He uses statistics as a drunkard uses a lamppost — for support rather than for illumination.
Andrew Lang (1844-1912) Scottish writer, journalist, historian
(Attributed)
Original source not found, but attributed by several sources to Lang in 1937, possibly derived from a comment by A. E. Houseman. More information here.
The man whose first question, after what he considers to be a right course of action has presented itself, is “What will people say?” is not the man to do anything at all.
Sir W. Arbuthnot Lane (1856-1938) Scottish orthopedic surgeon and writer
(Attributed)
in Lane As I Knew Him, W. E. Tanner
If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold you head high, look it squarely in eye and say, ‘I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.’
Ann Landers (1918-2002) American advice columnist [pseud. for Eppie Lederer]
(Attributed)
There are good men everywhere. I only wish they had louder voices.
Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) American writer
Last of the Breed
There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.
Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) American writer
Lonely on the Mountain, ch. 1, opening paragraph (1980)
(Source)
Up to a point a man’s life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him. Then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame their parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, ‘This I am today; that I will be tomorrow.’ The wish, however, must be implemented by deeds.
Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) American writer
The Walking Drum
The one law that does not change is that everything changes, and the hardship I was bearing today was only a breath away from the pleasures I would have tomorrow, and those pleasures would be all the richer because of the memories of this I was enduring.
Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) American writer
(Attributed)
A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner, so if one’s life is cold and bare he can blame none but himself.
Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) American writer
Bendigo Shafter
Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.
Anne Lamott (b. 1954) American novelist and non-fiction writer
Bird by Bird, Introduction (1995)
To love for the sake of being loved is human, but to love for the sake of loving is angelic.
Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869) French poet and statesman
(Attributed)
When we ask advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.
Charles Varlet, Marquis de La Grange (1639-1692)
(Attributed)
All menʼs misfortunes proceed from their aversion to being alone; hence gambling, extravagance, dissipation, wine, women, ignorance, slander, envy, and forgetfulness of what we owe to God and ourselves.
[Tout notre mal vient de ne pouvoir être seuls: de là le jeu, le luxe, la dissipation, le vin, les femmes, l’ignorance, la médisance, l’envie, l’oubli de soi-même et de Dieu.]
Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 11 “Of Mankind [De l’Homme],” § 99 (11.99) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:
All men's misfortunes proceed from their inability to be alone, from Gaming, Riot, Extravagance, Wine, Women, Ignorance, Railing, Envy, and forgetting their duty towards God and themselves.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]
All our Misfortunes proceed from an Inability to be alone; from thence come Gaming, Riot, Extravagance, Wine, Women, Ignorance, Railing, Envy, and forgetting God and our selves.
[Curll ed. (1713)]
All Mens Misfortunes proceed from their Aversion to being alone; hence Gaming, Riot, Extravagance, Wine, Women, Ignorance, Railing, Envy and Forgetfulness of God and themselves.
[Browne ed. (1752)]
All our misfortunes proceed from our inability to be alone; hence gaming, dissipation, wine, women, ignorance, slander, envy, neglect of God and ourselves.
[tr. Lee (1903)]
All our troubles spring from our inability to endure solitude: hence come gaming, luxury, dissipation, drink, licentiousness, scandal-mongering, envy, the neglect of oneself and of God.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]
Men don’t so much blush for their Crimes, as for their Weaknesses and Vanity.
[Les hommes rougissent moins de leurs crimes que de leurs faiblesses et de leur vanité.]
Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 4 “Of the Heart [Du Coeur],” § 74 (4.74) (1688) [Bullord ed. (1696)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:
Men blush not so much for their Crimes, as for their Weaknesses and Vanity.
[Curll ed. (1713)]
Men don't so much blush for their Crimes, as for their Weaknesses and Vanity.
[Browne ed. (1752)]
Men are less ashamed of their crimes than of their weaknesses and their vanity.
[tr. Van Laun (1885)]
Men are less ashamed of their crimes than of their failings and of what touches their vanity.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]
It’s a sign of considerable shrewdness to be able to make others think one is not exceptionally shrewd.
[C’est avoir fait un grand pas dans la finesse, que de faire penser de soi que l’on n’est que médiocrement fin.]
Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 8 “Of the Court [De la Cour],” § 85 (8.85) (1688) [tr. Stewart (1970)]
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:
He is far gone in politicks, who begins to find he is but indifferently politick.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]
He is far gone in Cunning, who makes other People believe he is but indifferently Cunning.
[Curll ed. (1713)]
He is thorough-paced in Cunning, who makes others believe that he is no Conjurer.
[Browne ed. (1752)]
A man must be very shrewd to make other people believe that he is not so sharp after all.
[tr. Van Laun (1885)]
A man has made great progress in cunning when he does not seem too clever to others.
[Common Translation, e.g.]
He did not object to Gladstone’s always having the ace of trumps up his sleeve, but only to his pretense that God put it there.
Henry Du Pré Labouchère (1831-1912) English politician, writer, publisher
(Attributed)
I’ve never had much enthusiasm for pornography. Watching people have congress is a bit like watching people eat, in that eating is both necessary and satisfying, but when watching someone else do it, you just want to tell them to chew with their mouth closed.
Matt Labash (b. 1971) American journalist
The Weekly Standard, “How to be a Porn Star” (18 Sep. 2002)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/671hnsjc.asp
When your life is filled with the desire to see the holiness in everyday life, something magical happens: ordinary life becomes extraordinary, and the very process of life begins to nourish your soul!
Harold S. Kushner (b. 1935) American author, rabbi
(Attributed)
There are no things that man was not meant to know. There are, perhaps, some things man is too dumb to figure out, but that’s a different problem.
Michael Kurland (b. 1938) American writer
(Attributed)
She would have liked to tell them that behind Communism, Fascism, behind all occupations and invasions lurks a more basic, pervasive evil and that the image of that evil was a parade of people marching by with raised fists and shouting identical syllables in unison.
Milan Kundera (b. 1929) Czech-French novelist, playwright, poet
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want.
Joseph Wood Krutch (1893-1970) American educator, writer, critic, naturalist
The Twelve Seasons, “February” (1949)
(Source)
Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even when there is no river.
Nikita S. Krushchev (1894-1971) Soviet politician
(Attributed)
Honor isn’t about making the right choices. It’s about dealing with the consequences.
Midori Koto (b. 1971) Japanese violinist [a.k.a. Midori Goto, Midori]
(Attributed)
There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking.
To face despair and not give in to it, that’s courage.
Ted Koppel (b. 1940) Anglo-American journalist [Edward James Koppel]
Charlie Rose TV interview, PBS (29 Feb. 1996)
Writing a novel is like making love, but it’s also like having a tooth pulled. Pleasure and pain. Sometimes it’s like making love while having a tooth pulled.
Dean Koontz (b. 1945) American writer [also writes as Leigh Nichols]
(Attributed)
I am afraid of dying — but being dead, oh yes, that to me is often an appealing prospect.
Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) German artist
Diaries and Letters
This leads to the paradox that the more original a discovery the more obvious it seems afterwards. The creative act is not an act of creation in the sense of the Old Testament. It does not create something out of nothing: it uncovers, selects, re-shuffles, combines, synthesizes already existing facts, idea, faculties, skills. The more familiar the parts, the more striking the new whole.
Alfred Koestler (1905-1983) Hungarian-English novelist, essayist
The Act of Creation (1969) p.120
There is no doubt that the “grail” of efficiency leads to abuse. Programmers waste enormous amounts of time thinking about, or worrying about, the speed of noncritical parts of their programs, and these attempts at efficiency actually have a strong negative impact when debugging and maintenance are considered. We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.
Donald E. Knuth (b. 1938) American computer scientist, mathematician, academic
“Structured Programming with go to Statements,” ACM Journal Computing Surveys (Dec 1974)
When I keep putting something off, it may not be procrastination, but a decision I’ve already made and not yet admitted to myself.
Judith M. Knowlton (contemp.) American motivational writer
(Attributed)
As a professor, I tended to think of history as run by impersonal forces. But when you see it in practice, you see the difference personalities make.
Henry Kissinger (b. 1923) German-American diplomat
Remark to reporters after first Middle East shuttle visit (Jan. 1974)
Walter Isaacson, Kissinger: A Biography, introduction, 1992
The politics of the university are so intense because the stakes are so low.
