The fundamental article of my political creed is that despotism, or unlimited sovereignty, or absolute power, is the same in a majority of a popular assembly, an aristocratic council, an oligarchical junto, and a single emperor.
John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter to Thomas Jefferson (13 Nov. 1815)
May none but wise and honest
Men ever rule under this roof.John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter to wife, the day after moving into the new White House (2-Nov-1800)
The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.
John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
“A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America” (1788)
To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse.
John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) US President (1825-29)
(Attributed)
The influence of each human being on others in this life is a kind of immortality.
John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) US President (1825-29)
(Attributed)
I cannot ask of heaven success, even for my country, in a cause where she should be in the wrong. Fiat justitia, pereat coelum. My toast would be, may our country be always successful, but whether successful or otherwise, always right.
John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) US President (1825-29)
Letter to John Adams (1 Aug 1816)
In response to Stephen Decatur's quote (and subsequent popular catch phrase), "Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right, but our country, right or wrong."
The Latin translates as "Let justice be done though Heaven should fall."
Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.
John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) US President (1825-29)
(Attributed)
Capitalism and communism stand at opposite poles. Their essential difference is this: The communist, seeing the rich man and his fine home, says: “No man should have so much.” The capitalist, seeing the same thing, says: “All men should have as much.”
Phelps Adams (1902-1991) American journalist, executive
(Attributed)
One battle would do more towards a Declaration of Independence than a long chain of conclusive arguments in a provincial convention or the Continental Congress.
Samuel Adams (1722-1803) American revolutionary, statesman
Letter to Samuel Cooper (30 Apr. 1776)
It requires time to bring honest men to think & determine alike even in important matters. Mankind are governed more by their feelings than by reason. Events which excite those feelings will produce wonderful effects.
Samuel Adams (1722-1803) American revolutionary, statesman
Letter to Samuel Cooper (30 Apr. 1776)
WALLY: Stupidity is like nuclear power; it can be used for good or evil.
DILBERT: And you don’t want to get any on you.Scott Adams (b. 1957) American cartoonist
Dilbert (11 Dec. 1995)
I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
The Spectator, #477 (6 Sep 1712)
A man must be excessively stupid, as well as uncharitable, who believes that there is no virtue but on his own side, and that there are not men as honest as himself who may differ from him in political principles.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
The Spectator, #243 (8 Dec 1711)
PORTIUS: ‘Tis not in mortals to command success,
But we’ll do more, Sempronius; we’ll deserve it.Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Cato, Act 1, sc. 2, l. 43ff (1713)
(Source)
This passage was widely known to America's Founders; John Adams paraphrases it in a letter to his wife Abigail (1776-02-18), and George Washington in letters to Nicholas Cooke (1775-10-29) and, most famously, Benedict Arnold (1775-12-05).
Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
The Spectator, #381 (17 May 1712)
My friend Sir Roger heard them both upon a round trot; and after having paused some time, told them with an air of a man who would not give his judgment rashly, that “much might be said on both sides.”
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
The Spectator, #122 (20 Jul 1711)
(Source)
An infallible method of conciliating a tiger is to allow oneself to be devoured.
Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) German politician
(Attributed)
The truth is often a terrible weapon of aggression. It is possible to lie, and even to murder with the truth.
It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring.
Alfred Adler (1870-1937) Austrian psychologist
What Life Should Mean to You (1937)
It is always easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.
Alfred Adler (1870-1937) Austrian psychologist
(Attributed)
(Source)
Comment to friend (1927). In Phyllis Bottome, Alfred Adler: A Biography, ch. 5 (1939)
No religion can long continue to maintain its purity when the church becomes the subservient vassal of the state.
Felix Adler (1851-1933) German-American educator
(Attributed)
The hero is one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by. The saint is the man who walks through the dark paths of the world, himself a light.
Felix Adler (1851-1933) German-American educator
(Attributed)
Tradition is what you resort to when you don’t have the time or the money to do it right.
Kurt Herbert Adler (1905-1988) Austrian-American conductor, opera director
(Attributed)
Death is a softer thing by far than tyranny.
Aeschylus (525-456 BC) Greek dramatist (Æschylus)
Agamemnon, I. 1364
Alt trans.: "Death is better, a milder fate than tyranny." "Death is softer by far than tyranny."
Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of like men.
Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001) American philosopher, educator, author
Saturday Review (22 Nov 1958)
Everyone’s quick to blame the alien.
Aeschylus (525-456 BC) Greek dramatist (Æschylus)
The Suppliant Maidens
It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.
Aeschylus (525-456 BC) Greek dramatist (Æschylus)
Fragment 385
Any excuse will serve a tyrant.
Aesop (620?-560? BC) Legendary Greek storyteller
Fables [Aesopica], “The Wolf and the Lamb” (6th C BC) [tr. Jacobs (1894)]
(Source)
Alternate translations:
- "'Tis an Easie Matter to find a Staff to Beat a Dog." [tr. L'Estrange (1692)]
- "A tyrant never wants a plea." [tr. James (1848)]
- "The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny." [tr. Townsend (1887)]
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
Aesop (620?-560? BC) Legendary Greek storyteller
Fables [Aesopica], “The Lion and the Mouse” (6th C BC)
Alternate translation: "Kindness is seldom thrown away" [tr. James (1848)]
Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.
