News is a business, but it is also a public trust.
Dan Rather (b. 1931) American broadcast journalist
“From Murrow to Mediocrity?” New York Times (10 Mar 1987)
A mighty lesson we inherit:
Thou art a symbol and a sign
To Mortals of their fate and force;
Like thee, Man is in part divine,
A troubled stream from a pure source.
Machiavelli wrote rules for a short-term success.
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, 18 July 1939 [rec. Lucien Price] (1954)
When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said “Let us pray.” We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land.
Desmond Tutu (1931-2021) South African cleric, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Nobel Laureate
Quoted in Steven Gish, Desmond Tutu: A Biography (2004)
Tutu has used this joke often, though it is not original to him.
Administrivia: Getting Social
I now have Google Plus, Facebook, and Twitter buttons after each quotation in the individual quotation pages, so that you can easily share your favorite quotes with your social circles. Enjoy!
Who makes a timid request invites denial.
Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Hippolytus, l. 590 [tr. Miller (1917)]
Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital producing mutual benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole labor of community exists within that relation.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
State of the Union address (3 Dec 1861)
(Source)
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes the toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul.Bob Dylan (b. 1941) American singer, songwriter
“Masters of War” (song) (1963)
We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it’s there for emergencies but he hopes he’ll never have to use it.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
The Problem of Pain (1940)
There has been a lot of talk lately about the burdens of the Presidency. Decisions that the President has to make often affect the lives of tens of millions of people around the world, but that does not mean that they should take longer to make. Some men can make decisions and some cannot. Some men fret and delay under criticism. I used to have a saying that applies here, and I note that some people have picked it up, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)
Mr. Citizen (1960)
Doubt is to certainty as neurosis is to psychosis. The neurotic is in doubt and has fears about persons and things; the psychotic has convictions and makes claims about them. In short, the neurotic has problems, the psychotic has solutions.
Thomas Szasz (1920-2012) Hungarian-American psychiatrist, educator
“Mental Illness,” The Second Sin (1973)
(Source)
Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series (1841)
At another year
I would not boggle,
Except when I jog
I joggle.Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
“Birthday on the Beach,” You Can’t Get There from Here (1957)
A man’s worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes. So long as a man is struggling with obstacles he has an excuse for failure or shortcoming; but when fortune removes them all and gives him the power of doing as he thinks best, then comes the time of trial. There is but one right, and the possibilities of wrong are infinite.
T. H. Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [Thomas Henry Huxley]
“Address on University Education,” opening ceremonies of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (12 Sep 1876)
(Source)
So the pendulum swings, now violently, now slowly; and every institution not only carries within it the seeds of its own dissolution, but prepares the way for its most hated rival.
William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]
“Democracy and the Future,” The Atlantic Monthly (1922)
Full text.
This unholy marriage of religion and politics has produced a perverted Christianity based not on love but hate, not on charity but persecution. The Far Righters are definitely not practicing religious fundamentalism, as they claim, but are actually practicing a form of paganism. They worship at the idol of “country” and have substituted the gospel of anti-Communism for the gospel of Christ.
Mark Hatfield (1922-2011) American politician (R-Oregon) and educator
Foreword to John Redekop, The American Far Right (1967)
What’s wan man’s news is another man’s throubles.
[What’s one man’s news is another man’s troubles.]
Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936) American humorist and journalist
“The News of a Week,” Observations by Mr. Dooley (1902)
All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.
Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) British sexologist, physician, social reformer [Henry Havelock Ellis]
The Open Court (journal), Vol. 39 [ed. Paul Carus] (1925)
Full text.
Heaven is where those are we love, and those who love us. And I wish to go to no world unless I can be accompanied by those who love me here. Talk about the consolations of this infamous doctrine. The consolations of a doctrine that makes a father say, “I can be happy with my daughter in hell;” that makes a mother say, “I can be happy with my generous, brave boy in hell;” that makes a boy say, “I can enjoy the glory of heaven with the woman who bore me, the woman who would have died for me, in eternal agony.” And they call that tidings of great joy.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
“What Must We Do To Be Saved?” Sec. 9 (1880)
(Source)
There is an eloquence in true enthusiasm that is not to be doubted.
Washington Irving (1783-1859) American author [pseud. for Geoffrey Crayon]
“The Adventure Of The German Student”
Negotiating with men’s vanity gives one the best bargain, for one often receives the most substantial advantages in return for very little of substance.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French writer, diplomat, politician
Recollections, 3.3 (1893) [tr. Lawrence (1964)]
Whatever one’s religion in his private life may be, for the officeholder, nothing takes precedence over his oath to uphold the Constitution and all its parts — including the First Amendment and the separation of church and state.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)
Interview, Look (3 Mar 1959)
Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden!
Fell deeds awake, fire and slaughter!
Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,
A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 3: The Return of the King, Book 5, ch. 5 “The Ride of the Rohirrim” [Theoden] (1955)
(Source)
In the Peter Jackson film, the last line is merged with another Theoden line from ch. 6, as he lies dying: "Death! Ride, ride to ruin, and the world's ending!"
I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
“The Strenuous Life,” speech, Hamilton Club, Chicago (10 Apr 1899)
Full text.
To see ourselves as others see us is a most salutary gift. Hardly less important is the capacity to see others as they see themselves.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
The Doors of Perception (1954)
In whom mercy lacketh … in him all other virtues be drowned.
Thomas Elyot (c. 1490-1546) English diplomat and scholar.
The Boke Named the Gouernour, 3.7 (1531)
Manie things are lost for want of asking.
George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 968 (1640 ed.)
(Source)
Miracles arise from our ignorance of nature, not from nature itself.
[Les miracles sont, selon l’ignorance en quoy nous sommes de la nature, non selon l’estre de la nature.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 23 “On Custom and Not Easily Changing an Accepted Law [De la Coustume et de Ne Changer Aisément une Loy Receüe]” (1588-1592) (1.23) (1595) [tr. Lowenthal (1935)]
(Source)
The original essay is from 1572; this passage was added in the "C" period, prior to Montaigne's death and the final 1595 edition. The Lowenthal translation is from an edited autobiography, drawing from the Essays and other sources.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:Miracles are according to the ignorance wherein we are by nature, and not according to nature's essence.
