I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Quoted in “Sayings of the Week,” The Observer (2 Jul 1961)

Not actually found in any of Huxley's published works, and this reference does not provide a source or situation where it was said.

For more discussion: I Wanted To Change the World. But I Have Found That the Only Thing One Can Be Sure of Changing Is Oneself – Quote Investigator®
 
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There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Time Must Have a Stop (1944)
 
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The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man’s foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
(Attributed)
 
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The horror no less than the charm of real life consists precisely in the recurrent actualization of the inconceivable.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Themes and Variations (1950)
 
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Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
“Variations on a Philosopher,” Themes and Variations (1950)
    (Source)
 
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At any given moment, life is completely senseless. But viewed over a period, it seems to reveal itself as an organism existing in time, having a purpose, trending in a certain direction.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
(Attributed)
 
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Too much consistency is as bad for the mind as it is for the body. Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
“Wordsworth in the Tropics,” Do What You Will (1929)
 
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Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Proper Studies (1927)
 
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It is because we don’t know who we are, because we are unaware that the kingdom of heaven is within us, that we behave in the generally silly, the often insane, the sometimes criminal ways that are so characteristically human.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
The Perennial Philosophy, ch. 1 (1944)
 
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The naked lust for money, once considered as unseemly as public sex, [has] now [been] accepted as a virtue.

Michael Hutchinson (contemp.) American neurologist, researcher
The Anatomy of Sex and Power, ch. 18 (1990)
 
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Q: If you can’t take a little bloody nose, maybe you had better go back home and crawl under your bed. It’s not safe out here. It’s wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it’s not for the timid.

Maurice Hurley (1939-2015) American screenwriter, producer [a.k.a. C.J. Holland]
Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Q Who?” (6 May 1989)
 
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Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism.

Hubert Horatio Humphrey (1911-1978) American politician
Speech, Democratic State Convention, Little Rock, Arkansas (18 Sep 1964)
 
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The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.

Hubert Horatio Humphrey (1911-1978) American politician
Speech, National Student Association, University of Wisconsin, Madison (23 Aug 1965)
 
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Oh, my friend, it’s not what they take away from you that counts. It’s what you do with what you have left.

Hubert Horatio Humphrey (1911-1978) American politician
(Attributed, 1976)

Comment after cancer surgery to remove his bladder.

 
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OSTROW: But the Krell forgot one thing. Monsters, John! Monsters from the Id!

Cyril Hume
Cyril Hume (1900-1966) American screenwriter, author
Forbidden Planet [with Fred McLeod Wilcox] (1956)
 
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Always keep your composure. You can’t score from the penalty box; and to win, you have to score.

Bobby Hull (b. 1939) Canadian hockey pro [Robert Marrin Hull, Jr.]
(Attributed)
 
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The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved

[Le suprême bonheur de la vie, c’est la conviction qu’on est aimé.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Vol. 1 “Fantine,” Book 5 “The Descent,” ch. 4 “M. Madeleine in Mourning” (1862) [tr. Wilbour]

Alt trans.: "The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved."

 
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Laughter is sunshine; it chases winter from the human face.

[Le rire, c’est le soleil; il chasse l’hiver du visage humain.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Vol. 2 “Cosette,” Book 8 “Cemeteries Take What is Given Them,” ch. 9 “The Close” (1862) [tr. Wilbour]

Alt trans. [Denny (1980)]: "Laughter is a sun that drives out winter from the human face."  Full text. Cited as Part II, ch. 8 "Cemeteries Take What They Are Given."
 
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The best religion is tolerance.

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
(Attributed)
 
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It is nothing to die; it is horrible not to live.

[Ce n’est rien de mourir; c’est affreux de ne pas vivre.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Vol. 5 “Jean Valjean,” Book 9 “Supreme Shadow, Supreme Dawn,” ch. 5 “Night Behind Which Is Dawn” (1862) [tr. Wilbour]

Alt trans.: "It is nothing to die; it is frightful not to live."
 
