The best way I kno ov tew repent of enny thing is tew do better next time.
[The best way I know of to repent of anything is to do better next time.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 139 “Affurisms: Hooks & Eyes” (1874)
(Source)
Variant:The best way I know to REPENT of anything is not to do it again and to do better next time.
[H. Montague, ed., Wit and Wisdom of Josh Billings (1913)]
Hang sorrow! care’ll kill a cat.
Ben Jonson (1572-1637) English playwright and poet
Every Man in His Humour, Act 1, sc. 3 (1598)
There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself.
Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) American novelist
The Long Goodbye, ch. 12 (1953)
O, men of Athens … either acquit me or not; but whichever you do, understand that I shall never alter my ways, not even if I have to die many times.
Socrates (c.470-399 BC) Greek philosopher
In Plato, Apology, sec. 29 [tr. Jowett (1894)]
He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity.
Ben Jonson (1572-1637) English playwright and poet
Timber: Or, Discoveries, “Explorata” (1640)
To be capable of respect is, in these days, almost as rare as to be worthy of it.
[Être capable de respect est aujourd’hui presque aussi rare qu’en être digne.]
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 18 “Du Siècle [On the Age],” ¶ 38 (1850 ed.) [tr. Calvert (1866), ch. 13]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:To be capable of respect is well-night as rare at the present day as to be worthy of it.
[tr. Attwell (1896), ¶ 247]To be capable of respect is almost as rare in these days as to be worthy of it.
[tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 17, ¶ 15]
While the Jeffersonian did not flatly deny the Creator’s power to perform miracles, he admired His refusal to do so.
Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004) American historian, professor, attorney, writer
The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson, ch. 1, part 2 “The Economy of Nature” (1948)
When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing to himself.
Louis Nizer (1902-1994) British-American lawyer
My Life in Court, ch. 1 (1961)
If men would consider not so much wherein they differ, as wherein they agree, there would be far less of uncharitableness and angry feeling in the world.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
(Attributed)
Disputed. First attributed to "Addison" in the early 20th Century, in a paper by A. L. Evans, "Unity in Diversity," read before the Massachusetts Osteopathic Society (17 Mar 1906), and by Tryon Edwards, A Dictionary of Thoughts (1908). But this may have been a reference to another man of the same last name who was credited with publishing Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, and Poetical Fragments (1794).
Drinking makes such fools of people, and people are such fools to begin with, that it’s compounding a felony.
Robert Benchley (1889-1945) American humorist
(Attributed)
Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ch. 41 (1759)
(Source)
I have not ceased being fearful, but I have ceased to let fear control me. I have accepted fear as a part of life, specifically the fear of change, the fear of the unknown, and I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back, turn back, you’ll die if you venture too far.
Erica Jong (b. 1942) American writer, poet
The Writer on Her Work, ch. 13 (1980)
Ira, age does not bring wisdom. Often it merely changes simple stupidity into arrogant conceit.
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Time Enough For Love [Lazarus Long] (1973)
Men hate more steadily than they love; and if I have said something to hurt a man once, I shall not get the better of this by saying many things to please him.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
In James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, “September 15, 1777” (1791)
(Source)
The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1787-01-16) to Edward Carrington
(Source)
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Mary Schmich (b. 1953) American newspaper columnist
“Advice, Like Youth, Probably Just Wasted on the Young,” Chicago Tribune (1 Jul 1997)
Few men are admired by their servants.
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 3, ch. 11 (1580-1588)
The color of the world
Is changing day by day!
Red: the blood of angry men!
Black: the dark of ages past!
Red: a world about to dawn!
Black: the night that ends at last!Alain Boublil (b. 1941) French musical theatre lyricist and librettist
Les Misérables [music by Claude-Michel Schönberg] “Red and Black” [Enjolras] (1980) [tr. Herbert Kretzmer (1985)]
Heredity is a splendid phenomenon that relieves us of responsibility for our shortcomings.
Doug Larson (1902-1981) American journalist
(Attributed)
Your imagination, your initiative, and your indignation will determine whether we build a society where progress is the servant of our needs, or a society where old values and new visions are buried under unbridled growth. For in your time we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1964-05-22), Graduation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
(Source)
Johnson had been awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law. This speech was the first formal presentation of his new domestic agenda, the Great Society.
In repenting ov sins, men are apt tew repent ov thoze they hain’t got, and overlook those they hav.
[In repenting of sins, men are apt to repent of those they haven’t got, and overlook those they have.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 155 “Affurisms: Ink Lings” (1874)
(Source)
Prohibition makes you want to cry into your beer and denies you the beer to cry into.
Don Marquis (1878-1937) American journalist and humorist
“Sun Dial Time” (1936)
Why, when no honest man will deny in private that every ultimate problem is wrapped in the profoundest mystery, do honest men proclaim in pulpits that unhesitating certainty is the duty of the most foolish and ignorant? Is it not a spectacle to make the angels laugh? We are a company of ignorant beings, feeling our way through mists and darkness, learning only by incessantly repeated blunders, obtaining a glimmering of truth by falling into every conceivable error, dimly discerning light enough for our daily needs, but hopelessly differing whenever we attempt to describe the ultimate origin or end of our paths; and yet, when one of us ventures to declare that we don’t know the map of the universe as well as the map of our infinitesimal parish, he is hooted, reviled, and perhaps told that he will be damned to all eternity for his faithlessness.
Leslie Stephen (1832-1904) English critic, man of letters, biographer
“An Agnostic’s Apology,” Fortnightly Review (1876)
They say princes learn no art truly, but the art of horsemanship. The reason is, the brave beast is no flatterer. He will throw a prince as soon as his groom.
Ben Jonson (1572-1637) English playwright and poet
Timber, or Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter, para. 95 “Illiteratus Princeps” (1641)
From an aphorism by the Greek philosopher Carneades, quoted in by Montaigne, Essays, Book 3, ch. 7 "Of the Incommodity of Greatness" (1588): "Princes' children learnt nothing aright but to manage and ride horses; forsomuch as in all other exercises every man yieldeth and giveth them the victory; but a horse, who is neither a flatterer nor a courtier, will as soon throw the child of a king as the son of a base porter."
Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of a plutocracy.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Autobiography, ch 22 (Mem. Ed.) (1913)
Admiration is the Daughter of Ignorance.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1736 ed.)
(Source)
Choosing to die resisting, rather than to live submitting, they fled only from dishonor, but met danger face to face.
Pericles (c. 495-429 BC) Greek statesman
Funeral Oration (431 BC)
In Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, 2.42 [tr. Crawley and Wick (1982)]
Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, then, especially being free from flatterers.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
(Attributed)
Attributed in Tryon Edwards, A Dictionary of Thoughts (1891).
All luxury corrupts either the morals or the taste.
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées (1838) [ed. Auster (1983)]
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers.
Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004) American historian, professor, attorney, writer
(Attributed)
See Shakespeare.
Before yu undertaik tew change a man’s politiks or religion, be sure yu have got a beter one to offer him.
[Before you undertake to change a man’s politics or religion, be sure you have got a better one to offer him.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, “Nosegays” (1874)
Four legs good, two legs bad.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Animal Farm, ch. 3 (1945)
Example is always more efficacious than precept.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ch. 30 (1759)
(Source)
Jealousy is all the fun you think they had.
Erica Jong (b. 1942) American writer, poet
“Bennett tells all in Woodstock …”, epigraph, How To Save Your Own Life (1977)
Thirty — the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning brief-case of enthusiasm, thinning hair.
