When a nation’s young men are conservative, its funeral bell is already rung.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American clergyman and orator
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit (1887)
American Beer is a lot like making love on a canoe — it’s fucking close to water.
Eric Idle (b. 1943) British actor, musician, writer, comedian
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)
Child! Do not throw this book about;
Refrain from the unholy pleasure
Of cutting all the pictures out!
Preserve it as your chiefest treasure.Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) Franco-British writer, historian [Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc]
The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts, Dedication (1896)
Nothing has more retarded the advancement of learning than the disposition of vulgar minds to ridicule and vilify what they cannot comprehend.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #117 (30 Apr 1751)
(Source)
Presented as a letter from "Hypertatus"
Curse him, root and branch! Many of those trees were my friends, creatures I had known from nut and acorn; many had voices of their own that are lost for ever now. And there are wastes of stump and bramble where once there were singing groves. I have been idle. I have let things slip. It must stop!
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. 4 “Treebeard” [Treebeard] (1954)
(Source)
So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly rise and make them miserable.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Ends and Means (1937)
The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
“The Times Newspaper,” Political Essays (1819)
[T]imid men […] prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to Philip Mazzei (24 Apr 1796)
(Source)
Liberty not only means that the individual as both the opportunity and the burden of choice; it also means that he must bear the consequences of his actions. … Liberty and responsibility are inseparable.
Friedrich A. Hayek (1899-1992) Austrian-born economist and philosopher
The Constitution of Liberty, 5.1 (1960)
God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.
Daniel Webster (1782-1852) American statesman, lawyer, orator
Speech (3 Jun 1834)
The good citizen will demand liberty for himself, and as a matter of pride he will see to it that others receive the liberty which he thus claims as his own. Probably the best test of true love of liberty in any country is the way in which minorities are treated in that country.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris
(Source)
A man with a conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.
Leon Festinger (1919-1989) American social psychologist
When Prophecy Fails (1956) [with H Riecken, S. Schachter]
Full text.
What hath God wrought!
The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Numbers 23:23 [KJV (1611)]
(Source)
Used by Samuel Morse as the first telegraph message, to formally open the Baltimore-Washington telegraph line (24 May 1844)
The ability to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
The Conquest of Happiness, ch. 14 (1930)
Human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and can’t really get rid of it.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
The Case for Christianity (1942)
To punish me for my contempt of authority, Fate has made me an authority myself.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
Aphorism for a friend (18 Sep 1930) [Einstein Archive 36-598]
A print addict is a man who reads in elevators. People occasionally look at me curiously when they see me standing there, reading a paragraph or two as the elevator goes up. To me, it’s curious that there are people who do not read in elevators. What can they be thinking about?
Robert Fulford (b. 1932) Canadian journalist, magazine editor, essayist
“The Pastimes of a Print Addict”
Life does not consist mainly — or even largely — of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever blowing through one’s head.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Autobiography, Part 1, sec. 28 “New York, January 10, 1906” (2003)
Full text.
One’s true happiness depends more upon one’s own judgment of one’s self, or a consciousness of rectitude in action and intention, and the approbation of those few, who judge impartially, than upon the applause of the unthinking, undiscerning multitude, who are apt to cry Hosanna today, and tomorrow, Crucify him.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Letter to Mrs. Jane Mecom (1 Mar 1766)
I want to spend the rest of my life with the woman at the end of that table there, but that does not stop me wanting to see several thousand more naked bottoms before I die, because that’s what being a bloke is. When man invented fire, he didn’t say, “Hey, let’s cook.” He said, “Great, now we can see naked bottoms in the dark.” As soon as Caxton invented the printing press, we were using it to make pictures of, hey, naked bottoms! We have turned the Internet into an enormous international database of naked bottoms. So you see, the story of male achievement through the ages, feeble though it may have been, has been the story of our struggle to get a better look at your bottoms.
Steven Moffat (b. 1961) Scottish television writer, producer
Coupling, “Inferno” [Steve] (2 Jun 2000)
There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French writer, diplomat, politician
Democracy in America, Vol. 2, Part 2, ch. 8 (1835-1840) [ed Mayer, tr. Lawrence (1969)]
More people have been brought into the church by the kindness of real Christian love than by all the theological arguments in the world, and more people have been driven rom the church by the hardness and ugliness of so-called Christianity than by all the doubts in the world.