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Thought is the labor of the intellect, reverie is its pleasure.

[La pensée est le labeur de l’intelligence, la rêverie en est la volupté.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Vol. 4 “St. Denis,” Book 2 “Eponine,” ch. 1 “The Field of the Lark” (1862) [tr. Wilbour]

Alt trans. [Denny (1980)]: "Thought is the work of the intellect, reveries its self-indulgence." Cited as Part IV, ch. 2 "Eponine."
 
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Adversity makes men; prosperity makes monsters.

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
(Attributed)
 
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Great blunders are often made, like large ropes, of a multitude of fibers.

[Les fortes sottises sont souvent faites, comme les grosses cordes, d’une multitude de brins.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Vol. 2 “Cosette,” Book 5 “A Dark Chase Requires a Silent Hound,” ch. 10 “In Which it is explained how Javert lost the Game” (1862) [tr. Wilbour]

Alt. trans. [N. Denny (1980)]: "The greatest blunders, like the thickest ropes, are often compounded of a multitude of strands. Take the rope apart, separate it into the small threads that compose it, and you can break them one by one. You think, 'That is all there was!' But twist them all together, and you have something tremendous." Full text. Cited as Part 2, ch. 5 "Hunt in the Darkness."
 
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One can dream of something more terrible than a hell where one suffers; it’s a hell where one would get bored.

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
(Attributed)
 
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There are thoughts which are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the posture of the body, the soul is on its knees.

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Part IV, ch. 5 “Of Which the End Does Not Resemble the Beginning” (1862) [tr. N. Denny (1980)]
 
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If you play it safe in life, you’ve decided that you don’t want to grow anymore.

Shirley Hufstedler (1925-2016) American jurist, US Secty of Education (1979-81)
(Attributed)
 
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I never, ever say, “I can’t,” about anything. I might say, “I don’t have the authority to make that decision,” or, “Building A is too heavy for me to lift,” or, “I will need training before I pilot that space shuttle.”

(Other Authors and Sources)
Mike Huber, Techwr-L
 
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Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.

Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist
(Attributed)

Variant: "'Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation."
 
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When a feller says, “It hain’t th’ money, but th’ principle o’ th’ thing,” it’s th’ money.

[When a fellow says, “It ain’t the money, but the principle of the thing,” it’s the money.]

Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist
Hoss Sense and Nonsense (1926)
 
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Honesty pays, but it don’t seem to pay enough to suit some people.

Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist
(Attributed)

Quoted in Time (2 Jul 1973) Also given as "It pays t'be honest, but it don't pay enough t'suit some fellers."
 
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Live so that you can at least get the benefit of the doubt.

Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist
(Attributed)
 
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The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.

Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
The Philistine, Vol. 13, #5 (Nov 1901)

Full text.

 

 
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Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.

Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
The Philistine, Vol. 23, #4 (Sep 1906)
 
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If you would escape moral and physical assassination, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing — court obscurity, for only in oblivion does safety lie.

Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
Little Journeys to the Homes of American Statemen, “William H. Seward” (1916)
    (Source)

Variants show up elsewhere in Hubbard's writings and and his quote epigrams.
  • To escape criticism -- do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
  • To avoid unkind criticism: do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
  • There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing.
Often misattributed to Aristotle.
 
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Life is just one damned thing after another.

Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
A Thousand and One Epigrams (1911)

Variant: "Life is just one damn thing after another."
 
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Every man is a dam fool at least ten minutes a day. Wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.

Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
The Philistine, Vol. 29, #6 (Nov 1909)

Full text.

Sometimes given: "Every man is a damn fool at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit."

 
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I would rather be able to appreciate things I can not have than to have things I am not able to appreciate.

Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
The Notebook of Elbert Hubbard [ed. E. Hubbard II] (1927)
 
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Although gold dust is precious, when it gets in your eyes it obstructs your vision.

