It is almost as important to know what is not serious as to know what is.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
(Attributed)
Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
Economics, Peace and Laughter (1971)
(Source)
(also called "Galbraith's Law")
Most problems are either unimportant or impossible to solve.
Victor Galaz (b. 1976) Swedish political scientist
(Attributed)
on why it's smart to be silent during meetings
You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
“Where Do You Get Your Ideas?” (1997)
(Source)
I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house.
Zsa Zsa Gabor (1917-2016) Hungarian-American actress, socialite [b. Sári Gábor]
How to Catch a Man, Keep a Man, and Get Rid of a Man (1970)
(Source)
When actually given a citation, this quote is attributed to this book by Gabor, though I have been unable to find a fully visible copy of the book online to confirm. Two other attributions of similar sentiments to Gabor:
He taught me housekeeping; when I divorce I keep the house.
]In Ned Sherrin, Cutting Edge (1984), regarding her fifth husband, George Sanders.]
I'm a wonderful housekeeper. Every time I get a divorce, I keep the house.
[In Sam Staggs, Finding Zsa-Zsa (2019)]
Innovation is hard to schedule.
Dan Fylstra (b. 1952) American computer scientist, libertarian
(Attributed)
When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.
Simon Fulleringer (contemp.) Canadian IT professional
(Attributed)
Give as thou wouldest receive, cheerfully and quickly, without hesitation, or bargaining.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, # 418 (1725)
(Source)
First get an absolute Conquest over thyself, and then thou wilt easily govern thy Wife.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, # 497 (1725)
(Source)
He that will not sail till all Dangers are over, must never put out to Sea.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #2353 (1732)
(Source)
He that fears you present, will hate you absent.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #2101 (1732)
(Source)
Cheat me in the Price, but not in the Goods.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #1090 (1732)
(Source)
Act nothing in furious Passion; it’s putting to Sea in a Storm.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 365 (1725)
(Source)
Serving one’s own Passions is the greatest Slavery.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #4103 (1732)
(Source)
A wise man turns Chance into good Fortune.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, # 475 (1732)
(Source)
Heaven is a cheap Purchase, whatever it cost.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #2481 (1732)
(Source)
Many would be Cowards if they had Courage enough.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #3366 (1732)
(Source)
It is the Property of Fools, to be always judging.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #3027 (1732)
(Source)
Lord, before I commit a sin, it seems to me so shallow that I may wade through it dry-shod from any guiltiness; but when I have committed it, it often seems so deep that I cannot escape without drowning.
Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) English churchman, historian
Good Thoughts in Bad Times, “Personal Meditations,” VII (1659)
Full text.
Sometimes I think we’re alone. Sometimes I think we’re not. In either case, the thought is staggering.
Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) American architect, engineer
(Attributed)
Don’t fight forces, use them.
Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) American architect, engineer
Shelter Magazine (Nov 1932)
The motto of Shelter magazine, when renamed and repurposed by Fuller in 1932 from Philadelphia's old T-Square Club Journal.
Never forget that music is much too important to be left entirely in the hands of professionals.
Robert Fulghum (b. 1937) American author, minister
Maybe (Maybe Not) (1993)
The rapprochement of peoples is only possible when differences of culture and outlook are respected and appreciated rather than feared and condemned, when the common bond of human dignity is recognized as the essential bond for a peaceful world.
J. William Fulbright (1905-1995) American politician
upon receiving the Athinai International Prize, Athens, Greece (Apr. 1989)
Families break up when people take hints you don’t intend and miss hints you do intend.
Robert Frost (1874-1963) American poet
Writers at Work: Second Series, Interview with Richard Poirier (1963)
Hell is a half-filled auditorium.
Robert Frost (1874-1963) American poet
(Attributed)
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.
Robert Frost (1874-1963) American poet
(Attributed)
Anyone with an active mind lives on tentatives rather than tenets.
Robert Frost (1874-1963) American poet
(Attributed)
The best way out is always through.
When people can’t handle God any more, they turn to religion.
Erich Fromm (1900-1980) American psychoanalyst and social philosopher
(Attributed)
Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies
Erich Fromm (1900-1980) American psychoanalyst and social philosopher
The Sane Society (1955)
The great threat to freedom is the concentration of power.
Milton Friedman (1912-2006) American economist, intellectual
Introduction to Capitalism and Freedom (1962)
The scientific name for an animal that doesn’t either run from or fight its enemies is “lunch.”
(Other Authors and Sources)
Michael Friedman
What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Austrian psychoanalyst and neurologist
Letter to Ernest Jones (Jan 1933)
(Source)
Regarding Nazi book burnings in Germany. Reprinted in Jones, Sigmund Freud: Life and Work, Vol. 3, Part 1, ch. 4 (1957).
The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Austrian psychoanalyst and neurologist
(Attributed)
You may delay, but Time will not.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
(Attributed)
He that is of Opinion Money will do every Thing, may well be suspected of doing every Thing for Money.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (1753)
See also Halifax.
Who has deceived thee so oft as thyself?
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack
Contentment makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack
Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few; friend to one; enemy to none.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (1756)
Do good to thy friend to keep him, to thy enemy to gain him.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1734)
(Source)
The learned fool writes his nonsense in better language than the unlearned, but still ’tis nonsense.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
(Attributed)
We hear of the conversion of water into wine at the marriage in Cana, as of a miracle. But this conversion is, through the goodness of God, made every day before our eyes. Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, and which incorporates itself with the grapes to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy!
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Letter to Abbé Morallet (1779)
(Source)
Apparent origin of the misquote: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
The body of Benjamin Franklin, Printer (like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and gilding), lies here, food for worms; but the work shall not be lost, for it will (as he believed) appear once more in a new and more elegant edition, revised and corrected by the author.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
“Epitaph on Himself” (1778)
Variant words (and format):The body of
B. Franklin
Printer
Like the cover of an old book,
its contents torn out,
and stripped of its lettering and gilding,
lies here, food for worms.
But the work shall not be wholly lost;
for it will, as he believed, appear once more,
in a new and more perfect edition
corrected and amended
by the Author.
I haven’t failed, I’ve found ten thousand ways that don’t work.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
(Attributed)
(also attrib. Thomas Edison)
Work as if you were to live 100 years; pray as if you were to die tomorrow.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (May 1757)
(Source)
There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
(Attributed)
Be at War with your Vices, at Peace with your Neighbours, and let every New-Year find you a better Man.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (1755)
More information on this quotation here.
If we take care of the minutes, the years will take care of themselves.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
(Attributed)
Many a little makes a mickle. Beware of small expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack
Blame-all and Praise-all are two blockheads.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1734 ed.)
(Source)
Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
(Attributed)
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (1757)
Were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection to a repetition of the same life from its beginning, only asking the advantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults in the first.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Autobiography, ch. 1
He who multiplies riches multiplies cares.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
(Attributed)
If Passion drives, let Reason hold the Reins.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (May 1749)