William Barclay (1907-1978) Scottish author, minister, academic
New Testament Words
Society, my dear, is like salt water, good to swim in but hard to swallow.
Arthur Stringer (1874-1950) Canadian-American novelist, screenwriter, poet
The Silver Poppy, ch. 8, epigraph (1903)
(Source)
Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, “Speech at the Somerville Club” (27 Feb 1895) (1912)
I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
(Attributed)
The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game. The cynic puts all human actions into two classes — openly bad and secretly bad.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American clergyman and orator
Lectures to Young Men: On Various Important Subjects, Lecture 4 “Portrait Gallery” (1860
PROSPERO:Me, poor man, my library
Was dukedom large enough.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Tempest, Act 1, sc. 2, l. 130ff (1.2.130-131) (1611)
(Source)
A man’s private thought can never be a lie; what he thinks, is to him the truth, always.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Letter to Louis Pendleton (4 Aug 1888)
Comparison, more than Reality, makes Men happy or wretched.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #1133 (1732)
(Source)
[I]t is the four pillars of the male heterosexual psyche. We like: naked women, stockings, lesbians, and Sean Connery best as James Bond, because that is what being a boy is.
Steven Moffat (b. 1961) Scottish television writer, producer
Coupling, “Inferno” [Steve] (2 Jun 2000)
Every central government worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinity of details.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French writer, diplomat, politician
Democracy in America, Vol. 2, Book 4, ch. 3 (1840)
Good judgment in our dealings with others consists not in seeing through deceptions and evil intentions but in being able to waken the decency dormant in every person.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
The Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 141 (1955)
(Source)
Some men are better served by their bitter-tongued enemies than by their sweet-smiling friends; because the former often tell the truth, the latter, never.
Cato the Younger (95-46 BC) Roman politician, statesman, orator [Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis, Cato Minor]
In Cicero, De amicitia, 34 [tr. Falconer (1923)]
Do you know why I hate the Nazis? I hate them because they frown when they fight. They are grim and sullen. Now, take our magnificent Air Force lads — they grin when they fight. I like a man who grins when he fights.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
Remark to Quentin Reynolds (1941)
Full text.
Never forget what a man says to you when he is angry.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American clergyman and orator
Life Thoughts (1858)
Who is so deafe, or so blynde, as is hee,
That wilfully will nother heare nor see?[Who is so deaf, or so blind, as is he,
That willfully will neither hear nor see?]John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 2, ch. 9 (1546)
(Source)
True Christianity never shields itself behind majorities. Nero, and the other persecuting Roman emperors, were amply supported by majorities; and yet the pure and peaceable religion of Christ in the end triumphed over them all; and it was only when it attempted itself to enforce religion by the arm of authority, that it began to wane. A form of religion that can not live under equal and impartial laws ought to die, and sooner or later must die.
John Welch (1805-1891) American politician, jurist
Board of Education of Cincinnati v. Minor, Ohio Supreme Court (1872)
(Source)
Your library is your portrait.
Holbrook Jackson (1874-1948) English journalist, editor, author
Maxims of Books and Reading, ch. 13 (1934)
Learning makes a Man fit Company for himself.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #3163 (1732)
(Source)
“How shall a man judge what to do in such times?”
“As he ever has judged,” said Aragorn. “Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves, and another among Men. It is a man’s part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house.”
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” [Eomer and Aragorn] (1954)
(Source)
The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
The Olive Tree (1936)
To bereave a man of life, or by violence to confiscate his estate, without accusation or trial, would be so gross and notorious an act of despotism, as must at once convey the alarm of tyranny throughout the whole kingdom. But confinement of the person, by secretly hurrying him to gaol, where his sufferings are unknown or forgotten; is a less public, a less striking, and therefore a more dangerous engine of arbitrary government.
William Blackstone (1723-1780) British jurist, judge, politician
Commentaries on the Laws of England, 132-133 (1765)
A little bit of agitation gives motivation to the soul, and what really makes the species prosper is not peace so much as freedom.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
(Attributed)
Do justice to your brother (you can do that, whether you love him or not), and you will come to love him. But do injustice to him because you don’t love him, and you will come to hate him.
