In any free society, the conflict between social conformity and individual liberty is permanent, unresolvable, and necessary.
Kathleen Norris (1880-1960) American novelist
(Attributed)
People do think that if they avoid the truth, it might change to something better before they have to hear it.
Marsha Norman (b. 1947) American playwright, screenwriter, novelist.
(Attributed)
Cynicism is not realistic and tough. It’s unrealistic and kind of cowardly because it means you don’t have to try.
Peggy Noonan (b. 1950) American writer
(Attributed)
People are far more interesting and successful when they are less concerned about being normal, and more concerned on being natural.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Michael Nolan
True religion is the life we lead, not the creed we profess.
Louis Nizer (1902-1994) British-American lawyer
(Attributed)
Some people will believe anything if you whisper it to them.
Louis Nizer (1902-1994) British-American lawyer
(Attributed)
While technically I did not commit a crime, an impeachable offense
Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994) American politician, writer, US President (1967-74)
(Attributed)
Always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don’t win, unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.
Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994) American politician, writer, US President (1967-74)
Speech to members of his administration (9 Aug 1974)
After announcing his resignation.
A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.
Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994) American politician, writer, US President (1967-74)
(Attributed)
One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying to achieve.
Paul Nitze (1907-2004) American public official, diplomat
(Attributed)
As a nation we have lost our sense of tragedy, a recognition that bad things happen to good people. A nation that expects the government to prevent churches from burning, to control the price of bread or gasoline, to secure every job, and to find some villain for every dramatic accident, risks an even larger loss of life and liberty.
William A. Niskanen (1933-2011) American public policy analyst, economist
For a Less Responsive Government, Cato Policy Report (1996)
People living deeply have no fear of death.
We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.
Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) Catalan-Cuban-French author, diarist
(Attributed)
Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.
Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) Catalan-Cuban-French author, diarist
(Attributed)
The only abnormality is the incapacity to love.
Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) Catalan-Cuban-French author, diarist
(Attributed)
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.
Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) Catalan-Cuban-French author, diarist
Diary (1941-06)
(Source)
In her Diaries [ed. Stuhlmann (1969)].
It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)
Out of life’s school of war: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.
[Aus der Kriegsschule des Lebens. — Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker.]
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
Twilight of the Idols [Die Götzen-Dämmerung], “Maxims and Arrows [Sprüche und Pfeile]” #8 (1889) [tr. Hollingdale (1968)]
(Source)
Alt. trans.:
- "From the military school of life. -- What does not kill me, strengthens me." [tr. Common (1896)]
- "From the Military School of Life: Whatever does not kill me, makes me stronger. [tr. Large (1998), "Maxims and Barbs"]
- "From life's school of war. -- What doesn't kill me makes me stronger." [tr. Norman (2005), "Arrows and Epigrams"]
- "From the military school of life. -- That which does not kill me, makes me stronger." [tr. Ludovici (1911), "Maxims and Missiles"]
It is not lack of love but lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)
One is healthy when one can laugh at the earnestness and zeal with which one has been hypnotized by any single detail of one’s life.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)
I could not believe in a God that could not dance.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)
The most common sort of lie is the one uttered to one’s self.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)
It is not so much the suffering as the senselessness of it that is unendurable.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)
Paraphrased by Nicolas Berdyaev, The Destiny of Man, 2.2.5 (1931) [tr. Duddington (1955)]
‘Every man has his price.’ This is not true. But for every man there exists a bait which he cannot resist swallowing. To win over certain people to something, it is only necessary to give it a gloss of love of humanity, nobility, gentleness, self-sacrifice – and there is nothing you cannot get them to swallow. To their souls, these are the icing, the tidbit; other kinds of souls have others.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)
He who does not need to lie is proud of not being a liar.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)
In large states public education will always be mediocre, for the same reason that in large kitchens the cooking is usually bad.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)
He who has a strong enough why to live for, can bear almost any how.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)
A very popular error — having the courage of your convictions. Rather, it is a matter of having the courage for an attack upon one’s convictions.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)
Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
Human, All Too Human (1878-86)
Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)
We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)
Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) American theologian and clergyman
The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, foreward (1944)
Fanatic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith but in doubt. It is when we are not sure that we are doubly sure.