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) American writer [Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald]
The Great Gatsby, ch. 7 (1925)
And, once sent out, a word takes wing beyond recall.
Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Epistles, Book 1, Epistle 18, l. 71 (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1786-01-28) to James Currie
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
Mary Schmich (b. 1953) American newspaper columnist
“Advice, Like Youth, Probably Just Wasted on the Young,” Chicago Tribune (1 Jul 1997)
One of the pleasant things those of us who write or paint do is to have the daily miracle. It does come.
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) American expatriate author, feminist
Paris France (1940)
Admiration is a very short-lived passion, that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
The Spectator #256 (24 Dec 1711)
The purse is any Highwayman’s who might meet me with a loaded pistol, but the Self is mine and God my Maker’s; it is not yours; and I will resist you to the death.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
“The Hero as King,” On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1841)
Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
“On the Conversation of Lords,” Sketches and Essays (1829)
Good impulses are naught, unless they become good actions.
[Les bons mouvements ne sont rien, s’ils ne deviennent de bonnes actions.]Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 5 “Des Passions et des Affections de l’Âme [On the Soul],” ¶ 75 (1850 ed.) [tr. Calvert (1866)]
(Source)
A sign of a celebrity is often that his name is worth more than his services.
Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004) American historian, professor, attorney, writer
The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America (1961)
A caustic observer once remarked that when Dr. Johnson spoke of patriotism as the last refuge of a scoundrel, “he was ignorant of the infinite possibility contained in the word ‘reform.'”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
“Latitude and Longitude among Reformers” (Jun 1900)
See Johnson.
If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.
Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) Italian Franciscan mystic, reformer, saint [b. Giovanni di Pietro di Bunardone]
(Attributed)
Man is not weak; knowledge is more than equivalent to force. The master of mechanicks laughs at strength.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ch. 13 (1759)
(Source)
A baby is a full time job for three adults. Nobody tells you that when you’re pregnant, or you’d probably jump off a bridge. Nobody tells you how all-consuming it is to be a mother — how reading goes out the window and thinking too.
Erica Jong (b. 1942) American writer, poet
Fear of Fifty: A Middle Life Memoir, ch. 2 (1994)
My main problem is reconciling my gross habits with my net income.
Errol Flynn (1909-1959) Australian-American actor
Quoted in New York Times (5 Mar 1955)
Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle; Old Age a regret.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) English politician and author
Coningsby: Or, The New Generation, Book 3, ch. 1 (1844)
(Source)
Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other “sins” are invented nonsense.
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Time Enough for Love (1973)
All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Inaugural Address (1801-03-14)
(Source)
It always did bother me that the American public were more interested in me than in my work. And after all there is no sense in it because if it were not for my work they would not be interested in me so why should they not be more interested in my work than in me. That is one of the things one has to worry about in America.
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) American expatriate author, feminist
Everybody’s Autobiography, ch. 2 (1937)
Remorse drives the weak to despair and the strong to sainthood.
[Die Reue treibt den Schwachen zur Verzweiflung und macht den Starken zum Heiligen.]
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) Austrian writer
Aphorisms [Aphorismen], No. 412 (1880) [tr. Scrase/Mieder (1994)]
Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most, always like it the least.
Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #138 (29 Jan 1748)
(Source)
It is said that there were some respected men among my ancestors, too, but my father paid little attention to that. He judged each man by himself and not by his ancestors.
Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) American writer
Jubal Sackett (1985)
There is but one way for a president to deal with Congress, and that is continuously, incessantly, and without interruption. If it is really going to work, the relationship has got to be almost incestuous. He’s got to know them better than they know themselves. And then, on the basis of this knowledge, he’s got to build a system that stretches from the cradle to the grave, from the moment a bill is introduced to the moment it is officially enrolled as the law of the land.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Comment to Doris Kearns Goodwin
(Source)
Quoted in Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, ch. 8 "The Great Society" (1976). Kearns was an intern and staff member in the Johnson White House, and worked with him on his memoirs.
One more day till revolution,
We will nip it in the bud!
We’ll be ready for these schoolboys,
They will wet themselves with blood!Alain Boublil (b. 1941) French musical theatre lyricist and librettist
Les Misérables, “One Day More” [Javert] [music by Claude-Michel Schönberg] (1980) [tr. Herbert Kretzmer (1985)]
People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
The Age of Uncertainty, ch. 1 (1977)
The first thing that happens to men once they have had to give up any pleasure, whether for propriety’s sake, or from satiety, or for their health, is to condemn it in other people. Such behavior implies a sort of attachment to the very things one has just renounced: we want nobody else to enjoy the good things that we have lost; it is a feeling of jealousy.
[La première chose qui arrive aux hommes après avoir renoncé aux plaisirs, ou par bienséance, ou par lassitude, ou par régime, c’est de les condamner dans les autres. Il entre dans cette conduite une sorte d’attachement pour les choses mêmes que l’on vient de quitter; l’on aimerait qu’un bien qui n’est plus pour nous ne fût plus aussi pour le reste du monde: c’est un sentiment de jalousie.]
Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 11 “Of Mankind [De l’Homme],” § 112 (11.112) (1688) [tr. Stewart (1970)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:The first thing men do, when they have renounc'd pleasure, either out of decency, surfeit, or conviction, is to condemn it in others. This sort of management is however seldom free from a particular affection for those very things they left off, but they would have no body enjoy the pleasure they can no longer enjoy themselves, which proceeds more from Jealousie than any thing else.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]The first thing Men do, when they have renounc'd Pleasure, either out of Decency, Surfeit, or Conviction, is to condemn it in others. They preserve, in this Conduct, a sort of Affection for the very things they left off; they would have no body enjoy the Pleasure they can no longer enjoy themselves: 'Tis a sentiment of Jealousy.
[Curll ed. (1713)]The first Thing, when Men have renounced Pleasure, either out of Decency, Satiety, or Necessity, is to condemn it in others. This Sort of Reproof, however, is not free from a latent Affection for their forsaken Pleasures; they would interdict to all others what they can themselves no longer enjoy; their Admonitions are the Snarlings of Jealousy, not the Dictates of Purity.
[Browne ed. (1752)]The first thing men do when they have renounced pleasure, through decency, lassitude, or for the sake of health, is to condemn it in others. Such conduct denotes a kind of latent affection for the very things they left off; they would like no one to enjoy a pleasure they can no longer indulge in; and thus they show their feelings of jealousy.
[tr. Van Laun (1885)]
I was much cheered upon my arrival [in prison], by the warder at the gate, who had to take particulars about me. He asked my religion, and I replied, ‘agnostic.’ He asked how to spell it, and remarked with a sigh, “Well, there are many religions, but I suppose they all worship the same God.” This remark kept me cheerful for about a week.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell: 1914-1944, ch. 1 “The First War” (1968)
(Source)
When imprisoned in 1918, during World War I, for his pacifist, anti-war activities.
Underneath this stone doth lie
As much beauty as could die;
Which in life did harbor give
To more virtue than doth live.Ben Jonson (1572-1637) English playwright and poet
“Epitaph on Elizabeth, Lady H—,” ll. 3-6.
You are entitled to know whether a man seeking your suffrages is a man of clean and upright life, honorable in all of his dealings with his fellows, and fit by qualification and purpose to do well in the great office for which he is a candidate ; but you are not entitled to know matters which lie purely between himself and his Maker. If it is proper or legitimate to oppose a man for being a Unitarian […] then it would be equally proper to support or oppose a man because of his views on justification by faith, or the method of administering the sacrament, or the gospel of salvation by works. If you once enter on such a career there is absolutely no limit at which you can legitimately stop.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Letter to J. C. Martin (9 Nov 1908)
(Source)
While we go with the stream, we are unconscious of its rapid course; but when we begin to stem it ever so little, it makes itself felt.