Wallace Sayre (1905-1972) U.S. political scientist, academic
Sayre’s Third Law
One of several formulations of the same sentiment, which has also been attributed to Richard Neustadt, Jesse Unruh, Henry Kissinger ("University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small"), Charles Philip Issawi ("In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake. That is why academic politics are so bitter"), Lawrence Peter, C.P. Snow, and others, with antecedents by Samuel Johnson and Woodrow Wilson. Most of the attributions come in the early-mid 1970s, though Herbert Kaufman, a colleague, claimed Sayres had used the phrase for decades.
See also Quote Investigator, Quote Verifier, and Wikipedia for more discussion.
There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.
Henry Kissinger (b. 1923) German-American diplomat
(Attributed)
In P. Anderson, "The Only Power Kissinger Has Is the Confidence of the President," New York Times Magazine (1 Jun 1969)
A statesman’s final test is whether he has made a contribution to the well-being of mankind.
Henry Kissinger (b. 1923) German-American diplomat
Years of Upheaval, ch. 8 (1982)
The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.
Henry Kissinger (b. 1923) German-American diplomat
Quoted in Washington Post (23 Dec 1973)
See Santayana.
Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
Henry Kissinger (b. 1923) German-American diplomat
(Attributed)
Quoted by Richard Nixon, interview with Barbara Walters (8 May 1985)
We must learn to distinguish morality from moralizing.
Henry Kissinger (b. 1923) German-American diplomat
(Attributed)
By all ye cry and whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your Gods and you.Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
“The White Man’s Burden”
White hands cling to the bridle rein,
Slipping the spur from the booted heel;
Tenderest voices cry ‘Turn again!’
Red lips tarnish the scabbarded steel;
Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne,
He travels fastest who travels alone.Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
(Attributed)
More men are killed by overwork than the importance of the world justifies.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
The Phantom ‘Rickshaw
Everyone is more or less mad on one point.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
“On the Strength of a Likeness”
I always prefer to believe the best of everybody — it saves so much trouble.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
(Attributed)
For it’s Tommy this, and Tommy that, an’ ‘Chuck him out, the brute!’
But it’s ‘Saviour of ‘is country’ when the guns begin to shoot.Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
“Tommy,” Barrack-Room Ballads (1893)
All the people like us are We, and everyone else is They.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
We and They (1926)
I never made a mistake in my life; at least, never one that I couldn’t explain away afterwards.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
(Attributed)
We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.
Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) English clergyman, historian, essayist, novelist (pseud. "Parson Lot")
(Attributed)
The world goes up and the world goes down,
The sunshine follows the rain,
And yesterday’s sneer and yesterday’s frown
Can never come over again.Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) English clergyman, historian, essayist, novelist (pseud. "Parson Lot")
“Dolcino to Margaret” (1851)
GILES: Grave robbing? That’s new, interesting.
BUFFY: I know you meant to say ‘gross and disturbing.’
GILES: Yes, of course. It’s a terrible thing, must put a stop to it.David Tyron "Ty" King (b. 1959) American screenwriter, television producer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 2×02 “Some Assembly Required” (1997)
In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Letter from Birmingham Jail (16 Apr 1963)
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Letter from Birmingham Jail (16 Apr 1963)
(Source)
Another phrase King used on repeated occasions, e.g., "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Therefore, no American can afford to be apathetic about the problem of racial justice. It is a problem that meets every man at his front door" -- "The Rising Tide of Racial Consciousness," Speech, National Urban League, New York (6 Sep 1960).
It may well be that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition is not the glaring noisiness of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. It may be that our generation will have repent not only for the diabolical actions and vitriolic words of the children of darkness, but also for the crippling fears and tragic apathy of the children of light.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
“The Christian Way of Life in Human Relations,” speech, General Assembly fo the National Council of Churches, St Louis (4 Dec 1957)
(Source)
Often paraphrased: "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people." See also here.
Every crisis has both its dangers and its opportunities. Each can spell either salvation or doom.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Stride Toward Freedom, ch. 11 “Where Do We Go from Here?” (1958)
(Source)
There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
“The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life,” sermon, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama (24 Jan 1954)
(Source)
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
“The Trumpet of Conscience,” Steeler Lecture (Nov 1967)
If a man hasn’t discovered something that he would die for, he isn’t fit to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Speech, Detroit (23 Jun 1963)
Freedom is not free.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Speech, Institute on Nonviolence and Social Change, Bethel Baptist Church (3 Dec 1959)
(Source)