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) American theologian and clergyman
(Attributed)
Love must be regarded as the final flower and fruit of justice. When it is substituted for justice it degenerates into sentimentality and may become the accomplice of tyranny. Looking at the tragic contemporary scene within this frame of reference, we feel that American Christianity is all too prone to disavow its responsibilities for the preservation of our civilization against the perils of totalitarian aggression. We are well aware of the sins of all the nations, including our own, which have contributed to the chaos of our era. […] Yet we believe the task of defending the rich inheritance of our civilization to be an imperative one, however much we might desire that our social system were more worthy of defense. We believe that the possibility of correcting its faults and extending its gains may be annulled for centuries if this external peril is not resolutely faced.
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) American theologian and clergyman
Christianity and Crisis (10 February 1941)
Humor is the prelude to faith, and laughter is the beginning of prayer.
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) American theologian and clergyman
Discerning the Signs of the Times
God, give us the grace to accept with serenity the things which cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) American theologian and clergyman
“The Serenity Prayer” (1934)
Niebuhr at one point claimed authorship (and took copyright fees from Hallmark Cards), but later on denied he had written it. It was later adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous. Discussion of the actual authorship here.
I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not what I used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am.
John Newton (1725-1807) English minister, hymnist, former slave trader
(Attributed)
I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) English physicist and mathematician
Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton, 2.27 [ed. D. Brewster (1855)]
If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention than to any other talent.
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) English physicist and mathematician
(Attributed)
People forget how fast you did a job — but they remember how well you did it.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Howard W. Newton
Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Howard W. Newton
Let us take things as we find them: let us not attempt to distort them into what they are not. We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them.
John Henry Newman (1801-1890) English prelate, Catholic Cardinal, theologian
(Attributed)
Nothing would be done at all if a man waited until he could do something so well that no one could find fault with it.
John Henry Newman (1801-1890) English prelate, Catholic Cardinal, theologian
(Attributed)
Often given as: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
There is no rule about what is happy and good; what suits one would not suit another. And the ways by which perfection is reached vary very much; the medicines necessary for our souls are very different from each other. Thus, God leads us by strange ways; we know He wills our happiness, but we neither know what our happiness is, nor the way.
John Henry Newman (1801-1890) English prelate, Catholic Cardinal, theologian
Meditations and Devotions
Fear not that your life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning.
John Henry Newman (1801-1890) English prelate, Catholic Cardinal, theologian
(Attributed)
Never… think we have a due knowledge of ourselves till we have been exposed to various kinds of temptations, and tried on every side. Integrity on one side of our character is no voucher for integrity on another. We cannot tell how we should act if brought under temptations different from those we have hitherto experienced.
John Henry Newman (1801-1890) English prelate, Catholic Cardinal, theologian
(Attributed)
Somehow we must learn not only to meet sorrow with courage, which is comparatively easy, but with serenity, which is more difficult, being not a single act but a way of living.
Daisy Newman (1904-1990) Quaker writer
(Attributed)
It’s no safer to say that spiritual urges and sensations are caused by brain activity than it is to say that the neurological changes through which we experience the pleasure of eating an apple cause the apple to exist.
Andrew B. Newberg (b. 1966) American neurologist, researcher
Newsweek, “Religion and the Brain” (7 May 2001)
The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but, far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
Dorothy Nevill (1826-1913) British society hostess, wit, horticulturalist
Under Five Reigns, ch. 5 (1910)
(Source)
Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Cynthia Nelms
Politics, very often, is simply economics pursued by other means.
Edward J. Nell (b. 1935) American economist and a professor
“Value and Capital in Marxian Economics” (1981)
In Bell and Kristol (eds.), The Crisis in Economic Theory
Of those who say nothing, few are silent.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Thomas Neill
Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will. So I think I have perhaps learned that it is better to make the most of what you are than to rue yourself into exhaustion because you are not someone else.
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) Indian nationalist leader, politician, statesman, author
(Attributed)
Ignorance is not innocence, but is the promoter of crime.
Carry Nation (1846-1911) American temperance agitator
On sex education