François Fénelon (1651-1715) French theologian, poet, writer [François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon]
Letter to the Comtesse de Gramont (21 Mar 1690)
(Source)
If the elephants visit your farm you do not worry about the monkeys.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Hausa proverb
He who has imagination without learning has wings and no feet.
[Celui qui a de l’imagination sans érudition, a des ailes et n’a pas de pieds.]
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 4 “De la Nature des Esprits [On the Nature of Minds],” ¶ 39 (1850 ed.) [tr. Attwell (1896), ¶ 53]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:The man of imagination without learning has wings and no feet.
[tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 3, ¶ 16]The man of imagination who is unlearned has wings and no feet.
[tr. Collins (1928), ch. 4]
We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but from our illusions.
Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004) American historian, professor, attorney, writer
The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, Preface (1961)
When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains,
An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier.Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
“The Young British Soldier” (1895)
When property becomes so fluctuating and the love of property so restless and so ardent, I cannot but fear that men may arrive at such a state as to regard every new theory as a peril, every innovation as an irksome toil, every social improvement as a stepping stone to revolution, and so refuse to move altogther for fear of being moved too far. I dread […] lest they should at last so entirely give way to a cowardly love of present enjoyment as to lose sight of the interests of their future selves and those of their descendents and prefer to glide along the easy current of life rather than to make, when it is necessary, a strong and sudden effort to a higher purpose.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French writer, diplomat, politician
Democracy in America, 2.3.21 (1840) [tr. Reeve and Bowen (1862)]
Of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps the most remarkable; with the possible exception of a moose singing “Embraceable You” in spats.
Woody Allen (b. 1935) American comedian, writer, director [b. Allan Steward Konigsberg]
“On Seeing a Tree in Summer”
Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ch. 6 (1759)
(Source)
If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.
Erica Jong (b. 1942) American writer, poet
Becoming Light: Poems New and Selected (1991)
Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can, and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Brave New World, Forward (1946 ed.)
How foolish to think that one can ever slam the door in the face of age. Much wiser to be polite and gracious and ask him to lunch in advance.
Noël Coward (1899-1973) English playwright, actor, wit
Diary (1956-06-03)
An honest man speaks the truth, though it may give offence; a vain man, in order that it may.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
Characteristics in the Manner of Rochefoucault’s Maxims, #387 (1823)
The care of every man’s soul belongs to himself. But what if he neglect the care of it? Well what if he neglect the care of his health or estate, which more nearly relate to the state? Will the magistrate make a law that he shall not be poor or sick? Laws provide against injury from others, but not from ourselves. God himself will not save men against their wills.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
“Notes on Religion” (1776-10?)
(Source)
Labeled by Jefferson "Scraps Early in the Revolution."
For a very long time everybody refuses and then almost without a pause almost everybody accepts. In the history of the refused in the arts and literature the rapidity of the change is always startling.
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) American expatriate author, feminist
Composition as Explanation (1926)
UGARTE: You despise me, don’t you?
RICK: Well, if I gave it any thought, I would.Joseph Epstein (b. 1937) American writer
Casablanca (1942) [with Philip Epstein and Howard Koch]
A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected than though he revealed a secret of hidden treasure.
Buddha (c.563-483 BC) Indian mystic, philosopher [b. Siddharta Gautama]
A Buddhist Bible [ed. Dwight Goddard (1932)]
My ancestors were Puritans from England. They arrived here in 1648 in the hope of finding greater restrictions than were permissible under English law at that time.
Garrison Keillor (b. 1942) American entertainer, author
In New York Times (30 Mar 1990)
There are no problems which we cannot solve together, and very few that any of us can settle by himself.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1964-11-28), Press Conference, LBJ Ranch, Johnson City, Texas
(Source)
Regarding the Atlantic Alliance (NATO). Variant: "There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves."
Tomorrow we’ll discover
What our God in Heaven has in store!
One more dawn,
One more day,
One day more!Alain Boublil (b. 1941) French musical theatre lyricist and librettist
Les Misérables, “One Day More” [music by Claude-Michel Schönberg] (1980) [tr. Herbert Kretzmer (1985)]
Repartee is what you wish you’d said.
Heywood Broun (1888-1939) American journalist, author
(Attributed)
In Robert Drennan, ed., The Algonquin Wits, "Heywood Broun" (1968).
Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
(Attributed)
When urged by Hannah More to have some wine with dinner. Quoted in Mrs. Ellis, A Voice From the Vintage (1843).
There must be either a predestined Necessity and inviolable plan, or a gracious Providence, or a chaos without design or director. If then there be an inevitable Necessity, why kick against the pricks? If a Providence that is ready to be gracious, render thyself worthy of divine succour. But if a chaos without guide, congratulate thyself that amid such a surging sea thou hast a guiding Reason.
[Ἤτοι ἀνάγκη εἱμαρμένης καὶ ἀπαράβατος τάξις ἢ πρόνοια ἱλάσιμος ἢ φυρμὸς εἰκαιότητος ἀπροστάτητος. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀπαράβατος ἀνάγκη, τί ἀντιτείνεις; εἰ δὲ πρόνοια ἐπιδεχομένη τὸ ἱλάσκεσθαι, ἄξιον σαυτὸν ποίησον τῆς ἐκ τοῦ θείου βοηθείας. εἰ δὲ φυρμὸς ἀνηγεμόνευτος, ἀσμένιζε ὅτι ἐν τοιούτῳ κλύδωνι αὐτὸς ἔχεις ἐν σαυτῷ τινα νοῦν ἡγεμονικόν.]
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations, Book 12, #14 [tr. Haines (1916)]
(Source)
Original Greek. Alternate translations:Either fate, (and that either an absolute necessity, and unavoidable decree; or a placable and flexible Providence) or all is a mere casual confusion, void of all order and government. If an absolute and unavoidable necessity, why doest thou resist? If a placable and exorable Providence, make thyself worthy of the divine help and assistance. If all be a mere confusion without any moderator, or governor, then hast thou reason to congratulate thyself; that in such a general flood of confusion thou thyself hast obtained a reasonable faculty, whereby thou mayest govern thine own life and actions.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), #11]Either the Order of Things are fixed by irrevocable Fate, or Providence may be worked into Compassion, or else the World Floats at Raondom without any Steerage. Now if nature lies under immovable Necessity, to what purpose should you struggle against it? If the favor of Providence is to be gained, qualify your self for the Divine Assistance: But if Chance, and Confusion carry it, and no body sits at the Helm; be you contented and Ride out the Storm patiently, for you have a Governor within you , though the World has none.
[tr. Collier (1701)]Either there is a fatal necessity and invincible order, or a kind providence, or a confusion without a purpose and without a director. If then there is an invincible necessity, why dost thou resist? But if there is a providence which allows itself to be propitiated, make thyself worthy of the help of the divinity. But if there is a confusion without a governor, be content that in such a tempest thou hast in thyself a certain ruling intelligence.
[tr. Long (1862)]Either the order of things is fixed by irrevocable fate, or providence may be worked into compassion, or else the world floats at random without any steerage. Now if nature lies under an immovable necessity, to what purpose should you struggle against it? If the favor of providence is to be gained, qualify yourself for divine assistance; but if chance and confusion prevail, be you contented that in such a storm you have a governing intelligence within you.