John Ruskin (1819-1900) English art critic, painter, writer, social thinker
The Crown of the Wild Olive, “Work” (1866)
In peace, as a wise man, he should make suitable preparation for war.
[In pace, ut sapiens, aptarit idonea bello.]
Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Satires, Book 2, Satire 2
I can never join Calvin in addressing his god. He was indeed an Atheist, which I can never be; or rather his religion was Dæmonism. If ever man worshipped a false god, he did. the being described in his 5. points is not the God whom you and I acknolege and adore, the Creator and benevolent governor of the world; but a dæmon of malignant spirit. It would be more pardonable to believe in no god at all, than to blaspheme him by the atrocious attributes of Calvin.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to John Adams (11 Apr 1823)
(Source)
The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.
Pierre Corneille (1606-1684) French tragedian
Le Menteur, 1.1 (1642)
Our town worships success, the bitch goddess whose smile hides a taste for blood.
Hedda Hopper (1885-1966) American actress and gossip columnist
The Whole Truth and Nothing But (1963)
On Hollywood. Full text.
All history is only one long story to this effect: men have struggled for power over their fellow-men in order that they might win the joys of earth at the expense of others, and might shift the burdens of life from their own shoulders upon those of others.
William Graham Sumner (1840-1910) American minister, sociologist, anthropologist.
“The Forgotten Man” (1883)
This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed to practise ourselves the kind of behaviour we expect from other people.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
The Case for Christianity (1942)
The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)Quoted in Goldman, Einstein's God (1997)
Precisely because the Lager [camp] was a great machine to reduce us to beasts, we must not become beasts; that even in this place one can survive, and therefore one must want to survive, to tell the story, to bear witness; and that to survive we must force ourselves to save at least the skeleton, the scaffolding, the form of civilization. We are slaves, deprived of every right, exposed to every insult, condemned to certain death, but we still possess one power, and we must defend it with all our strength, for it is the last — the power to refuse our consent.
Primo Levi (1919-1987) Italian Jewish chemist and writer
Survival in Auschwitz, “Initiation” (1958) [tr. Woolf (1961)]
Hollywood is high school with money.
Martin Mull (b. 1943) American actor, comedian
(Attributed)
True Christianity asks no aid from the sword of civil authority. It began without the sword, and wherever it has taken the sword it has perished by the sword. To depend on civil authority for its enforcement is to acknowledge its own weakness, which it can never afford to do. It is able to fight its own battles. Its weapons are moral and spiritual, and not carnal. Armed with these, and these alone, it is not afraid or “ashamed” to be compared with other religions, and to withstand them single-handed.
John Welch (1805-1891) American politician, jurist
Board of Education of Cincinnati v. Minor, Ohio Supreme Court (1872)
(Source)
Few things make us feel finer than havin’ our judgment vindicated.
Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist
Abe Martin: Hoss Sense and Nonsense (1926)
Enough is as good as a feast.
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 2, ch. 11 (1546)
(Source)
The study of the errors into which great minds have fallen in the pursuit of truth can never be uninstructive. … No man is so wise but that he may learn some wisdom from his past errors, either of thought or action, and no society has made such advances as to be capable of no improvement from the retrospect of its past folly and credulity.
Charles Mackay (1814-1889) Scottish poet, journalist, song writer
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841)
[T]he ultimate evil is the weakness, cowardice, that is one of the constituents of so much human nature. When, rarely, unalloyed nobility does occur, its chances of prevailing are slim. Yet it exists, and its mere existence is reason enough for not wiping the name of mankind off the slate.
John Simon (1925-2019) American author and literary, theater, and film critic
“Fugard, Athol,” Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 25 [ed. Jean Stine] (1983)
‘You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!’
She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illumined her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad.
‘I pass the test,’ she said. ‘I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.’
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 2, ch. 7 “The Mirror of Galadriel” [Galadriel] (1954)
(Source)
To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
(Attributed)
In Reader's Digest (1934).
The makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness. They recognized the significance of man’s spiritual nature, of his feelings and of his intellect. They knew that only a part of the pain, pleasure and satisfactions of life are to be found in material things. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone — the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.
Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) American lawyer, activist, Supreme Court Justice (1916-39)
Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928) [Dissent]
(Source)
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
(Spurious)
A common "inspirational" quote, frequently attributed to Twain, but not found in writings. Earliest found is in H. Jackson Brown, P.S. I Love You (1990), attributed to Brown's mother. More info here.
Justice that does not bear a sword beside its scales soon falls into ridicule.
Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) French statesman and soldier
The Army of the Future, 3.2 (1941)
Licinius, trust a seaman’s lore:
Steer not too boldly to the deep,
Nor, fearing storms, by treacherous shore
Too closely creep.
Who makes the golden mean his guide,
Shuns miser’s cabin, foul and dark,
Shuns gilded roofs, where pomp and pride
Are envy’s mark.
[Rectius vives, Licini, neque altum
semper urgendo neque, dum procellas
cautus horrescis, nimium premendo
litus iniquum.
Auream quisquis mediocritatem
diligit, tutus caret obsoleti
sordibus tecti, caret invidenda
sobrius aula.]Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Odes [Carmina], Book 2, # 10, l. 1ff (2.10.1-8) (23 BC) [tr. Conington (1872)]
(Source)
To Licinius Varro Murena, who was later executed as a conspirator against Augustus.
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:The safest way of life, is neither
To tempt the Deeps, nor whilst foul weather
You fearfully avoid, too near
The shore to steer.
He that affects the Golden Mean,
Will neither want a house that's clean,
Nor swell unto the place of showres
His envy'd Towres.
[tr. Fanshaw; ed. Brome (1666)]Wise they, that with a cautious fear
Not always thro the Ocean Steer,
Nor, whilst they think the Winds will roar,
Do thrust too near the rocky Shore:
To those that choose the golden Mean:
The Waves are smooth, the Skies serene;
They want the baseness of the Poors retreat,
And envy'd Houses of the Great.
[tr. Creech (1684)]Receive, dear friend, the truths I teach,
So shalt thou live beyond the reach
Of adverse fortunes pow'r;
Not always tempt the distant deep,
Nor always timorously creep
Along the treach'rous shore.
He that holds fast the golden mean,
And lives contentedly between
The little and the great,
Feels not the wants that pinch the poor,
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door,
Imbitt'ring all his state.
[tr. Cowper (1782?)]O Licinius, you will lead a more correct course of life, by neither always pursuing the main ocean, nor, while you cautiously are in dread of storms, by pressing too much upon the hazardous shore. Whosoever loves the golden mean, is secure from the sordidness of an antiquated cell, and is too prudent to have a palace that might expose him to envy.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]If thou wouldst live secure and free,
Thou wilt not keep far out at sea,
Licinius, evermore;
Nor, fearful of the gales that sweep
The ocean wide, too closely creep
Along the treacherous shore.
The man, who with a soul serene
Doth cultivate the golden mean,
Escapes alike from all
The squalor of a sordid cot,
And from the jealousies begot
By wealth in lordly hall.
[tr. Martin (1864)]Licinius, wouldst thou steer life's wiser voyage,
Neither launch always into deep mid-waters,
Nor hug the shores, and, shrinking from the tempest,
Hazard the quicksand.
He who elects the golden mean of fortune,
Nor where dull squalor rots the time-worn hovel,
Nor where fierce envy storms the new-built palace,
Makes his safe dwelling.
[tr. Bulwer-Lytton (1870)]Neither always tempt the deep,
Nor, Licinius, always keep,
Fearing storms, the slippery beach:
Such the rule of life I teach.
Golden is the middle state;
Love the middle gifts of fate,
Not the sloven squalid cot,
Proud and envied palace not.
[tr. Gladstone (1894)]Better, Licinius, wilt thou live, by neither
Tempting the deep for ever, nor, while tempests
Cautiously shunning, by too closely hugging
Shores that are treach'rous.
He who the golden mean adopts, is ever
Free from the sorrows of a squalid dwelling; --
Free from the cares attending on the envied
Halls of the wealthy.
[tr. Phelps (1897)]Licinius, better wilt thou live by neither urging
Alway out to sea, nor, while on guard 'gainst storms
Thou shudderest, by pressing an evil shore
Too close.
Whoever courts a golden mean is safe
To escape the squalor of a mouldered roof.