[tr. Florio (1603), ch. 22]Miracles appear such, according to our ignorance of nature, and not according to the real essence of nature.
[tr. Cotton (1686), ch. 22]Miracles appear to be so, according to our ignorance of nature, and not according to the essence of nature.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877), ch. 22]Miracles exist from our ignorance of nature, not in nature herself.
[tr. Ives (1925)]Miracles arise from our ignorance of nature, not from the essence of nature.
[tr. Frame (1943)]Miraculous wonders depend on our ignorance of Nature, not on the essence of Nature.
[tr. Screech (1987)]
I have always thought that Machiavelli derives his bad name from a too transparent honesty. Less direct minds would have found high-sounding ethical sanctions in which to conceal the real intent. … Machiavelli’s morals are not one bit worse than the practices of the men who rules the world today.
Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) American journalist and author
A Preface to Politics, ch. 7 (1913)
Full text.
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.
Desmond Tutu (1931-2021) South African cleric, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Nobel Laureate
(Attributed)
There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.
Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) Romanian-American novelist, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate.
Nobel Peace Prize Lecture (1986)
Money often costs too much, and power and pleasure are not cheap.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Wealth,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 3 (1860)
(Source)
To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Following the Equator, Preface (1897)
It is by human avarice or human stupidity, not by the churlishness of nature, that we have poverty and overwork.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
The Problem of Pain (1940)
Whenever the press quits abusing me I know I’m in the wrong pew. I don’t mind it because when they throw bricks at me — I’m a pretty good shot myself and I usually throw ’em back at ’em.
Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)
Speech, Washington (22 Feb 1958)
The speech was held at a dinner in his honor. Text quoted in the New York Times (23 Feb 1958)
The world is not divine sport; it is divine destiny. There is divine meaning in the life of the world; of man, of human persons, of you and of me.
Martin Buber (1878-1965) Austrian-born Jewish philosopher
I and Thou, ch. 3 (1923) [tr. Smith (1958)]
For he is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins.
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
Speech, Syracue, New York (24 Sep 1847)
Full text.
The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or perchance a palace or a temple on the earth, and at length the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Journal (14 Jul 1852)
Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.
T. H. Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [Thomas Henry Huxley]
“The Coming Age of ‘The Origin of Species'” (1880)
We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form.
William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]
“The Idea of Progress,” Romanes Lecture (27 May 1920)
(Source)
Come love with me, and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” The Passionate Pilgrim (1599)
To look for meaning in anything is less the act of a naif than of a masochist.
Emile Cioran (1911-1995) Romanian philosopher and essayist [E.M. Cioran]
“Strangled Thoughts” (3), The New Gods (1969) [tr. Howard (1974)]
True love is the joy of life.
John Clarke (d. 1658) British educator
Proverbs: English and Latine [Paroemiologia Anglo-Latina] (1639)
If God made us, he will not destroy us. Infinite wisdom never made a poor investment, Upon all the works of an infinite God, a dividend must finally be declared. Why should God make failures? Why should he waste material? Why should he not correct his mistakes, instead of damning them? The pulpit has cast a shadow over even the cradle. The doctrine of endless punishment has covered the cheeks of this world with tears. I despise it, and I deny it.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
“What Must We Do To Be Saved?” Sec. 1 (1880)
(Source)
How convenient it would be to many of our great men and great families of doubtful origin, could they have the privilege of the heroes of yore, who, whenever their origin was involved in obscurity, modestly announced themselves descended from a god.
Washington Irving (1783-1859) American author [pseud. for Geoffrey Crayon]
Knickerbocker’s History of New York, Book 2, ch. 3 (1809)
How can we profess faith in God’s word and then refuse to let it inspire and direct our thinking, our activity, our decisions, and our responsibilities toward one another?
Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) Polish-born Catholic Pontiff (1978-2005) [b. Karol Józef Wojtyła]
Homily, Camden Yards, Baltimore (8 Oct 1995)
When streams of unkindness, as bitter as gall,
Bubble up from the heart to the tongue,
And Meekness is writhing in torment and thrall,
By the hands of Ingratitude wrung, —
In the heat of injustice, unwept and unfair,
While the anguish is festering yet,
None, none but an angel or God can declare
“I now can forgive and forget.”Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889) English poet
“Forgive and Forget,” l. 1-8, Ballads for the Times (1851)
The “establishment of religion” clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. No person can be punished for entertaining or professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church attendance or non-attendance. No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion. Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect “a wall of separation between Church and State.”
We have heard tell that Legolas took Gimli Glóin’s son with him because of their great friendship, greater than any that has been between Elf and Dwarf. If this is true, then it is strange indeed: that a Dwarf should be willing to leave Middle-earth for any love, or that the Eldar should receive him, or that the Lords of the West should permit it. But it is said that Gimli went also out of desire to see again the beauty of Galadriel; and it may be that she, being mighty among the Eldar, obtained this grace for him. More cannot be said of this matter.
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 3: The Return of the King, Appendix A “Annals of the Kings and Rulers” (1955)
(Source)
The old idea that words possess magical powers is false; but its falsity is the distortion of a very important truth. Words do have a magical effect — but not in the way that magicians supposed, and not on the objects they were trying to influence. Words are magical in the way they affect the minds of those who use them. “A mere matter of words,” we say contemptuously, forgetting that words have power to mould men’s thinking, to canalize their feeling, to direct their willing and acting. Conduct and character are largely determined by the nature of the words we currently use to discuss ourselves and the world around us.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Words and Their Meanings (1940)
Those very characteristics which are demanded by war — the ability to tolerate uncertainty, spontaneity of thought and action, having a mind open to the receipt of novel, and perhaps threatening, information — are the antitheses of those possessed by people attracted to the controls, and orderliness, of militarism.