[tr. Zimmern (1887)]Either the Necessity of destiny and an order none may transgress, or Providence that hears intercession, or an ungoverned welter without a purpose. If then a Necessity which none may transgress, why do you resist? If a Providence admitting intercession, make yourself worthy of assistance from the Godhead. If an undirected welter, be glad that in so great a flood of waves you have yourself within you a directing mind.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]Fatal necessity, and inescapable order. Or benevolent Providence. Or confusion -- random and undirected. If it's an inescapable necessity, why resist it? If it's Providence, admits of being worshipped, then try to be worthy of God's aid. If it's confusion and anarchy, then be grateful that on this raging sea you have a mind to guide you.
[tr. Hays (2003)]Either predetermined necessity and unalterable cosmic order, or a gracious providence, or a chaotic ungoverned mixture. If a predetermined necessity, why do you resist? If it is a gracious Providence that can hear our prayers, then make yourself worthy of divine assistance. If a chaotic ungoverned mixture, be satisfied that in the midst of this storm, you have within yourself a mind whose nature it is to govern and command.
[tr. Needleman/Piazza (2008)]
Thy praise or dispraise is to me alike;
One doth not stroke me, nor the other strike.Ben Jonson (1572-1637) English playwright and poet
The Works of Ben Jonson, First Folio, Epigram 61 “To Fool, or Knave” (1616)
The demand for a statement of a candidate’s religious belief can have no meaning except that there may be discrimination for or against him because of that belief. Discrimination against the holder of one faith means retaliatory discrimination against men of other faiths. The inevitable result of entering upon such a practice would be an abandonment of our real freedom of conscience and a reversion to the dreadful conditions of religious dissension which in so many lands have proved fatal to true liberty, to true religion, and to all advance in civilization.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Letter to J. C. Martin (9 Nov 1908)
(Source)
Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge that is power; religion gives man wisdom that is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. They are complimentary. Science keeps religion from sinking into the valley fo crippling irrationalism and paralyzing obscurantism. Religion prevents science from falling into the marsh of obsolete materialism and moral nihilism.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Strength to Love, ch. 1 “A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart,” sec. 1 (1963)
(Source)
Whipping and abuse are like laudanum; you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline.
Aromatic plants bestow
No spicy fragrance while they grow;
But crush’d or trodden to the ground,
Diffuse their balmy sweets around.Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
The Captivity, Act 1 (1764)
When you go in search of honey you must expect to be stung by bees.
Kenneth Kaunda (1924-2021) Zambian teacher, revolutionary, politician
Quoted in the Observer (London) (1982-09-05)
(Source)
Sometimes attributed to Joseph Joubert, but not found in his works.
Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson, ch. 15, epigraph (1894)
The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) English jurist and philosopher
An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, ch. 17, sec. 1, footnote (1789)
(Source)
On animals, questioning why they are treated differently under the law.
Men are not rational beings, as commonly supposed. A man is a bundle of instincts, feelings, sentiments, which severally seek their gratification, and those which are in power get hold of the reason and use it to their own ends, and exclude all other sentiments and feelings from power.
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) English philosopher, naturalist
Letter to J. A. Skilton (10 Jan 1895)
It is seldom that we find either men or places such as we expect them.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Idler, #58 (26 May 1759)
(Source)
Many people today believe that cynicism requires courage. Actually, cynicism is the height of cowardice. It is innocence and open-heartedness that requires the true courage — however often we are hurt as a result of it.
Erica Jong (b. 1942) American writer, poet
How to Save Your Own Life (1977)
Anarchy is the sure consequence of tyranny.
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) English writer and politician
“A Conversation Between Mr. Abraham Cowley and Mr. John Milton,” Knight’s Quarterly Journal (Aug 1824)
If you can, help others. If you can’t, at least don’t hurt others.
The Dalai Lama (b. 1935) Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader [The 14th Dalai Lama; a/k/a Lhama Thondup / Lhama Dhondrub; b. Tenzin Gyatso]
(Attributed)
So, we’ll go no more a-roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we’ll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
“So We’ll Go No More A-Roving” (1817)
(Source)
Included in a letter to his friend Thomas Moore (28 Feb 1817), in which he complained he'd been up too late on too many night during the Carnival in Venice.
“What is the answer?” [ I was silent ] “In that case, what is the question?”
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) American expatriate author, feminist
Last words (27 Jul 1946)
In Alice B. Toklas, What Is Remembered (1963).
1st Moral – Advice iz good only az corroborating testimony.
2nd Moral – If yu put yureself into the hands ov yure frends, yu must expekt that the kindness ov their hearts iz no protekshun aginst the willfullness ov their judgments.
3rd Moral – Advice iz like a doktor’s pills: it iz often advisabel tew receive them without taking them.
4th Moral – One man kan alwus milk a cow better than 4 kan.[1st Moral – Advice is good only as corroborating testimony.
2nd Moral – If you put yourself into the hands of your friends, you must expect that the kindness of their hearts is no protection against the willfulness of their judgments.
3rd Moral – Advice is like a doctor’s pills: it is often advisable to receive them without taking them.
4th Moral – One man can always milk a cow better than four can.]Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings on Ice and Other Things, ch. 6 “Josh Billings: Hiz Shade Tree” (1868)
(Source)
This sad little lizard told me that he was a Brontosaurus on his mother’s side. I did not laugh; people who boast of ancestry often have little else to sustain them. Humoring them costs nothing and adds to happiness in a world in which happiness is in short supply.
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Time Enough for Love (1973)
It is a man’s task to execute, within the time that God allots to him on Earth, a human mission to do God’s will by working for the coming of God’s Kingdom in Earth as it is in Heaven.
Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) English historian
A Study of History, 10.39 (1954)
There are no favorites in my office. I treat them all with the same general inconsideration.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Quoted in Leslie Carpenter, “Whip from Texas,” Collier’s (1951-02-17)
(Source)
When asked, as a freshman US Senator, about favoritism among his staff.
Old men, young men, take ’em as they come,
Harbor rats and alley cats and every type of scum,
Poor men, rich men, leaders of the land,
See them with their trousers off, they’re never quite as grand.
All it takes is money in your hand!Alain Boublil (b. 1941) French musical theatre lyricist and librettist
Les Misérables, “Lovely Ladies” [music by Claude-Michel Schönberg] (1980) [tr. Herbert Kretzmer (1985)]
Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ch. 26 (1759)
(Source)
The real character of a man is found out by his amusements.
Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) British painter, critic
(Attributed)
In Samuel Arthur Bent, Short Sayings of Great Men (1882).
I know a man who gave up smoking, drinking, sex, and rich food. He was healthy right up to the time he killed himself.
Johnny Carson (1925-2005) American talk show host
“The Tonight Show” (20 Nov 1984)
Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy!
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
O, could I lose all father now. For why
Will man lament the state he should envy?
To have soon ‘scaped world’s and flesh’s rage,
And, if no other misery, yet age!
Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say here doth lie
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry:
For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such,
As what he loves may never like too much.Ben Jonson (1572-1637) English playwright and poet
The Works of Ben Jonson, First Folio, Epigram 45, “On My First Son,” ll. 1-12 (1616)
There are none more abusive to others than they that lie most open to it themselves; but the humor goes round, and he that laughs at me today will have somebody to laugh at him tomorrow.
Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Essays, “On Anger [De ira]“
One Month in the School of Affliction will teach thee more than the great Precepts of Aristotle in seven years; for thou canst never judge rightly of human Affairs, unless thou hast first felt the Blows, and found out the Deceits of Fortune.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, #2749 (1731 ed.)
