All Faith is false, all Faith is true: truth is the shattered mirror strown
In myriad bits; while each believes his little bit the whole to own.Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) British explorer and orientalist
The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû Al-Yazdi (1900)
(Source)
One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: “To rise above the little things.”
John Burroughs (1837-1921) American naturalist
(Attributed)
Love each day as if it were your last because one of these days you’re going to be right.
Leo Buscaglia (1925-1998) American psychologist, writer
(Attributed)
No, I don’t know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.
George H. W. Bush (1924-2018) American politician, diplomat, US President (1989-1993)
News Conference, O’Hare Airport, Chicago (27 Aug. 1987)
Just as Poland had a rebellion against totalitarianism, I am rebelling against broccoli, and I refuse to give ground. I do not like broccoli, and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.
George H. W. Bush (1924-2018) American politician, diplomat, US President (1989-1993)
Comment at State Dinner for Polish PM Tadeusz Mazowiecki (21 Mar 1990)
In a free society, diversity is not disorder. Debate is not strife. And dissent is not revolution.
George W. Bush (b. 1946) US President (2001-2009)
Speech in Beijing, China (Feb. 2002)
You do not reform a world by ignoring it.
George H. W. Bush (1924-2018) American politician, diplomat, US President (1989-1993)
Commencement Speech, Yale University (27 May 1991)
Absence is to love what wind is to fire;
It extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great.[L’absence est a l’amour ce qu’est au feu le vent;
Il eteint le petit, il allume le grand.]Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy (1618-1693) French soldier, libertine, writer [a.k.a. Roger Bussy-Rabutin]
Histoire amoureuse des Gaules, “Maximes d’amour [Maxims of Love]” (1660)
See La Rochefoucauld.
The function of the expert is not to be more right than other people, but to be wrong for more sophisticated reasons.
David Butler (b. 1924) British social scientist, psephologist
The Observer (1969)
Such as do build their faith upon
The holy text of pike and gun …
And prove their doctrine orthodox
By apostolic blows and knocks.Samuel Butler (1612-1680) English poet, satirist, painter, philosopher [Hudibras Butler]
Hudibras, Part i. Canto i. Line 199 (1662; 1663; 1678)
He that complies against his Will
Is of his own opinion still.Samuel Butler (1612-1680) English poet, satirist, painter, philosopher [Hudibras Butler]
Hudibras, Part III, canto 3, l. 547 (1662; 1663; 1678)
There is no such source of error as the pursuit of absolute truth.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
The first undertakers in all great attempts commonly miscarry, and leave the advantages of their losses to those that came after them.
Samuel Butler (1612-1680) English poet, satirist, painter, philosopher [Hudibras Butler]
Prose Observations (1660-80)
If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
Life is one long process of getting tired.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
Going away: I can generally bear the separation, but I don’t like the leave-taking.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
(Attributed)
The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
Life is like music, it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule. Nevertheless one had better know the rules, for they sometimes guide in doubtful cases, though not often.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, ch. 1, “Life” (1912)
(Source)
Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, ch. 1 “Life,” ix (1912)
Full text.
There are two great rules in life, the one general and the other particular. The first is that every one can in the end get what he wants if he only tries. This is the general rule. The particular rule is that every individual is more or less of an exception to the general rule.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
(Source)
Half the vices that the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderate use rather than total abstinence.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Way of All Flesh, ch. 52 (1903)
(Source)
To know God better is only to realize how impossible it is that we should ever know him at all. I know not which is more childish, to deny him, or define him.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, “Dogs” (1912)
(Source)
Death, like life, is an affair of being more frightened than hurt.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
Erewhon (1872)
Christ and The Church: If he were to apply for a divorce on the grounds of cruelty, adultery and desertion, he would probably get one.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)
Laziness grows on people; it begins in cobwebs and ends in iron chains. The more one has to do, the more he is able to accomplish.
Sir Thomas Buxton (1786-1845) English philanthropist
(Attributed)
(also attrib. Sir Matthew. Hale, Sir Matthew Hale (1609-76))
You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.
Charles Buxton (1823-1871) English brewer, philanthropist, writer, politician
Notes of Thought, #488 (1873)
(Source)
Old is when your wife says “Let’s go upstairs and make love,” and you answer, “Honey, I can’t do both.”
Red Buttons (1919-2006) American comic [b. Aaron Chwatt]
(Attributed)
Never raise your hands to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.
Red Buttons (1919-2006) American comic [b. Aaron Chwatt]
(Attributed)
All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, ch. 1 “Life” (1912)
(Source)
Give wind and tide a chance to change.