Norman F. Dixon (1922-2013) British cognitive psychologist, author, military engineer
On the Psychology of Military Incompetence, ch. 17 (1976)
It always matters to name rubbish as rubbish; … to do otherwise is to legitimize it.
Salman Rushdie (b. 1947) Indian novelist
“Outside the Whale,” Imaginary Homelands (1991)
Most of the miracles we hear of are infinitely less wonderful than the commonest of natural phenomena, when fairly seen.
John Muir (1838-1914) Scottish-American naturalist
My First Summer in the Sierra, ch. 7 “A Strange Experience,” 4 Aug 1869 (1911)
[Machiavelli] has a worse name and more disciples than any political thinker who ever lived.
Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) American journalist and author
Public Opinion, 17.2 (1922)
This family has no outsiders. Everyone is an insider. When Jesus said, “I, if I am lifted up, will draw …” Did he say, “I will draw some”? “I will draw some, and tough luck for the others”? He said, “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all.” All! All! All! — Black, white, yellow; rich, poor; clever, not so clever; beautiful, not so beautiful. All! All! It is radical. All! Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Bush — all! All! All are to be held in this incredible embrace. Gay, lesbian, so-called “straight;” all! All! All are to be held in the incredible embrace of the love that won’t let us go.
Desmond Tutu (1931-2021) South African cleric, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Nobel Laureate
“And God Smiles,” Sermon, All Saints Church, Pasadena, California (6 Nov 2005)
The Bible passage referenced is John 12:32.
One man with courage makes a majority.
Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) American politician, general, US President (1829-1837)
(Attributed)
Frequently attributed to Jackson (by everyone from Bobby Kennedy to Ronald Reagan), but it has never been found in Jackson's writings, and there is no record from the time of his having said it.
Let us make distinctions, call things by the right names.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Journal (28 Nov 1860)
There is one thing worse than an absolutely loveless marriage: a marriage in which there is love, but on one side only.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
An Ideal Husband, Act 4 (1895)
The only thing I learned out of the whole MacArthur deal is that when you feel there’s something you have to do and you know in your gut you have to do it, the sooner you get it over with, the better off everybody is.
Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)
In Merle Miller, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman (1974)
Far right crusaders would deny that a man is Christian if he does not share their political beliefs. Their “either/or” philosphy extends into the realm of religion, and they counsel that you can accept either the welfare state or Christ — but not both. Far Righters often equate Communism with the devil and America with God. And God, to the Far Righters, is a personification of a white, Protestant, anti-Communist American. They have turned the scriptural tables and created God in their image.
Mark Hatfield (1922-2011) American politician (R-Oregon) and educator
Foreword to John Redekop, The American Far Right (1967)
Beyond all mystery is the mercy of God.
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
God in Search of Man, ch. 16 (1955)
Middle age is when you stop criticizing the older generation and start criticizing the younger one.
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s Quotations (1977)
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; 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 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.
T. H. Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [Thomas Henry Huxley]
“Agnosticism,” The Nineteenth Century (Jun 1889)
Full essay.
A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by a common hatred of its neighbours.
William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]
The End of an Age: And Other Essays (1948)
There is perhaps no phenomenon which contains so much destructive feeling as “moral indignation,” which permits envy or hate to be acted out under the guise of virtue. The “indignant” person has for once the satisfaction of despising and treating a creature as “inferior,” coupled with the feeling of his own superiority and rightness.
Erich Fromm (1900-1980) American psychoanalyst and social philosopher
Man for Himself, 4.5.C (1947)
I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen 200 limping, exhausted men come out of line — the survivors of a regiment of 1,000 that went forward 48 hours before. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war. I have passed unnumbered hours, I shall pass unnumbered hours thinking and planning how war may be kept from this nation.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933-1945)
Speech, Chautauqua, New York (1936)
Full text. FDR, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, visited the front lines of WWI in France after American troops were in service.
I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was duty.
I acted and behold, duty was joy.Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
(Attributed)
The question is: Bad as I am, have I the right to think? And I think I have for two reasons: First, I cannot help it. And secondly, I like it.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
“What Must We Do To Be Saved?” Sec. 1 (1880)
(Source)
Whenever a man’s friends begin to compliment him about looking young, he may be sure that they think he is growing old.
Washington Irving (1783-1859) American author [pseud. for Geoffrey Crayon]
Bracebridge Hall, “Bachelors” (1822)
Sometimes attributed to Mark Twain.
The sweetest Musick is the Sound of her Voice whom we love.
[L’harmonie la plus douce est le son de voix de celle que l’on aime.]
Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 3 “Of Women [Des Femmes],” § 10 (3.10) (1688) [Bullord ed. (1696)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:The sweetest Musick, the Sound of her Voice whom we love.
[Curll ed. (1713)]The sweetest Musick the Voice of her whom we love.
[Browne ed. (1752)]The sweetest music is the sound of the voice of the woman we love.
[tr. Van Laun (1885)]The sweetest music is the sound of the voice of her whom we love.
[tr. Lee (1903)]No harmony is sweeter than the sound of a loved one's voice.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]
CAESAR: To the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honor and peace, until the gods are tired of blood and create a race that can understand.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Caesar and Cleopatra, Act 4 (1899)
Let us all labor to add all needful guarantees for the more perfect security of free thought, free speech, and free press, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments, and of equal rights and privileges to all men, irrespective of nationality, color, or religion. Encourage free schools, and resolve that not one dollar of money shall be appropriated to the support of any sectarian school. Resolve that neither the state nor nation, or both combined, shall support institutions of learning other than those sufficient to afford every child growing up in the land the opportunity of a good common school education, unmixed with sectarian, Pagan, or Atheistical tenets. Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private schools, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the Church and the State forever Separate.
Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) American military leader, US President (1869-77)
Address to the Army of the Tennessee, Des Moines, Iowa (25 Sep 1875)
There is no real going back. Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall not be the same. I am wounded with knife, sting, and tooth, and a long burden. Where shall I find rest?