And shrewd to escape a paJace that may
Be grudged to him.
[tr. Garnsey (1907)]Safer thou'lt sail life's voyage, if them steer
Neither right out to sea, nor yet, when rise
The threat'ning tempests, hug the shore too near,
Unwisely wise.
What man soe'er the golden mean doth choose,
Prudent will shun the hovel's foul decay;
But with like sense, a palace will refuse
And vain display.
[tr. Marshall (1908)]Better wilt thou live, Licinius, by neither always pressing out to sea nor too closely hugging the dangerous shore in cautious fear of storms. Whoso cherishes the golden mean, safely avoids the foulness of an ill-kept house and discreetly, too, avoids a hall exciting envy.
[tr. Bennett (Loeb) (1912)]Licinius, would you live aright,
Tempt not the high seas evermore,
Nor, fearing tempests, in your fright
Too closely hug the dangerous shore.
Who loves the golden mean is free
And safe from grime -- the grime a house
Harbours in eld; his modesty
Earns not the envy mansions rouse.
[tr. Mills (1924)]Sail not too far to be safe, O Licinius!
Neither too close to the shore should you steer.
Rashness is foolish, and how ignominious
Cowardly fear!
He who possesses neither palace nor hovel
(My little flat would be half way between)
Hasn't a house at which paupers must grovel
Yet it is clean.
[tr. Adams (1928)]Licinius, to live wisely shun
The deep sea; on the other hand,
Straining to dodge the storm don't run
Too close in to the jagged land.
All who love safety make their prize
The golden mean and hate extremes:
Mansions are envied for their size,
Slums pitied for their rotting beams.
[tr. Michie (1963)]Licinius, life makes better sense
Lived neither pushing farther and farther
To sea, nor always hugging the dangerous
Shore, shaking at the thought of storms.
Cherish a golden mean and stay
Exempt from a filthy hovel
And exempt from the envy
A mansion excites.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]You'll do better, Licinius, not to spend your life
Venturing too far out on the dangerous waters,
Or else, for fear of storms, staying too close in
To the dangerous rocky shoreline, That man does best
Who chooses the middle way, so he doesn't end up
Living under a roof that's going to ruin
Or in some gorgeous mansion everyone envies.
[tr. Ferry (1997)]Better will you live, O Licinius, not always urging yourself out upon the high seas, nor ever hugging the insidious shore in fear of storms. He who esteems the golden mean safely avoids the squalor of a wretched house and in sobriety, equally shuns the enviable palace.
[tr. Alexander (1999)]You’ll live more virtuously, my Murena,
by not setting out to sea, while you’re in dread
of the storm, or hugging fatal shores
too closely, either.
Whoever takes delight in the golden mean,
safely avoids the squalor of a shabby house,
and, soberly, avoids the regal palace
that incites envy.
[tr. Kline (2015)]
Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder is the sport of every wind. With such persons gullability which they call faith takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to James Smith (8 Dec 1822)
(Source)
WARWICK: So bad a death argues a monstrous life.
HENRY: Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry VI, Part 2, Act 3, sc. 3, l. 30ff (3.3.30-31) (1591)
(Source)
Hope spurs humans everywhere to work harder, to endure more now, that the future may be better.
Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) American general, US President (1953-61)
Gabriel Silver Lecture, McMillin Academic Theater, Columbia U., New York (23 Mar 1950)
Full text.
History consists of a series of swindles, in which the masses are first lured into revolt by the promise of Utopia, and then, when they have done their job, enslaved over again by the new masters.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“James Burnham and the Managerial Revolution” (May 1946)
Summarizing Burnham's view of history.
Whenever you find a man who says he doesn’t believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
The Case for Christianity (1942)
In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what really makes me angry is that they quote me for the support of such views.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
Conversation (c. 1941), quoted in Hubertus zu Löwenstein, Towards the Further Shore (1968)
(Source)
Prohibit not something to others which you permit to yourself.
The Talmud (AD 200-500) Collection of Jewish rabbinical writings
(Unreferenced)
I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.
I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavouring to make our fellow-creatures happy.
But, lest it should be supposed that I believe many other things in addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them.
I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.