Hsi-Tang Chih Tsang (735-814) Chinese Zen master
(Attributed)
 
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Lean too much on the approval of people, and it becomes a bed of thorns.

Tehyi Hsieh (1884-1972) Chinese philosopher, educator, diplomat
Chinese epigrams inside out, and proverbs (1948)
 
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There is a coherent plan in the universe, though I don’t know what it’s a plan for.

Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) English astronomer, author
(Attributed)
 
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Space isn’t remote at all. It’s only an hour’s drive away if your car could go straight upwards.

Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) English astronomer, author
(Attributed)

Quoted in "Sayings of the Week", The Observer (9 Sep 1979)
 
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Don’t abuse your friends and expect them to consider it criticism.

Edgar Watson "Ed" Howe (1853-1937) American journalist and author [E. W. Howe]
(Attributed)
 
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A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice.

Edgar Watson "Ed" Howe (1853-1937) American journalist and author [E. W. Howe]
Country Town Sayings (1911)
 
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Abuse a man unjustly, and you will make friends for him.

Edgar Watson "Ed" Howe (1853-1937) American journalist and author [E. W. Howe]
Country Town Sayings (1911)
 
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Three minutes thought would suffice to find this out; but thought is irksome and three minutes is a long time.

A. E. Housman (1859-1936) English scholar and poet [Alfred Edward Housman]
Saturae of Juvenal (1905)
 
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And how am I to face the odds
Of man’s bedevilment, and God’s?
I, a stranger and afraid
In a world I never made.

A. E. Housman (1859-1936) English scholar and poet [Alfred Edward Housman]
Last Poems, No. 12, l. 15-18 (1922)
 
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Success lies, not in achieving what you aim at, but in aiming at what you ought to achieve, and pressing forward, sure of achievement here, or if not here, hereafter.

R. F. Horton (1855-1934) English nonconformist minister, reformer [Robert Forman Horton]
Success and Failure (1897)
 
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Why are you laughing? Just change the name, and the story could be told of you.

[Quid rides? Mutato nomine de te / fabula narratur.]

Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Sermonum, I.1.69

Sometimes "... fabula de te narratur."

Alternate translations:
  • "Do you but change the name / Of you is saide the same."
  • "Change but the name, of you the tale is told."
  • "Change only the name and this story is also about you."
  • "Change but the name, and the tale is told of you."
  • "What are you laughing at? Just change the name and the joke's on you."
  • "You laugh? Well, just change the name and you'll find that this story, / as a matter of fact, means YOU." (tr. S.P. Bovie (2002))
 
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Many brave men lived before Agamemnon, but all unwept and unknown they sleep in endless night, for they had no poets to sound their praises.

Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Odes [Carmina], Book 4, Ode 9, l. 25

Alt. trans.: "Brave men were living before Agamemnon."
 
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Now is the time for drinking, now is the time to beat the earth with unfettered foot.

[Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero
pulsanda tellus.
]

Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Odes [Carmina], Book 1, Ode 37, l. 1 (c. 23 BC)
 
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He will always be a slave who does not know how to live upon a little.

Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
(Attributed)
 
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As we speak, cruel time is fleeing.  Seize the day, leave as little as possible to tomorrow.

[… dum loquimur, fugerit invida
aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero
.]

Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Odes [Carmina], Book 1, Ode 11, l. 8 (c. 23 BC)

Alt trans. "... believing as little as possible in the morrow."
 
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When your neighbor’s wall is on fire, it becomes your business.

[Num tua res agitur paries cum proximus ardet.]

Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Epistles, Book 1, Epistle 18, l. 84 (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)

Alt trans.: "It is your concern when your neighbor's wall is on fire."

 
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It is sweet to let the mind unbend on occasion.

Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
(Attributed)
 
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A host is like a general. It takes a mishap to reveal his genius.

Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Satires, Book II, Satire 8 (35 BC)
 
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