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 3: The Return of the King, Book 6, ch. 7 “Homeward Bound” [Frodo] (1955)
(Source)
People still went on talking about truth and beauty as though they were sovereign goods. Right up to the time of the Nine Years’ War. That made them change their tune all right. What’s the point of truth or beauty or knowledge when the anthrax bombs are popping all around you? That was when science first began to be controlled — after the Nine Years’ War. People were ready to have even their appetites controlled then. Anything for a quiet life. We’ve gone on controlling ever since. It hasn’t been very good for truth, of course. But it’s been very good for happiness. One can’t have something for nothing. Happiness has got to be paid for.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Brave New World, ch. 16 [Mustapha Mond] (1932)
Music, the greatest good that mortals know,
And all of heaven we have below.Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
“A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day,” l. 27 (1694)
Now, a cautious mountaineer seldom takes a step on unknown ground which seems at all dangerous that he cannot retrace in case he should be stoppd by unseen obstacles ahead. This is the rule of mountaineers who live long.
John Muir (1838-1914) Scottish-American naturalist
Stickeen (1897)
Miracles, in the sense of phenomena we cannot explain, surround us on every hand: life itself is the miracle of miracles.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Androcles and the Lion, Preface, “Credibility of the Gospels” (1912)
Men must be either caressed or annihilated; they will revenge themselves for small injuries, but cannot do so for great ones; the injury therefore that we do to a man must be such that we need not fear his vengeance.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian politician, philosopher, political scientist
The Prince, ch. 3 (1513) [tr. Ricci (1903)]
A person is a person because he recognizes others as persons.
Desmond Tutu (1931-2021) South African cleric, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Nobel Laureate
Address, On Installation as Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town (7 Sep 1986)
A Man that should call everything by its right Name, would hardly pass the Streets without being knock’d down as a common Enemy.
George Savile, Marquis of Halifax (1633-1695) English politician and essayist
“Of Caution and Suspicion,” Political, Moral and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections (1750)
(Source)
There never was a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him asleep.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1837-09-30)
A good marriage is that in which each appoints the other the guardian of his solitude.
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1963) German poet
Letter to Paula Modersohn Becker (12 Feb 1902) [tr. Greene & Norton (1945)]
The dangers of apparent self-sufficiency explain why Our Lord regards the vices of the feckless and dissipated so much more leniently than the vices that lead to worldly success.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
The Problem of Pain (1940)
I fired him because he wouldn’t respect the authority of the president. That’s the answer to that. I didn’t fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that’s not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail.
Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)
In Merle Miller, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman (1974)
On removing General Douglas MacArthur from command on April 11, 1951.
Love Laughs at Locksmiths
George Colman (1762-1836) English dramatist, writer [a.k.a. George Colman the Younger]
Opera title (1806)
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Steve Jobs (1955-2011) American computer inventor, entrepreneur
Speech (2005-06-12), Commencement Address, Stanford University
(Source)
The years between 50 and 70 are the hardest. … You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down.
T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) American-British poet, critic, playwright [Thomas Stearns Eliot]
“People,” Time (23 Oct 1950)
The row was over Darwinism, but before it ended Darwinism was almost forgotten. What Huxley fought for was something far greater: the right of civilized men to think freely and speak freely, without asking leave of authority, clerical or lay. How new that right is! And yet how firmly held! Today it would be hard to imagine living without it. No man of self-respect, when he has a thought to utter, pauses to wonder what the bishops will have to say about it. The views of bishops are simply ignored. Yet only sixty years ago they were still so powerful that they gave Huxley the battle of his life.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
“Thomas Henry Huxley,” Baltimore Evening Sun (4 May 1925)
It is becoming impossible for those who mix at all with their fellow-men to believe that the grace of God is distributed denominationally.
William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]
“Our Present Discontents,” Outspoken Essays: First Series (1919)
As soon as you say, “failure is not an option,” you’ve just said, “innovation is not an option.”
Seth Godin (b. 1960) American entrepreneur, author, public speaker
“The Flip Side,” Seth Godin’s Blog (28 Apr 2011)
Full text.
I am not old, — I cannot be old,
Though threescore years and ten
Have wasted away, like a tale that is told,
The lives of other men:
I am not old; though friends and foes
Alike have gone to their graves,
And left me alone to my joys or my woes,
As a rock in the midst of the waves.Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889) English poet
“The Song of Seventy,” A Thousand Lines (1846)
MACBETH: To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 5, sc. 5, l. 22ff (5.5.22-31) (1606)
(Source)
I have long been convinced that the idea of liberty is abhorrent to most human beings. What they want is security, not freedom. Thus it seldom causes any public indignation when an enterprising tyrant claps down on one of his enemies. To most men it seems a natural proceeding.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
Letter to Edgar R. Dawson (3 Dec 1937)
Enjoy and give pleasure, without doing harm to yourself or to anyone else — that, I think, is the whole of morality.
Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Maxims and Thoughts, 5 (1796) [tr. Merwin (1984)]
Who loves me, loves my dog.
[Qui me amat, amat et canem meam.]
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) French religious, Doctor of the Church, saint
Festo Sancti Michaelis, Sermon 1, sec. 3 [tr. Trench (1853)]
Bernard says this is a common proverb.
The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.
Hugo Black (1886-1971) American politician and jurist, US Supreme Court Justice (1937-71)
Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 18 (1947) [majority opinion]
(Source)
I would not take this thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Minas Tirith falling in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory. No, I do not wish for such triumphs, Frodo son of Drogo.
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 wrong-doing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Brave New World, Foreword to 1946 ed. (1932)
I just finished with nine months of treatment for cancer. First they poison you, then they mutilate you, then they burn you. I’ve had more fun. And when it’s over, you’re so glad that you’re grateful to absolutely everyone. And I am. The trouble is, I’m not a better person. I was in great hopes that confronting my own mortality would make me deeper, more thoughtful. Many lovely people sent books on how to find a more spiritual meaning in life. My response was, “Oh, hell, I can’t go on a spiritual journey — I’m constipated.”