All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
Thomas Paine (1737-1809) American political philosopher and writer
The Age of Reason, Part 1, ch. 1 (1794)
(Source)
The first and indispensable requisite of happiness is a clear conscience.
Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) English historian
Memoirs of My Life and Writings (1796)
STEVE: I like naked women. I’m a bloke. I’m supposed to like them. We’re born like that. We like naked women as soon as we’re pulled out of one. Halfway down the birth canal we’re already enjoying the view.
Steven Moffat (b. 1961) Scottish television writer, producer
Coupling, “Inferno” (2 Jun 2000)
All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French writer, diplomat, politician
Democracy in America, Vol. 2, Book 3, ch. 22 (1840)
For when many rejoice together, the joy of each one is richer: they warm themselves at each other’s flame.
[Quando enim cum multis gaudetur, et in singulis uberius est gaudium, quia fervefaciunt se et inflammantur ex alterutro.]
Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Christian church father, philosopher, saint [b. Aurelius Augustinus]
Confessions, Book 8, ch. 4 / ¶ 9 (8.4.9) [tr. Sheed (1943)] (c. AD 398)
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:For when many joy together, each also has more exuberant joy for that they are kindled and inflamed one by the other.
[tr. Pusey (1838)]For when many rejoice together, each also has more exuberant joy; for that they are kindled and inflamed one by the other.
[ed. Shedd (1860)]For when many rejoice together, the joy of each one is the fuller in that they are incited and inflamed by one another.
[tr. Pilkington (1876)]For when many rejoice together, in each there is an overflowing joy, for they kindle themselves and are kindled by one another.
[tr. Hutchings (1890)]For, when joy is shared with many, the joy of each is richer, because they warm one another, catch fire from one another.
[tr. Bigg (1897)]For when many rejoice together the joy of each one is fuller, in that they warm one another, catch fire from each other.
[tr. Outler (1955)]For when many men rejoice together, there is a richer joy in each individual, since they enkindle themselves and they inflame one another.
[tr. Ryan (1960)]When large numbers of people share their joy in common, the happiness of each is greater because each adds fuel to the other’s flame.
[tr. Pine-Coffin (1961)]For when many people rejoice together, the joy of each individual is all the richer, since each one inflames the other and the warmth spreads throughout them all.
[tr. Warner (1963)]For when joy is shared with many, joy is fuller in each. They grow ardent and are fired each by the other.
[tr. Blaiklock (1983)]
There is no more mischievous absurdity than this judging of actions from the OUTSIDE as they look to us, instead of from the INSIDE as they look to the actors; nothing more irrational than to criticize deeds as though the doers of them had the same desires, hopes, fears, and restraints as ourselves.
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) English philosopher, naturalist
Social Statics, 3.20.6 (1851)
The greatest enemy of justice is privilege.
[Der größte Feind des Rechtes ist das Vorrecht.]
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) Austrian writer
Aphorisms [Aphorismen], No. 219 (1880) [tr. Scrase/Mieder (1994)]
(Source)
(Source (German)). Alternate translation:The greatest enemy of the law of right is the law of prerogative.
[tr. Wister (1883)]
The years as they pass plunder us of one thing after another.
[Singula de nobis anni praedantur euntes.]
Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Epistles, Book 2, ep. 2, l. 56 (c. 20-14 BC)
Alt. trans.: "The passing years steal one thing after another"
Pope's translation: "Years following years steal something every day; / At last they steal us from ourselves away."
… [P]riests of the different religious sects, who dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of day-light; and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subversion of the duperies on which they live.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to José Corrêa da Serra (11 Apr 1820)
(Source)
On resistance, particularly from Presbyterians, to the founding of the University of Virginia.
History teaches us the mistakes we are going to make.
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977)
If you work for a man, in heaven’s name work for him! If he pays you wages that supply you your bread and butter, work for him — speak well of him, think well of him, stand by him and stand by the institution he represents. I think if I worked for a man I would work for him. I would not work for him a part of the time, and the rest of the time work against him. I would give an undivided service or none.
If put to the pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
“Get Out or Get in Line,” Selected Writings of Elbert Hubbard (1928)
The assertion that art may be good art and at the same time incomprehensible to a great number of people is extremely unjust, and its consequences are ruinous to art itself … it is the same as saying some kind of food is good but most people can’t eat it.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
What Is Art? (1896)
No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French writer, diplomat, politician
Democracy in America, Vol. 2, Book 3, ch. 22 (1840)
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 [NIV (2011 ed.)]