Howard Aiken (1900-1973) American mathematician
(Attributed)
Quoted in E. Weiss, A Computer Science Reader : Selections from Abacus (1988). Alternate: "Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats." Quoted in R. Slater, Portraits in Silicon (1987)
Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night.
Leo Aikman (1908-1978) American writer, newspaper editor, humorist
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Say not unto thyself, Behold, truth breedeth hatred, and I will avoid it; dissimulation raiseth friends, and I will follow it. Are not the enemies made by truth, better than the friends obtained by flattery?
Akhenaten (d. 1336 BC) King of Egypt (1353-36 BC), religious reformer [Akhenaton, Akhnaten, Amenhotep IV, Ikhn-aton]
(Attributed)
True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance.
Akhenaten (d. 1336 BC) King of Egypt (1353-36 BC), religious reformer [Akhenaton, Akhnaten, Amenhotep IV, Ikhn-aton]
(Attributed)
Usually attributed to Akhenaten. Sometimes attributed as a writing of Noble Drew Ali (1886-1929), ostensibly from the Koran, or as an ancient Brahmin writing.
Know thyself as the pride of His creation, the link uniting divinity and matter; behold a part of God Himself within thee; remember thine own dignity nor dare descend to evil or meanness.
Akhenaten (d. 1336 BC) King of Egypt (1353-36 BC), religious reformer [Akhenaton, Akhnaten, Amenhotep IV, Ikhn-aton]
(Attributed)
Unsourced, sometimes given as a Brahminic writing.
The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence. He inspires self-distrust. He guides their eyes from himself to the spirit that quickens him. He will have no disciple.
Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) American transcendentalist, teacher, writer
Orphic Sayings, “The Teacher” (1840)
To be ignorant of one’s ignorance is the malady of the ignorant.
Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) American transcendentalist, teacher, writer
Table Talk, “Discourse” (1877)
Nothing overshadows truth so much as authority.
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) Genoan Renaissance Man [also "Leone"]
Momus, or De Principe (1520)
I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) American writer
Little Women, ch. 44 [Amy] (1868)
Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead.
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) American writer
Work: A Story of Experience ch. 12 [Christie] (1875)
(Source)
Here’s my Golden Rule for a tarnished age: be fair with others, but then keep after them until they’re fair with you.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
Commencement Speech, Connecticut College (1980)
Full text.
It isn’t necessary to be rich and famous to be happy. It’s only necessary to be rich.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
(Attributed)
PERCHIK: Money is the world’s curse.
TEVYE: May the Lord smite me with it! And may I never recover!Sholem Aleichem (1859-1916) Russian-Jewish humorist [pseud. for Sholem Rabinowitz]
Fiddler on the Roof [with Joseph Stein] (1971)
Civilization is the distance man has placed between himself and his excreta.
Brian Aldiss (1925-2017) English writer, editor
The Dark Light Years, ch. 5 (1964)
Better to abolish serfdom from above than wait till it begins to abolish itself from below.
Alexander II (1818-1881) Russian Czar (1867-81)
Speech in Moscow (30 Mar 1856)
The sad thing is that excellence makes people nervous.
Shana Alexander (1925-2005) American journalist
“Neglected Kids — the Bright Ones,” The Feminine Eye (1966)
The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted thirty years of his life.
Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) American boxer, activist [b. Cassius Clay]
Interview, Playboy (Nov 1975)
We give advice by the bucket, but take it by the grain.
William Rounseville Alger (1822-1905) American writer, minister, translator
(Attributed)
BRIAN: Screw Maximilian!
SALLY: I do!
BRIAN: So do I!Jay Presson Allen (1922-2006) American screenwriter, playwright
Cabaret (1972)
(screenplay with J. Masteroff, J. Van Druten, C. Isherwood)
They laughed at Joan of Arc, but she went right ahead and built it.
Gracie Allen (1906-1964) American comedian
(Attributed)
A conference is a gathering of important people who, singly, can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done.
Fred Allen (1894-1956) American humorist [b. John Florence Sullivan]
Letter to William McChesney Martin (25 Jan 1940)
(Source)
The letter, to the then-President of the New York Stock Exchange, was written as an apology for a joke Allen had made about Wall Street, and was re-published in TIME magazine (4 Feb 1940).
Allen apparently used the line, and variations of it, at various times in his career. A variant more commonly quoted than the original shows up, without citation, in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations:
Committee -- A group of men who individually can do nothing but as a group decide that nothing can be done.
Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict.
Saul Alinsky (1909-1972) American community organizer, writer.
Rules for Radicals, “The Purpose” (1971)
(Source)
Men will take almost any kind of criticism except the observation that they have no sense of humor.
Steve Allen (1922-2000) American composer, entertainer, and wit.
(Attributed)
We are entitled to make almost any reasonable assumption, but should resist making conclusions until evidence requires that we do so.
Steve Allen (1922-2000) American composer, entertainer, and wit.
(Attributed)
One of the nice things about problems is that a good many of them do not exist except in our imaginations.
Steve Allen (1922-2000) American composer, entertainer, and wit.
(Attributed)
Quoted in Reader's Digest (Nov 1989)
Nothing is better than the unintended humor of reality.
Steve Allen (1922-2000) American composer, entertainer, and wit.
(Attributed)