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
“Cancer, II” The Progressive (Oct 2000)
In a similar vein, Ivins wrote in "Who Needs Breasts, Anyway?", Time (18 Feb 2002): "Having breast cancer is massive amounts of no fun. First they mutilate you; then they poison you; then they burn you. I have been on blind dates better than that."
All the things of the universe are perfect miracles, each as profound as any.
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) American poet
“Starting from Paumanok” (12) (1860), Leaves of Grass (1855-1892)
One ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one of the two has to be wanting. … And men have less scruple in offending one who makes himself loved than one who makes himself feared; for love is held by a chain of obligation, which men being selfish, is broken whenever it serves their purpose, but fear is maintained by a dread of punishment which never fails.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian politician, philosopher, political scientist
The Prince, ch. 17 (1513) [tr. Ricci (1903)]
(Source)
Alt. trans.: "Is it better to be loved than feared, or the reverse? The answer is that it is desirable to be both, but because it is difficult to join them together, it is much safer for a prince to be feared than loved, if he is to fail in one of the two. ... Men have less hesitation in injuring one who makes himself loved than one who makes himself feared, for love is held by a chain of duty which, since men are bad, they break at every chance for their own profit; but fear is held by a dread of punishment that never fails you." [tr. Gilbert (1958)]
I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.
Desmond Tutu (1931-2021) South African cleric, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Nobel Laureate
Today, NBC TV (9 Jan 1985)
Fanatics fear liberty more than they fear persecution.
Ernest Renan (1823-1892) French philosopher, writer, historian, political theorist
The Hibbert Lectures, preface (1880)
Respect for the freedom of others is the highest duty of man. To love this freedom and to serve it — such is the only virtue. That is the basis of all morality, and there can be no other.
Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876) Russian anarchist, political theorist
The Political Philosophy of Bakunin: Scientific Anarchism, 3.3 [ed. G. P. Maxmoff] (1953)
There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) German religious reformer
Table Talk, #292 (1566) [tr. Hazlitt (1857)]
Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
The Problem of Pain (1940)
Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.
Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)
Special Message to Congress on the Internal Security of the United States (8 Aug 1950)
Full text.
Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.
Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889) English poet
“Of Discretion,” Proverbial Philosophy (1838-1849)
Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together.
Eugène Ionesco (1912-1994) Romanian-French dramatist
(Attributed)
Boys’ll be boys, an’ so’ll a lot o’ middle-aged men.
Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist
Abe Martin: Hoss Sense and Nonsense (1926)
The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land, to add something to the extent and the solidity of our possessions.
T. H. Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [Thomas Henry Huxley]
“On the Reception of the Origin of Species” (1887)
Full text.
The slowest kiss makes too much haste.
Thomas Middleton (1580-1627) English Jacobean playwright and poet
A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, ch. 4 (1607)
Believe me, you will find more lessons in the woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you what you cannot learn from masters.
[Experto crede: aliquid amplius invenies in silvis, quam in libris. Ligna et lapides docebunt te, quod a magistris audire non possis.]
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) French religious, Doctor of the Church, saint
Letter 106, Sec. 2
In Edward Churton, The Early English Church (1841).
What is life but an experiment? and mortality but an exercise? with reference to results beyond.
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) American poet
Leaves of Grass, Preface (1872) (1855-1892)
I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
BBC broadcast, London (1 Oct 1939)
No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
Notes on Journalism, Chicago Tribune (19 Sep 1926)
Popularly, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."
Righteous Indignation: Your own wrath as opposed to the shocking bad temper of others.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
The Roycroft Dictionary (1914)
(Source)
There is a batty degree of triumphalism loose in this country right now. We are brushing off world opinion as though it mattered not a whit what other people think of us.
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
“Blast from the Past,” Creators Syndicate (19 Nov 2002)
Full text.
It is my firm belief that there should be separation of church and state in the United States — that is, that both church and state should be free to operate, without interference from each other in their respective areas of jurisdiction. We live in a liberal, democratic society which embraces wide varieties of belief and disbelief. There is no doubt in my mind that the pluralism which has developed under our Constitution, providing as it does a framework within which diverse opinions can exist side by side and by their interaction enrich the whole, is the most ideal system yet devised by man. I cannot conceive of a set of circumstances which would lead me to a different conclusion.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)
Letter to Glenn L. Archer (23 Feb 1959)
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the master:
His songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster.J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 1: The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 1, ch. 8 “Fog on the Barrow-Downs” (1954)
(Source)
Experience teaches only the teachable ….
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
“Tragedy and the Whole Truth,” Music at Night and Other Essays (1931)
Our youth we can have but to-day,
We may always find time to grow old.George Berkeley (1685-1753) Irish philosopher, Anglican bishop
“Can Love Be Controlled by Advice?”
[Worf with a hangover, groans with his head down on the table.]
GUINAN: Worf? Are you all right?
WORF: Romulan ale should be illegal.
GEORDI: It is.
WORF: Then it should be more illegal.Rick Berman (b. 1945) American screenwriter, producer
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) [with John Logan, Brent Spiner]
For this is also a miracle, not onely to produce effects against, or above Nature, but before Nature; and to create Nature as great a miracle, as to contradict or transcend her. Wee doe too narrowly define the power of God, restraining it to our capacities. I hold that God can doe all things, how he should work contradictions I do not understand, yet dare not therefore deny.
Thomas Browne (1605-1682) English physician and author
Religio Medici, Part 1, sec. 27 (1643)
(Source)
All government is an ugly necessity.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
A Short History of England (1917)
It is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also to be so; but you must have the mind so disposed so that when it is needful to be otherwise you may be able to change to the opposite qualities.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian politician, philosopher, political scientist
The Prince, ch. 18 (1513) [tr. Ricci (1903)]
The combination of some data and an aching desire for an answer does not ensure that a reasonable answer can be extracted from a given body of data.