(Source)
Alternate translations:Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
[KJV (1611)]Better two than one by himself, since thus their work is really profitable. If one should fall, the other helps him up; but woe to the man by himself with no one to help him up when he falls down. Again: they keep warm who sleep two together, but how can a man keep warm alone? Where one alone would be overcome, two will put up resistance; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
[JB (1966)]Two are better off than one, because together they can work more effectively. If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it's just too bad, because there is no one to help him. If it is cold, two can sleep together and stay warm, but how can you keep warm by yourself? Two people can resist an attack that would defeat one person alone. A rope made of three cords is hard to break.
[GNT (1976)]Two are better off than one, in that they have greater benefit from their earnings. For should they fall, one can raise the other; but woe betide him who is alone and falls with no companion to raise him! Further, when two lie together they are warm; but how can he who is alone get warm? Also, if one attacks, two can stand up to him. A threefold cord is not readily broken!
[JPS (1985)]Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other, but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
[NRSV (1989 ed.)]
There’s always something suspect about an intellectual on the winning side.
Václav Havel (1936-2011) Czech playwright, essayist, dissident, politician
Disturbing the Peace, ch. 5 (1986) [tr. Wilson (1990)]
HENRY: Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude,
And, in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a king? Then, happy low, lie down.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry IV, Part 2, Act 3, sc. 1, l. 26ff (3.1.26-31) (c. 1598)
(Source)
Some men covet knowledge out of a natural curiosity and inquisitive temper; some to entertain the mind with variety and delight; some for ornament and reputation; some for victory and contention; many for lucre and a livelihood; and but very few for employing the Divine gift of reason to the use and benefit of mankind.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
De Augmentis Scientiarum [Advancement of Learning], Book 3, ch. 1 (1605)
“I will take the Ring,” he said, “though I do not know the way.”
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 2, ch. 2 “The Council of Elrond” [Frodo] (1954)
(Source)
Accepting the quest to take the One Ring to Mordor and its destruction.
It is man’s intelligence that makes him so often behave more stupidly than the beasts. … Man is impelled to invent theories to account for what happens in the world. Unfortunately, he is not quite intelligent enough, in most cases, to find correct explanations. So that when he acts on his theories, he behaves very often like a lunatic. Thus, no animal is clever enough, when there is a drought, to imagine that the rain is being withheld by evil spirits, or as punishment for its transgressions. Therefore you never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion. No horse, for example would kill one of its foals to make the wind change direction. Dogs do not ritually urinate in the hope of persuading heaven to do the same and send down rain. Asses do not bray a liturgy to cloudless skies. Nor do cats attempt, by abstinence from cat’s meat, to wheedle the feline spirits into benevolence. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, intelligent enough.
When the intellectual comes into his own, he becomes a pillar of stability and finds all kinds of lofty reasons for siding with the strong against the weak.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
The Ordeal of Change, ch. 6 (1964)
In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
Desiderius Erasmus (1465-1536) Dutch humanist philosopher and scholar
Adagia, 3.4.96 (1508)
History marches on the stomachs of statesmen.
B. H. Liddell Hart (1895-1970) English soldier, military historian (Basil Henry Liddell Hart)
Why Don’t We Learn from History?, “The Exploration of History” (1944)
The great Big Black Things that have loomed against the horizon of my life, threatening to devour me, simply loomed and nothing more. The things that have really made me miss my train have always been sweet, soft, pretty, pleasant things of which I was not in the least afraid.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard [ed. E. Hubbard II] (1927)
But pure and complete sorrow is as impossible as pure and complete joy.
It is futile to judge a kind deed by its motives. Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
The Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 123 (1955)
(Source)
We may also observe that a great many people do many things that seem to be inspired more by a spirit of ostentation than by heart-felt kindness; for such people are not really generous but are rather influenced by a sort of ambition to make a show of being open-handed. Such a pose is nearer akin to hypocrisy than to generosity or moral goodness.