Admiral Richard E. Byrd (1888-1957) American aviator
(Attributed)
And I will war, at least in words (and — should
My chance so happen — deeds), with all who war
With Thought; — and of Thought’s foes by far most rude,
Tyrants and sycophants have been and are.
I know not who may conquer: if I could
Have such a prescience, it should be no bar
To this my plain, sworn, downright detestation
Of every despotism in every nation.
And if I laugh at any mortal thing,
‘Tis that I may not weep.
Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded
That all the Apostles would have done as they did.
I wish men to be free
As much from mobs as kings — from you as me.
All tragedies are finish’d by a death,
All comedies are ended by a marriage;
The future states of both are left to faith.
Who would be free themselves must strike the blow.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 2, st. 76 (1818)
(Source)
Always laugh when you can; it is cheap medicine.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
(Attributed)
Widely attributed to Byron, but no source cited.
He who is only just is cruel. Who on earth could live were all judged justly?
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Arino Faliero, Doge of Venice, Act 5, sc. 1 [Angiolina] (1820)
(Source)
All bad precedents begin with justifiable measures.
Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) Roman general and statesman [Gaius Julius Caesar]
“On the Punishment of the Catiline Conspirators,” 9 (63 BC)
The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.
James Branch Caball (1879-1958) American novelist and essayist
The Silver Stallion (1926)
People readily believe what they want to believe.
Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) Roman general and statesman [Gaius Julius Caesar]
The Gallic Wars [De Bello Gallico], Book 3, sec. 18 (49 BC)
Alt. trans.: "Men believe that willingly which they wish to be true."
Study first Propriety: for she is indeed the Pole-star.
Charles Stuart Calverley (1831-1884) English poet and parodist
Proverbial Philosophy, “Of Propriety”
Assuredly there is but one way in which to achieve what is not merely difficult but utterly against human nature: to love those who hate us, to repay their evil deeds with benefits, to return blessings for reproaches. It is that we remember not to consider men’s evil intention but to look upon the image of God in them, which cancels and effaces their transgressions, and with its beauty and dignity allures us to love and embrace them.
John Calvin (1509-1564) French theologian and reformer
The Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)
God not only provides for men’s necessity… but that in his goodness he deals still more bountifully with them by cheering their hearts with wine. It is lawful to use wine not only in cases of necessity but also thereby to make us merry.
John Calvin (1509-1564) French theologian and reformer
Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 104:15 (1557)
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom11.all.html#xiii.iii
But those who wish to prove to unbelievers that Scripture is the Word of God are acting foolishly, for only by faith can this be known.
John Calvin (1509-1564) French theologian and reformer
The Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)
The perils of ambulatory reading. If you have never said “Excuse me” to a parking meter or bashed your shins on a fireplug, you are probably wasting too much valuable reading time.
Sherri Chasin Calvo (contemp.) American computer scientist
(Attributed)
BISHOP: I’m afraid I have some bad news.
HUDSON: Well that’s a switch.James Cameron (b. 1954) Canadian film director, producer, screenwriter
Aliens (1986)
Now that they are called masters, they are ashamed again to become disciples.
Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639) Italian philosopher and monk
The Defense of Galileo (1616)
Does it really matter what these affectionate people do — so long as they don’t do it in the streets and frighten the horses!
Beatrice Campbell (1865-1940) English actress [Mrs. Patrick Campbell, née Beatrice Stella Tanner]
(Attributed)
Apocryphally a rebuke c. 1910 to a young actress who criticized an older actor as seeming too affectionate toward the handsome leading man in the production. Most famously given in this form in Alan Dent, Mrs. Patrick Campbell (1961).
Further discussion and variants:
Be good at something, good enough so that you can take quiet pride in knowing that you are a valuable person, that you can do at least one thing well.
David H. Campbell, Jr. (contemp.) American careers expert
If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, You’ll Probably End Up Somewhere (1974)
History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells “Can’t you remember anything I told you?” and lets fly with a club.
John W. Campbell (1910-1971) American writer and editor
(Attributed)
Discipline is remembering what you want.
David H. Campbell, Jr. (contemp.) American careers expert
(Attributed)
Why should it be that whenever men have looked for something solid on which to found their lives, they have chosen not the facts in which the world abounds, but the myths of an immemorial imagination.
Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) American writer, professor of literature
The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology (1987)
The myth is the public domain and the dream is the private myth. If your private myth, your dream, happens to coincide with that of the society, you are in good accord with your group. If it isn’t, you’ve got a long adventure in the dark forest ahead of you.
Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) American writer, professor of literature
(Attributed)