(Source)
Some find activity only in repose, and others repose only in movement.
[Les uns ne peuvent trouver d’activité que dans le repos, el les autres de repos que dans le mouvement.]
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 4 “De la Nature des Esprits [On the Nature of Minds]” ¶ 19 (1850 ed.) [tr. Calvert (1866)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translation:There are some who can only find activity in repose, and others who can only find repose in movement.
[tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 2, ¶ 11]
He who would do good to another must do it in minute particulars;
General good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer:
For art and science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars.William Blake (1757-1827) English poet, mystic, artist
Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion, ch. 3, plate 55, l. 60 (c. 1803–20)
(Source)
Someone sends me a clipping from Columnist Lyons with this honey: “They are telling this of Lord Beaverbrook and a visiting Yankee actress. In a game of hypothetical questions, Beaverbrook asked the lady: ‘Would you live with a stranger if he paid you one million pounds?’ She said she would. ‘And if be paid you five pounds?’ The irate lady fumed: ‘Five pounds. What do you think I am?’ Beaverbrook replied: ‘We’ve already established that. Now we are trying to determine the degree.'”
Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964) Anglo-Canadian business tycoon, publisher, politician, writer
“As O. O. McIntyre Sees It,” syndicated column (2 Jan 1937)
This anecdote has been attributed to a number of people, including Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw, usually in a bawdier form, e.g.:SHAW: [To a woman seated by him at a dinner party.] Madam, if I gave you a million pounds, would you sleep with me?
WOMAN: I think I would.
SHAW: Would you do it for five?
WOMAN: Sir, what kind of woman do you think I am?
SHAW: I thought we had established that, and were merely haggling over the price.
The above, attributing the exchange to Lord Beaverbrook, is the earliest version found. See here and here for more discussion and research into its origins.
A small and temporary improvement may really be the worst enemy of a great and permanent improvement, unless the first is made on the lines and in the direction of the second.
John Morley (1838-1923) English statesman, journalist, writer [John, Viscount Morley]
On Compromise, ch. 5 (1877)
Passion and prejudice govern the world; only under the name of reason.
John Wesley (1703-1791) English cleric, Christian theologian and evangelist, founder of Methodism
Letter to Joseph Benson (5 Oct 1770)
Merriment is always the effect of a sudden impression. The jest which is expected is already destroyed.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Idler, #58 (26 May 1759)
(Source)
All people believe their suffering is greater than others.
Erica Jong (b. 1942) American writer, poet
How to Save Your Own Life (1977)
The mind ought sometimes to be amused, that it may better return to thought, and to itself.
Phaedrus (15 BC-AD 50) Roman fabulist, poet
(Atributed)
Quoted in Henry Southgate, Things a Lady Would Like to Know Concerning Domestic Management (1875).
A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.
John Barrymore (1882-1942) American actor
(Attributed)
Quoted in Gene Fowler, Good Night, Sweet Prince (1943).
It is always easier to hear an insult and not retaliate than have the courage to fight back against someone stronger than yourself; we can always say we’re not hurt by the stones others throw at us, and it’s only at night — when we’re alone and our wife or our husband or our school friend is asleep — that we can silently grieve over our own cowardice.
Paulo Coelho (b. 1947) Brazilian spiritual writer
The Devil and Miss Prym (2000)
I have ever deemed it fundamental for the United States never to take an active part in the quarrels of Europe. Their political interests are entirely distinct from ours. Their mutual jealousies, their balance of power, their complicated alliances, their forms and principles of government, are all foreign to us. They are nations of eternal war.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to James Monroe (11 Jun 1823)
(Source)
The deepest thing in any one is the conviction of the bad luck that follows boasting.
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) American expatriate author, feminist
Mrs. Reynolds and Five Earlier Novelettes, Part 1 (written 1940-1943) (1952)
“Thalaba,” Mr. Southey’s second poem, is written in open defiance of precedent and poetry. Mr. S. wished to produce something novel, and succeeded to a miracle. “Joan of Arc” was marvelous enough, but “Thalaba” was one of those poems “which,” in the words of Porson, “will be read when Homer and Virgil are forgotten, but — not till then.”
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
“English Bards and Scotch Reviewers,” footnote to l. 205 (1809)
(Source)
When one of his earlier works was harshly criticized in the Edinburgh Review, Byron wrote this poem satirizing such critics (and the poetry they like). He refers to Robert Southey's "Thalaba," bringing in a phrase used by classical scholar Richard Porson to refer to Southey's poem "Madoc". Except ...
... Porson doesn't include the "but not till then" phrase in his original comment. A man of subtle but biting humor, it seems likely he intended that as a subversive but deniable reading of "when Homer and Virgil are forgotten". Believing that, multiple writers of the time in turn criticized Byron for crudely spelling out Porson's bon mot (examples: Timbs (1862), Powell/Rogers (1903)).
He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
(Attributed)
Quoted in The Millennial Harbinger, #8 (Aug 1860).
Ever’thing we do — seems to me is aimed right at goin’ on. Seems that way to me. Even gettin’ hungry — even bein’ sick; some die, but the rest is tougher. Jus’ try to live the day, jus’ the day. … Jus’ live the day. Don’t worry yaself.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
The Grapes of Wrath, ch. 28 [Ma Joad] (1939)
The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1965-08-06), Signing of the Voting Rights Act, Washington, D.C.
(Source)
(Source (Video) at 15:15)
I dreamed a dream in times gone by,
When hope was high, and life worth living.
I dreamed that love would never die,
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.
Then I was young and unafraid,
And dreams were made and used and wasted.
There was no ransom to be paid,
No song unsung, no wine untasted.
But the tigers come at night,
With their voices soft as thunder,
As they tear your hope apart,
And they turn your dream to shame.Alain Boublil (b. 1941) French musical theatre lyricist and librettist
Les Misérables “I Dreamed a Dream” [Fantine] [music by Claude-Michel Schönberg] (1980) [tr. Herbert Kretzmer (1985)]
Remorse is the poison of life.
Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) British novelist [pseud. Currer Bell]
Jane Eyre, ch. 14 (1847)
ABSTAINER, n. A weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure. A Total Abstainer is one who abstains from everything, but abstention, and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others.
When I reached intellectual maturity, and began to ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist or an idealist; a Christian or a freethinker, I found that the more I learned and reflected, the less ready was the answer; until at last I came to the conclusion that I had neither art nor part with any of these denominations, except the last. The one thing in which most of these good people were agreed was the one thing in which I differed from them. They were quite sure that they had attained a certain “gnosis” — had more or less successfully solved the problem of existence; while I was quite sure I had not, and had a pretty strong conviction that the problem was insoluble. And, with Hume and Kant on my side, I could not think myself presumptuous in holding fast by that opinion. […] So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of “agnostic”. It came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the “gnostic” of Church history, who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant; and I took the earliest opportunity of parading it at our Society, to show that I, too, had a tail, like the other foxes.
T. H. Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [Thomas Henry Huxley]
“Agnosticism” (1889)
As he brews, so shall he drink.
Ben Jonson (1572-1637) English playwright and poet
Every Man in His Humour, Act 2, sc. 1 (1598)
I hold that in this country there must be complete severance of Church and State; that public moneys shall not be used for the purpose of advancing any particular creed; and therefore that the public schools shall be non-sectarian and no public moneys appropriated for sectarian schools.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Speech, New York City (12 Oct 1915)
We must cut our coat according to our cloth, and adapt ourselves to changing circumstances.