John Tukey (1915-2000) American mathematician and statistician
“Sunset Salvo,” The American Statistician (Feb 1986)
Full text.
The mind of man can never be wholly barren. Through our whole lives we are subject to successive impressions; for, either new ideas are continually flowing in, or traces of the old ones are marked deeper. If, therefore, you be not acquiring good principles be assured that you are acquiring bad ones; if you be not forming virtuous habits you are, how insensibly soever to yourselves, forming vicious ones …
Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) British theologian, Dissenting clergyman, scientist, political theorist
Institutes of Natural and Revealed Religion, Vol. 1 “The Dedication” (Mar 1772) (1772-74)
You were born together, and together you will be forevermore. …
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) Lebanese-American poet, writer, painter [Gibran Khalil Gibran]
The Prophet, “On Marriage” (1923)
Love is something more stern and splendid than mere kindness.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
The Problem of Pain (1940)
My choice early in life was either to be a piano-player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference.
Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)
(Attributed)
Widely quoted in respectable biographies of Truman, but unsourced. Sometimes paraphrased: "Being a politician is like being a piano player in a whorehouse."
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.
Thomas Pynchon (b. 1937) American novelist
Gravity’s Rainbow (1973)
Our hair
Grows grizzled, and we are not what we were.
Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.
T. H. Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [Thomas Henry Huxley]
Favorite comment
Inscribed on his memorial at Ealing. Quoted in Nature (30 Oct 1902).
Castles in the air — they are so easy to take refuge in. And so easy to build, too.
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) Norwegian poet and playwright
The Master Builder, Act 3 [Hilda] (1892)
Pet peeve time: for the contingent out there who sneer at heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman and Captain America, those icons who still, at their core, represent selfless sacrifice for the greater good, and who justify their contempt by saying, oh, it’s so unrealistic, no one would ever be so noble … grow up. Seriously. Cynicism is not maturity, do not mistake the one for the other. If you truly cannot accept a story where someone does the right thing because it’s the right thing to do, that says far more about who you are than these characters.
Greg Rucka (b. 1969) American comic book writer and novelist
Ineffable Aether (blog), “Light in the Dark” (24 Aug 2011)
Full text.
Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.
H.G. Wells (1866-1946) British writer [Herbert George Wells]
The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman, 9.2 (1914)
Our life seems like a trial run.
Jules Renard (1864-1910) French writer
Journal (Jul 1899) [tr. Bogan and Roget (1964)]
I think a curse should rest on me — because I love this war. I know it’s smashing and shattering the lives of thousands every moment — and yet — I can’t help it — I enjoy every second of it.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
Letter (1916)
Every step in human progress, from the first feeble stirrings in the abyss of time, has been opposed by the great majority of men. Every valuable thing that has been added to the store of man’s possessions has been derided by them when it was new, and destroyed by them when they had the power. They have fought every new truth ever heard of, and they have killed every truth-seeker who got into their hands.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
“Homo Neanderthalensis,” Baltimore Evening Sun (29 Jun 1925)
Full text.
All the works of Nature are Miracles, and nothing makes them appear otherwise but our Familiarity with them.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
Prose Observations. “Nature” [ed. de Quehen (1979)]
It is not said that evil arts were ever practised in Gondor, or that the Nameless One was ever named in honour there; and the old wisdom and beauty brought out of the West remained long in the realm of the sons of Elendil the Fair, and they linger there still. Yet even so it was Gondor that brought about its own decay, falling by degrees into dotage, and thinking that the Enemy was asleep, who was only banished not destroyed. Death was ever present, because the Númenoreans still, as they had in their Old Kingdom, and so lost it, hungered after endless life unchanging. Kings made tombs more splendid than houses of the living and counted old names in the rolls of their descent dearer than the names of sons. Childless lords sat in aged halls musing on heraldry; in secret chambers withered men compounded strong elixirs, or in high cold towers asked questions of the stars. And the last king of the line of Anárion had no heir.
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 2: The Two Towers, Book 4, ch. 5 “The Window on the West” [Faramir] (1954)
(Source)
I met, not long ago, a young man who aspired to become a novelist. Knowing that I was in the profession, he asked me to tell him how he should set to work to realize his ambition. I did my best to explain. “The first thing,” I said, “is to buy quite a lot of paper, a bottle of ink, and a pen. After that you merely have to write.”
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
“Sermons in Cats,” Music at Night and Other Essays (1931)
(Source)
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series (1841)
Certain it is, that there is no kind of affection so pure and angelic as that of a father to a daughter. he beholds her, both wise and without regard to her sex. In love to our wives there is desire, to our sons there is ambition; but in that to our daughters, there is something which there are no words to describe.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
The Spectator #449 (5 Aug 1712)
(Source)
We hand folks over to God’s mercy, and show none ourselves.
George Eliot (1819-1880) English novelist [pseud. of Mary Ann Evans]
Adam Bede, ch. 42 (1859)
The whole truth is generally the ally of virtue; a half-truth is always the ally of some vice.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
Illustrated London News (11 Jun 2010)
Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasion for it.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian politician, philosopher, political scientist
The Discourses on Livy, Book 1, Introduction (1517) [tr. Detmold (1882)]
Alt. trans.: "It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope." [Discourse upon the First Ten Books of Livy, Book 1, ch. 3 (1513-18) [tr. Gilbert]]
We all make mistakes — but they must never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principle.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933-1945)
Fourth Inaugural Address (20 Jan 1945)
The principle of the mind does not differ from that of the body, which cannot be sustained without constant nourishment.
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747) French moralist, essayist, soldier
Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes], #194 (1746) [tr. Stevens (1940)]
The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Mark Twain’s Speeches, Introduction [ed W.D. Howells (1923 ed.)]
What is there in the vale of life
Half so delightful as a wife,
When friendship, love, and peace combine
To stamp the marriage bond divine?William Cowper (1731-1800) English poet
“Love Abused,” letter to Mary Unwin (27 Jul 1780)
‘You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve,’ said Aslan. ‘And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor in earth.’
