Notes and Tones (1977)

Original interview Dec 1972.
 
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I’ve always known I was gifted, which is not the easiest thing in the world for a person to know, because you’re not responsible for your gift, only for what you do with it.

Hazel Scott (1920-1981) Trinidad-American pianist, singer, writer
Interview with Arthur Taylor, Notes and Tones (1977)

Original interview Dec 1972.
 
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Knowing all truth is less than doing a little bit of good.

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Alsatian philosopher, physician, philanthropist, polymath
The Thoughts of Albert Schweitzer
 
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I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Alsatian philosopher, physician, philanthropist, polymath
(Attributed)
 
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Not one of us knows what effect his life produces, and what he gives to others; that is hidden from us and must remain so, though we are often allowed to see some little fraction of it, so that we may not lose courage. The way in which power works is a mystery.

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Alsatian philosopher, physician, philanthropist, polymath
The Spiritual Life: Selected Writings of Albert Schweitzer (1947)
 
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As we acquire more knowledge, things do not become more comprehensible, but more mysterious.

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Alsatian philosopher, physician, philanthropist, polymath
(Attributed)
 
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