William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]
Lay Thoughts of a Dean (1926)
A wound from a tongue is worse than a wound from a sword; for the latter affects only the body, the former, the spirit, the soul.
Pythagoras (c.570 BC - c.495 BC) Greek mathematician and philosopher
(Attributed)
Cited in James Comper Gray, The Biblical Museum, Vol. 5 (1878)
Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.
(Other Authors and Sources)
French proverb
Poetry fettered fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed, or flourish, in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish!
William Blake (1757-1827) English poet, mystic, artist
Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion, “To the Public,” Plate 1 (c. 1803–20)
I shudder as I tell the tale.
[Horresco réferens]
Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 2, l. 204 (2.204) [Aeneas] (29-19 BC) [tr. Fairclough (1916)]
(Source)
Telling Dido of the terrible deaths of the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons.
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:I shake to mention.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]I shudder at the relation.
[tr. Davidson/Buckley (1854)]I quail,
E'en now, at telling of the tale
[tr. Conington (1866)]I shudder as I tell.
[tr. Cranch (1872)]I shudder as I recall.
[tr. Mackail (1885)]I tremble in the tale.
[tr. Morris (1900)]The tale I shudder to pursue
[tr. Taylor
(1907)]I shudder as I tell.
[tr. Williams (1910)]I shudder even now,
Recalling it.
[tr. Humphries (1951)]Telling it makes me shudder.
[tr. Day-Lewis (1952)]I shudder
to tell what happened.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1971)]I shiver to recall it.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1981)]I shudder at the memory of it.
[tr. West (1990)]I shudder to tell it.
[tr. Kline (2002)]I shudder to recall them.
[tr. Lombardo (2005)]I cringe to recall it now.
[tr. Fagles (2006)]I shudder at the telling.
[tr. Bartsch (2021)]
The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.
Robert Pirsig (1928-2017) American philosopher, writer
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, ch. 25 (1974)
Where passion rules, how weak does reason prove!
John Dryden (1631-1700) English poet, dramatist, critic
The Rival Ladies, 2.1 (1664)
Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. The flowers which scatter their odours from time to time in the paths of life, grow up without culture from seeds scattered by chance.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Idler, #58 (26 May 1759)
(Source)
I myself hate that old Hemingwayesque paradigm of the writer as prizefighter and I have tried hard to create an alternate one for myself. When Anne Sexton admonished me, “We are all writing God’s poem,” I took it to mean there should be no competition between writers because we are all involved in a common project, a common prayer. But to Gore’s and Norman’s generation, particularly those male writers who served in the Second World War, the prizefighter paradigm remains.
Erica Jong (b. 1942) American writer, poet
“Into the lion’s den,” The Guardian (26 Oct 2000)
(Source)
God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.
Bono (b. 1960) Irish musician, philanthropist [b. Paul David Hewson]
Speech, National Prayer Breakfast (2 Feb 2006)
(Source)
You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred.
Woody Allen (b. 1935) American comedian, writer, director [b. Allan Steward Konigsberg]
Interiors (1978)
All of you young people who served in the war, you are a lost generation. … You have no respect for anything. You drink yourselves to death.
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) American expatriate author, feminist
(Attributed)
Quoted by Ernest Hemingway in A Moveable Feast, ch. 3 (1964). Also served as the epigraph for The Sun Also Rises (1926).
I’m not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat.
Michael Jordan (b. 1963) American basketball pro
Newsweek (24 Jan 1994)
Administrivia: Doing the Numbers: 3/2013
Another year, another “State of the WIST” post. I last ran this report last February.
Despite vacations and illness and other vagaries of schedule, I managed to keep a pretty steady increase over the course of the year.
Broken out into a graph (and normalizing the timeframe):
I actually upped the number of new authors this year, consciously (I have a large backlog of quotations from authors I haven’t yet entered into the system). Another project I’ve had (aside from a slow sweep through the database, eliminating duplicate quotations, trying to source things, etc.) is to go through the authors and note ones who have died. (Any deceased that aren’t noted as such, please do let me know.)
Of the authors I do have, who are the most quoted in WIST?
No adds or drops from the Top 10, just a reshuffle (all of these had absolute number increases, but just shifted in the quantity rank). That I had (still have) a long list of TR and Jefferson quotes that I’m running through here is the main reason why (yes, Shakespeare is losing his top ranking by the time I do this again next year).
I’m still amazed by how tightly most of these are clustered. The Top 10 Authors are listed in the sidebar.
There was a bit more ranking movement on the Top Ten most visited quotations (also referenced in the sidebar):
- ↑ Aeschylus, Agamemnon, l. 179 (3,316 from 1,351)
- ↓ Robert Frost, “The Lesson for Today,” A Witness Tree(1942) (2,944 from 2,209)
- ♥ James Baldwin, “In Search of a Majority,” Speech, Kalamazoo College (Feb 1960) (2,138)
- ↑ Bertrand Russell, “The Triumph of Stupidity” (10 May 1933) (1,842 from 1,005)
- – John Steinbeck, Nobel prize acceptance speech (10 Dec 1962) (1,769 from 1,018)
- ↑ Thomas Campbell, “Hallowed Ground” (1825) (1,764 from 865)
- ↓ Seneca the Younger, Moral Essays, “On Tranquility of Mind [De Tranquillitate Animi],” 17.10 [tr. W. Langsdorf (1900)] (1,448 from 1,054)
- – Albert Einstein, (Spurious / Synthetic) (1,354 from 845)
- ↓ Michel de Montaigne, “That to Philosophize Is to Learn to Die,” Essays (1588) [tr. D. Frame (1958)] (1,317 frm 1,087)
- ♥ Molly Ivins, “Get a Knife, Get a Dog, but Get Rid of Guns,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram (9 Mar 1993) (919)
Two new quotes this year on the Top 10, the Baldwin and the Ivins (the latter, I suspect, as guns have been much in the news this year). The two losers were already on the bottom last year, Teddy Roosevelt and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Einstein quote was identified as a synthesis of several others of his written statements.
Google Analytics tells me that traffic is about where it was in visitors per day — 83 — but has jumped a lot in page views — 254 vs 116 last year.
Interestingly, 13% of my visitors are from a mobile platform, which really makes me think I need to figure out how to do a mobile-friendly version of the site (difficult because the the customization I’ve done in the core template files — which is a reason I’ve not changed the overall theme here, either).
And that’s probably enough numbers for now. Back tomorrow with … letters!
A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
“What Is Man?” (1906)
We were one of those wretched traveling families you see getting on planes — the kind where you don’t actually see the people, just this mound of baby equipment shuffling slowly down the aisle toward you. This sight is always hugely popular with the other passengers, some of whom will yank open the emergency exits and dive out of the plane. Because they know what babies do on planes: They stand on their parents’ laps and stick their heads up over the seats, so they can get maximum range when they shriek. On a baby-intensive airplane, you see shrieking baby heads constantly popping up all over, like prairie dogs from hell.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American humorist
Boogers Are My Beat (2003)
It is easy when we are in prosperity to give advice to the afflicted.
Aeschylus (525-456 BC) Greek dramatist (Æschylus)
(Attributed)
Alt trans.: "'Tis easy for any man who has his foot unentangled by sufferings both to exhort and to admonish him that is in difficulties."
We may not arrive at our port within a calculable period, but we would preserve the true course.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden, “Economy” (1854)
We who hold public office are enjoined by our Constitution against enacting laws to tell the people when or where or how to pray.
All our experience and all our knowledge proves that injunction is good. for, if government could ordain the people’s prayers, government could also ordain its own worship — and that must never be.