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
Prince Caspian (1951)
I don’t believe in anti-anything. A man has to have a program; you have to be for something, otherwise you will never get anywhere.
Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)
Lecture, Columbia University (28 Apr 1959)
Moderation is a virtue only in those who are thought to have a choice.
Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
White House Years, ch. 7 (1979)
“It’s always best on these occasions to do what the mob do.”
“But suppose there are two mobs?” suggested Mr. Snodgrass.
“Shout with the largest,” replied Mr. Pickwick.Charles Dickens (1812-1870) English writer and social critic
Pickwick Papers, ch. 13 (1837)
I am forty years old now, and forty years, after all, is a whole lifetime; after all, that is extremely old age. To live longer than forty years is bad manners; it is vulgar, immoral.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) Russian novelist
Notes from Underground, 1.1 (1864) [tr. Matlaw (1960)]
Science seems to me to teach in the highest and strongest manner the great truth which is embodied in the Christian conception of entire surrender to the will of God. Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses nature leads, or you shall learn nothing. I have only begun to learn content and peace of mind since I have resolved at all risks to do this.
T. H. Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [Thomas Henry Huxley]
Letter to Charles Kingsley (23 Sep 1860)
Full text.
Oh courage … oh yes! If only one had that … Then life might be livable, in spite of everything.
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) Norwegian poet and playwright
Hedda Gabler, Act 2 [Hedda] (1890)
It is a man’s own fault, it is from want of use, if his mind grows torpid in old age.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (9 Apr 1778)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
“The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions,” Address to Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield (27 Jan 1838)
Life is a score we play at sight, not merely before we have divined the intentions of the composer, but even before we have mastered our own instruments; even worse, a large part of the score has been only roughly indicated, and we must improvise the music for our particular instrument, over long passages. On these terms the whole operation seems one of endless difficulty and frustration; and indeed, were it not for the fact that some of the passages have been played so often by our predecessors that, when we come to them, we seem to recall some of the score and can anticipate the natural sequence of the notes, we might often give up in sheer despair. The wonder is not that so much cacophony appears in our actual individual lives, but that there is any appearance of harmony and progression.
Lewis Mumford (1895-1990) American writer, philosopher, historian, architect
The Conduct of Life, 9.5 (1951)
The Fathers who invented it [democracy], if they could return from Hell, would never recognize it. It was conceived as a free government of free men; it has become simply a battle of charlatans for the votes of idiots.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
Baltimore Evening Sun (26 Apr 1937)
I do think unpunctuality is a vile habit, and all my life I have tried to break myself of it.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
My Early Life: A Roving Commission, ch. 7 “Hounslow” (1930)
It is simply untrue that all our institutions are evil, … that all politicians are mere opportunists, that all aspects of university life are corrupt. Having discovered an illness, it’s not terribly useful to prescribe death as a cure.
George McGovern (1922-2012) American historian, author, politician
(Attributed)
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.
But they refused to listen and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears in order not to hear. They made their hearts adamant in order not to hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts.The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Zechariah 7:9-12 [NRSV (2021 ed.)]
(Source)
Alternate translations:Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:
And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts.
[KJV (1611)]Yahweh Sabaoth says this. He said, "Apply the law fairly, and practice kindness and compassion towards one another. Do not oppress the widow and the orphan, the settler and the poor man, and do not secretly plan evil against one another." But they would not pay attention; they turned a petulant shoulder; they stopped their ears rather than hear; they made their hearts adamant rather than listen to the teaching and the words that Yahweh Sabaoth had sent by his spirit through the prophets in the past. This aroused great anger on the part of of Yahweh Sabaoth overtook them.
[JB (1966)]“Long ago I gave these commands to my people: ‘You must see that justice is done, and must show kindness and mercy to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners who live among you, or anyone else in need. And do not plan ways of harming one another.’
“But my people stubbornly refused to listen. They closed their minds and made their hearts as hard as rock. Because they would not listen to the teaching which I sent through the prophets who lived long ago, I became very angry."
[GNT (1976)]'Yahweh Sabaoth says this. He said, "Apply the law fairly, and show faithful love and compassion towards one another.
Do not oppress the widow and the orphan, the foreigner and the poor, and do not secretly plan evil against one another."
But they would not listen; they turned a rebellious shoulder; they stopped their ears rather than hear;
they made their hearts adamant rather than listen to the teaching and the words that Yahweh Sabaoth had sent -- by his spirit -- through the prophets in the past; and consequently the fury of Yahweh Sabaoth overtook them.
[NJB (1985)]The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:
Make just and faithful decisions; show kindness and compassion to each other! Don’t oppress the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor; don’t plan evil against each other! But they refused to pay attention. They turned a cold shoulder and stopped listening.
They steeled their hearts against hearing the Instruction and the words that the Lord of heavenly forces sent by his spirit through the earlier prophets. As a result, the Lord of heavenly forces became enraged.
[CEB (2011)]Thus said GOD of Hosts: Execute true justice; deal loyally and compassionately with one another.
Do not defraud the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor; and do not plot evil against one another. --
But they refused to pay heed. They presented a balky back and turned a deaf ear.
They hardened their hearts like adamant against heeding the instruction and admonition that GOD of Hosts sent to them by divine spirit through the earlier prophets; and a terrible wrath issued from GOD of Hosts.
[RJPS (2023 ed.)]
Learning is like rowing upstream; not to advance is to drop back.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Chinese proverb
“The counsel of Gandalf was not founded on foreknowledge of safety, for himself or for others,” said Aragorn. “There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark.”
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 2: The Two Towers, Book 3, ch. 2 “The Riders of Rohan” (1954)
(Source)
After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
“The Rest is Silence,” Music at Night and Other Essays (1931)
(Source)
Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Spurious)
Found in various humorous sources (with or without Einstein's name) dating back to the 1920s. More info here.