The separation of church and state has served our freedom well because men of state have not separated themselves from church and faith and prayer.Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1964-02-05), Presidential Prayer Breakfast, Washington, D.C.
(Source)
This was at the 12th Annual Presidential Prayer Breakfast.
In the Proceedings of the Illinois State AFL-CIO Convention (1968), there is (a) a reference to a note that the state president of the AFL/CIO, Reuben G. Soderstrom, attending the 16th such Prayer Breakfast, and then (b) a passage on the next page "U. S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's statement to a tremendous audience contained the following comment:"Our Constitution separates church and state. We know that separation is a source of our system's strength, but the conscience of our nation does not call for separation between men of state and faith in the Supreme Being.
Johnson does not appear to have included this text in his speech at the 16th Presidential Prayer Breakfast, nor does he appear to have gone to the 1968 Illinois AFL/CIO convention. Is this an odd paraphrase of the comments from four years earlier? Did Johnson speak the above in another venue that was also quoted in the Illinois AFL/CIO Convention proceedings? Is this paraphrase actually what he said in 1964, regardless of the written record of his comments?
While that shorter quote, or further paraphrases of it, are easy to find in quotation collections online, I can find no citation associated with it.
Do you hear the people sing
Lost in the valley of the night?
It is the music of a people
Who are climbing to the light.
For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies;
Even the darkest night will end,
And the sun will rise.They will live again in freedom
In the garden of the Lord.
They will walk behind the plough-share,
They will put away the sword,
The chain will be broken
And all men will have their reward!Alain Boublil (b. 1941) French musical theatre lyricist and librettist
Les Misérables, “Epilogue (Finale)” [music by Claude-Michel Schönberg] (1980) [tr. Herbert Kretzmer (1985)]
Agnosticism, in fact, is not a creed, but a method, the essence of which lies in the rigorous application of a single principle. That principle is of great antiquity; it is as old as Socrates; as old as the writer who said, “Try all things, hold fast by that which is good”; it is the foundation of the Reformation, which simply illustrated the axiom that every man should be able to give a reason for the faith that is in him, it is the great principle of Descartes; it is the fundamental axiom of modern science. Positively the principle may be expressed: In matters of the intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration. And negatively: In matters of the intellect, do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable. That I take to be the agnostic faith, which if a man keep whole and undefiled, he shall not be ashamed to look the universe in the face, whatever the future may have in store for him.
T. H. Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [Thomas Henry Huxley]
“Agnosticism” (1889)
The dignity of truth is lost
With much protesting.Ben Jonson (1572-1637) English playwright and poet
Catiline: His Conspiracy, Act 3, sc. 2 (1611)
Fundamentally, our opponents who say they are for prosperity differ from us in wishing to see the prosperity come to the big man first and then drip down through to the little man. Now, I am just as anxious to see the big man prosper as they are, but I do not believe he can prosper in any really enduring manner unless under conditions which ensure to the small men their fair chance.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Progressive Principles, ch. 2 “A Charter of Business Prosperity” (1913)
(Source)
Quite often, people who mean well will inquire of me whether I ever ask myself, in the face of my diseases, “Why me?” I never do. If I ask “Why me?” as I am assaulted by heart disease and AIDS, I must ask “Why me?” about my blessings, and question my right to enjoy them. The morning after I won Wimbledon in 1975 I should have asked “Why me?” and doubted that I deserved the victory. If I don’t ask “Why me?” after my victories, I cannot ask “Why me?” after my setbacks and disasters.
Arthur Ashe (1943-1993) American athlete
Days of Grace, ch. 10 (1993)
Often paraphrased (or used elsewhere by Ashe) as "If I were to say 'God, why me?' about the bad things, then I should have said 'God, why me?' about the good things that happened in my life."
I do not waste my time in answering abuse; I thrive under it like a field that benefits by the manure that is carted onto it.
Henry Du Pré Labouchère (1831-1912) English politician, writer, publisher
(Attributed)
In Algar Labouchere Thorold, The Life of Henry Labouchere (1913).
Bring me my Bow of burning gold,
Bring me my Arrows of desire,
Bring me my Spear — O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!William Blake (1757-1827) English poet, mystic, artist
Milton: A Poem, preface, st. 3 (1804-08)
Munny will buy a pretty good dog, but it wont buy the wag ov hiz tale.
[Money will buy a pretty good dog, but it won’t buy the wag of his tail.]Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Trump Kards (1874)
(Source)
There is no question in my mind that it is time for the country to become fairly radical for a generation. History shows that where this occurs occasionally, nations are saved from revolution.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933-1945)
Letter to John A. Kingsbury (May 1930)
The God whom I adore is not the God of darkness, he has not given me understanding in order to forbid me to use it; to tell me to submit my reason
is to insult the giver of reason.Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
Emile, ch. 4 “The Creed of a Savoyard Priest” (1762) [tr. Foxley (1911)]
(Source)
It is commonly observed, that when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each other, what each must already know, that it is hot or cold, bright or cloudy, windy or calm.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Idler, #11 (24 Jun 1758)
(Source)
Look, whatever thoughts you have about God, who He is or if He exists, most will agree that if there is a God, He has a special place for the poor. In fact, the poor are where God lives. Check Judaism. Check Islam. Check pretty much anyone. I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill — I hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuff — maybe, maybe not. But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor.
Bono (b. 1960) Irish musician, philanthropist [b. Paul David Hewson]
Speech, National Prayer Breakfast (2 Feb 2006)
(Source)
Out of sight, out of mind.
Desiderius Erasmus (1465-1536) Dutch humanist philosopher and scholar
Adagia (1500)
Man’s inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!
Hence we see good men in all religions, and as many in one as another. It is then a matter of principle with me to avoid disturbing the tranquility of others by the expression of any opinion on the innocent questions on which we schismatize, & think it enough to hold fast to those moral precepts which are of the essence of Christianity, & of all other religions. No where are these to be found in greater purity than in the discourses of the great reformer of religion whom we follow.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to James Fishback [draft] (27 Sep 1809)
(Source)
In the final version of the letter, this passage read:We all agree in the obligation of the moral precepts of Jesus, & no where will they be found delivered in greater purity than in his discourses. it is then a matter of principle with me to avoid disturbing the tranquility of others by the expression of any opinion on the innocent questions on which we schismatise.
Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.
Michael Jordan (b. 1963) American basketball pro
Speech, Hall of Fame induction (12 Sep 2009)
(Source)
Poor men’s reasons are not heard.
(Other Authors and Sources)
German proverb
Ability is of little account without opportunity.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor, military leader
(Attributed)
Quoted in The Homiletic Review (Nov 1895)
Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Journal (18 Oct 1855)
The presidency has made every man who occupied it, no matter how small, bigger than he was; and no matter how big, not big enough for its demands.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Proclamation 3489, “Commemoration of the Beginnings of the Office of the Presidency of the United States” (1964-04-30)
(Source)
On the 175th anniversary of George Washington taking the first oath of office as President.
Do you hear the people sing,
Singing the song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again.
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums,
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes.Alain Boublil (b. 1941) French musical theatre lyricist and librettist
Les Misérables, “Do You Hear the People Sing?” [music by Claude-Michel Schönberg] (1980) [tr. Herbert Kretzmer (1985)]
Our greatest advantage in coping with tribes so powerful is that they do not act in concert. Seldom is it that two or three states meet together to ward off a common danger. Thus, while they fight singly, all are conquered.
Tacitus (c.56-c.120) Roman historian, orator, politician [Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus]
The Life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola
One reason why I don’t drink is because I wish to know when I am having a good time.
Nancy Astor (1879-1964) American socialite and English politician [Nancy Witcher Langhorne; Viscountess Astor; Lady Astor]
(Attributed)
No matter how I probe and prod
I cannot quite believe in God.
But oh! I hope to God that he
Unswervingly believes in me.E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (1896-1981) American lyricist [Edgar Yipsel Harburg, b. Isidore Hochberg]
“The Agnostic” (1965)
Sir, calumnies are answer’d best with silence.
The three great classes of the American community are the farmers, the wage-workers, and the business men, big and little, wholesale and retail. It is essential that all three shall prosper. It is essential that there shall be a more equitable division of prosperity than has been the case in the past. This prosperity can only be lasting if it is based on justice, and it cannot be based on justice unless the small man, the farmer, the mechanic, the wage-worker generally, the clerk on a salary, the small business man, the retail dealer, have their rights guaranteed. If these men have their rights guaranteed, then they will prosper, and the prosperity will extend to the big men.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Progressive Principles, ch. 2 “A Charter of Business Prosperity” (1913)
(Source)
For truly such close communications with tyranny corrupt good constitutions.
Demosthenes (384-322 BC) Greek orator and statesman
Second Philippic, Sec. 21 (344 BC) [tr. Vince (1930)]
(Source)
Alt. trans.: "For those close and intimate alliances with despots are never safe to free states."
It is better a man should be abused than forgotten.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
(Attributed)
Quoted in Hester Lynch Piozzi, The Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson (1786).
Mr. Bettenham said that virtuous men were like some herbs and spices, that give not out their sweet smell till they be broken or crushed.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
Apothegms (1625)
And did those feet in ancient time,
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?William Blake (1757-1827) English poet, mystic, artist
Milton: A Poem, preface, st. 1-2 (1804-08)
Fortune favors the bold.
[Audentis Fortuna iuvat]
Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 10, l. 284 (10.284) [Turnus] (29-19 BC) [tr. West (1990)]
(Source)
The Rutulian prince exhorting his men to meet Aeneas' Trojans on the beach as they land. Not a sentiment invented by Virgil. See also Terence.
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:Fortune assists the bold.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]Fortune befriends the bold.
[tr. Dryden (1697)]Fortune assists the daring.
[tr. Davidson/Buckley (1854)]Fair fortune aids the bold.
[tr. Conington (1866)]Fortune assists the bold.
[tr. Cranch (1872), l. 380]Fortune aids daring.
[tr. Mackail (1885)]For Fortune helpeth them that dare.
[tr. Morris (1900)]Fair Fortune aids the bold.
[tr. Taylor (1907), st. 37, l. 342]Fortune will help the brave.
[tr. Williams (1910)]Fortune aids the daring.
[tr. Fairclough (1918)]And luck helps men who dare.
[tr. Humphries (1951)]Fortune always fights for the bold.
[tr. Day-Lewis (1952)]For fortune
helps those who dare.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1971), ll. 395-96]Fortune
favors men who dare!
[tr. Fitzgerald (1981), ll. 392-93]Fortune favours the brave.
[tr. Kline (2002)]Fortune speeds the bold!
[tr. Fagles (2006), l. 341]
Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare;
At whatever time the deed took place — MACAVITY WASN’T THERE!T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) American-British poet, critic, playwright [Thomas Stearns Eliot]
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, “Macavity: The Mystery Cat” (1939)
Attempts at reform, when they fail, strengthen despotism; as he that struggles tightens those cords he does not succeed in breaking.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: or, Many Things in Few Words, 1.440 (1823)
LEXICOGRAPHER — A writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)
Seeing what religious people, in the name of God, did to my native land — and in this country, seeing God’s second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering indulgences for cash — in fact, all over the world, seeing the self-righteousness roll down like a mighty stream from certain corners of the religious establishment. I must confess, I changed the channel. I wanted my MTV. Even though I was a believer. Perhaps because I was a believer.
Bono (b. 1960) Irish musician, philanthropist [b. Paul David Hewson]
Speech, National Prayer Breakfast (2 Feb 2006)
(Source)
Alienation is a form of living death. It is the acid of despair that dissolves society.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
The Trumpet of Conscience (1967)
‘Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog’s honest bark
Bay deep-mouth’d welcome as we draw near home;
‘Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark
Our coming, and look brighter when we come.
Is it in destroying and pulling down that skill is displayed? The shallowest understanding, the rudest hand, is more than equal to that task.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Anglo-Irish statesman, orator, philosopher
(Attributed)
I can remember a game, we were down with about 5 to 10 points, I go off about 25 points, we come back and win the game, we’re walking off the floor. Tex [Winter] looks at me and says “There’s no ‘I’ in team!” I looked at Tex and say, “There’s not, but there’s an ‘I’ in win!”
The older I get the more I admire and crave competence, just simple competence, in any field from adultery to zoology.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
(Attributed)
Before we proceed further let us get one thing clear. Are we talking about the Indians in India who have multiplied alarmingly under benevolent British rule, or are we talking about the Indians in America who, I understand, are now almost extinct?
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
(Attributed)
When told by Mrs. Ogden Reid of the New York Herald Tribune that "The Indians have suffered years under British oppression."
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us farther than today.Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
“A Psalm of Life”, 3, Voices of the Night (1839)
Down with the debunking biographer. It now seems to be quite a thing to pull down the mighty from their seats and roll them in the mire. This practice deserves pronounced condemnation. Hero worship is a tremendous force in uplifting and strengthening. Humanity, let us have our heroes. Let us continue to believe that some have been truly great; that it lies within human ability to overcome temptations and trials; that it is sublime to suffer and be strong. Petty biographers with inferior souls and jealous hearts would rob us of these happy privileges. Sensationalism is alright for yellow journalism, but in biography we wish to see our famous men and women as they were and feel the power of the strength and beauty of their lives. Down with the debunking biographer.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Editorial, Southwest Texas State Teachers College College Star, San Marcos (1929-07-17)
Quoted, in parts, in William C. Pool, Emmie Craddock, David Eugene Conrad, Lyndon Baines Johnson: The Formative Years, ch. 6 (1965) and Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, ch. 2 (1976).
Drink with me to days gone by,
Sing with me the songs we knew.
Here’s to pretty girls
Who went to our heads,
Here’s to witty girls
Who went to our beds.
Here’s to them,
And here’s to you.Alain Boublil (b. 1941) French musical theatre lyricist and librettist
Les Misérables, “Drink with Me” [music by Claude-Michel Schönberg] (1980) [tr. Herbert Kretzmer (1985)]
You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred.
Woody Allen (b. 1935) American comedian, writer, director [b. Allan Steward Konigsberg]
Interiors (1978)
True happiness
Consists not in the multitude of friends,
But in the worth and choice.Ben Jonson (1572-1637) English playwright and poet
Cynthia’s Revels, Act 3, sc. 2 (1600)
We’re the most captive nation of slaves that ever came along. The moral timidity of the average American is quite noticeable. Everybody’s afraid to be thought in any way different from everyone else.
Gore Vidal (1925-2012) American novelist, dramatist, critic
What I’ve Learned (2008)
I believe in shaping the ends of government to protect property as well as human welfare. Normally, and in the long run, the ends are the same; but whenever the alternative must be faced, I am for men and not for property, as you were in the Civil War. I am far from underestimating the importance of dividends; but I rank dividends below human character.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
“The New Nationalism,” speech, Osawatomie, Kansas (31 Aug 1910)
(Source)