Let us all be brave enough to die the death of a martyr, but let no one lust for martyrdom.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian philosopher and nationalist [Mahatma Gandhi]
In Young India (13 Jan 1927)
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Matthew 5:7 (KJV)
It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
The Cleveland Press (1 Mar 1921)
When the act accuses him, the result should excuse him.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian politician, philosopher, political scientist
The Discourses on Livy, Book 1, ch. 19 (1517) [tr. Detmold (1882)]
Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive. With them, we can make a joint effort to solve the problems of the whole humankind.
The Dalai Lama (b. 1935) Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader [The 14th Dalai Lama; a/k/a Lhama Thondup / Lhama Dhondrub; b. Tenzin Gyatso]
(Attributed)
“I did this,” says my Memory. “I cannot have done this,” says my Pride, and remains inexorable. In the end — Memory yields.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
Beyond Good and Evil [Jenseits von Gut und Böse], No. 68 (1886)
Frequently quoted by Freud.
The dread of loneliness is greater than the fear of bondage, so we get married.
Cyril Connolly (1903-1974) English intellectual, literary critic and writer.
The Unquiet Grave, “Ecce Gubernator” (1945)
People blush at praise — not only praise of their bodies, but praise of anything that is theirs.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
A Preface to “Paradise Lost” (1942)
Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.
Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)
Lecture at Columbia University (28 April 1959)
I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.
Emo Philips (b. 1956) American actor, stand-up comedian, writer, producer [b. Phil Soltanec]
(Attributed)
The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it to a nationwide communications network. We’re just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people –– as remarkable as the telephone.
Having stripped myself of all illusions, I have gone mad.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
My Sister and I, 5.12 [tr. Levi (1951)]
Written in an asylum.
We have not the slightest objection to believe anything you like, if you will give us good grounds for belief; but, if you cannot, we must respectfully refuse, even if that refusal should wreck morality and insure our own damnation several times over. We are quite content to leave that to the decision of the future. The course of the past has impressed us with the firm conviction that no good ever comes of falsehood, and we feel warranted in refusing even to experiment in that direction.
T. H. Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [Thomas Henry Huxley]
“Agnosticism and Christianity” (1899)
Full text.
Many a man can save himself if he admits he’s done wrong and takes his punishment.
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) Norwegian poet and playwright
A Doll’s House, Act 1 [Torvald Helmer] (1879)
You don’t pay back your parents. You can’t. The debt you owe them gets collected by your children, who hand it down in turn. It’s a sort of entailment. Or if you don’t have children of the body, it’s left as a debt to your common humanity. Or to your God, if you possess or are possessed by one.
Lois McMaster Bujold (b. 1949) American author
A Civil Campaign (1999)
If all the good people were clever;
And all clever people were good,
The world would be nicer than ever
We thought that it possibly could.But somehow ’tis seldom or never
The two hit it off as they should,
The good are so harsh to the clever,
The clever, so rude to the good!Elizabeth Wordsworth (1840–1932) English poet, novelist, author
“Good and Clever,” st. 1-2 (1890)
(Source)
Life’s a tough proposition, and the first hundred years are the hardest.
Wilson Mizner (1876-1933) American screenwriter and wit
(Attributed)
In Alva Johnston, The Legendary Mizners, ch. 4 (1953)
I have taken more good from alcohol than alcohol has taken from me.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
(Attributed)
Democracy is the theory that intelligence is dangerous. It assumes that no idea can be safe until those who can’t understand it have approved it. It defines truth as anything which at least fifty-one men in every hundred believe. Thus it is firmly committed to the doctrines that one bath a week is enough, that “I seen” is the past tense of “I see,” and that Friday is an unlucky day.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
“Pertinent and Impertinent,” Smart Set (Jun 1913) [as Owen Hatteras]
(Source)
HENRY HIGGINS: The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Pygmalion, Act 5 (1912)
Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make famous.
Joyce Carol Oates (b. 1938) American author
“Down the Road,” New Yorker (27 Mar 1985)
See Euripides.
Men are either learned or learning: the rest are blockheads.
Muhammad (570-632) Arabian merchant, prophet, founder of Islam [Mohammed]
(Attributed)
Quoted in Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journal (1845), at the opening of the Concord Free Library (CPL 11.504 13)
Many folk like to know beforehand what is to be set on the table; but those who have laboured to prepare the feast like to keep their secret; for wonder makes the words of praise louder.
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 3: The Return of the King, Book 6, ch. 4 “The Steward and the King” [Gandalf] (1955)
(Source)
It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one’s life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than “Try to be a little kinder.”
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
(Attributed)
Widely quoted but without a good citation. Variant: "It is a little embarrassing that, after 45 years of research and study, the best advice I can give to people is to be a little kinder to each other." This version was quoted by his wife, Laura Huxley, in the biography This Timeless Moment (1968).
If you ask what these experiences are, they are conversations with the unseen, voices and visions, responses to prayer, changes of heart, deliverances from fear, inflowings of help, assurances of support, whenever certain persons set their own internal attitude in certain appropriate ways.
William James (1842-1910) American psychologist and philosopher
“The Pragmatic Method”, Address, Philosophical Unon of the University of California (26 Aug 1898)
Full text.
PORTIA: The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
’Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The thronèd monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptered sway.
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute to God Himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Merchant of Venice, Act 4, sc. 1, l. 190ff (4.1.190-203) (1597)
(Source)
The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
Illustrated London News (14 Jan 1911)
As against the “invisible hand” of Adam Smith, there has to be a visible hand of politicians whose objective is to have the kind of society that is caring and humane.
Pierre Trudeau (1919–2000) Canadian politician
Memoirs, Part 3 “1974-1979, Victory And Defeat” (1993)
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Sermon, Ebenezer Baptist Church (4 Feb 1968)
Full text. Adaptation by King of the 1952 homily "Drum-Major Instincts" by J. Wallace Hamilton.Paraphrased on the MLK memorial in Washington, DC, as, "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness"; the inscription was later removed.