[Videre etiam licet plerosque non tam natura liberales quam quadam gloria ductos, ut benefici videantur, facere multa, quae proficisci ab ostentatione magis quam a voluntate videantur. Talis autem sinulatio vanitati est coniunctior quam aut liberalitati aut honestati.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
De Officiis [On Duties; On Moral Duty; The Offices], Book 1, ch. 14 (1.14) / sec. 44 (44 BC) [tr. Miller (1913)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:trans.:One may also observe in a great many people, that they take a sort of pride in being counted magnificent, and give very plentifully, not from any generous principle in their natures, but only to appear great in the eye of the world; so that all their bounty is resolved into nothing but mere outside and pretense, and is nearer of kin to vanity and folly, than it is to either liberality or honesty.
[tr. Cockman (1699)]Besides we may observe, that most men, not so much from a liberal disposition, as led by some show of apparent beneficence, do acts of kindness, which seem to flow more from ostentation than from the heart. This conduct is more allied to vanity than to liberality or honour.
[tr. McCartney (1798)]For it is easy to observe, that most of them are not so much by nature generous, as they are misled by a kind of pride to do a great many things in order that they may seem to be generous; which things seem to spring not so much from good will as from ostentation. Now such a simulation is more nearly allied to duplicity than to generosity or virtue.
[tr. Edmonds (1865)]We can see, also, that a large number of persons, less from a liberal nature than for the reputation of generosity, do many things that evidently proceed from ostentation rather than from good will.
[tr. Peabody (1883)]It is also manifest that the conduct of men who are not really generous but only ambitious of the name often springs from vainglory rather than from a pure motive. Such hypocrisy, I hold, savours more of deceit than of liberality or honour.
[tr. Gardiner (1899)]It is quite clear that many individuals who are not so much innately generous as they are swayed by the vain desire to seem generous, often indulge in gestures that apparently originate in ostentation rather than in genuine open-handedness. This kind of pretense is closer to vanity than to generosity or uprightness.
[tr. Edinger (1974)]
Justice is truth in action.
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées, # 203 (1838) [tr. Attwell (1877)]
Deeds of kindness are equal in weight to all the commandments.
The Talmud (AD 200-500) Collection of Jewish rabbinical writings
(Unreferenced)
In Louis I. Newman, comp., The Talmudic Anthology, #177 (1945)
The weaknesses of the spirit of love in solving larger and more complex problems become increasingly apparent as one proceeds from ordinary relations between individuals to the life of social groups. If nations and other social groups find it difficult to approximate the principles of justice, as we have previously noted, they are naturally even less capable of achieving the principle of love, which demands more than justice. The demand of religious moralists that nations subject themselves to “the law of Christ” is an unrealistic demand, and the hope that they will do so is a sentimental one.
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) American theologian and clergyman
Moral Man and Immoral Society (1932)
As a professor, I tended to think of history as run by impersonal forces. But when you see it in practice, you see the difference personalities make.
Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
Remark to reporters after first Middle East visit (Jan 1974)
In Isaacson, Kissinger: A Biography, Introduction (epigraph) (1992)
If your religion does not change you, then you had better change your religion.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
One Thousand & One Epigrams (1911)
(Source)
At the approach of danger there are always two voices that speak with equal force in the heart of man: one very reasonably tells the man to consider the nature of the danger and the means of avoiding it; the other even more reasonable says that it is too painful and harassing to think of the danger, since it is not a man’s power to provide for everything and escape from the general march of events; and that it is therefore better to turn aside from the painful subject till it has come, and to think of what is pleasant. In solitude a man generally yields to the first voice; in society to the second.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
War and Pestle, Book 10, ch. 17 (1865-1869)
The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
(Misattributed)
Misattributed to many modern authors besides Russell, including John Lennon, T. S. Elliot, and Soren Kierkegaard.
The frequent misattribution to Russell is from the phrase being used by Lawrence J. Peter in Peter's Quotations (1977) about a different Russell quote ("The thing that I should wish to obtain from money would be leisure with security"). In turn, the words were not original with Peter: the earliest citation for this quote is Marthe Troly-Curtin, Phyrnette Married, ch. 29 (1912).
More information on the history of this quotation: Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Wasted Time – Quote Investigator®.
Fear and Gain are great Perverters of Mankind, and where either prevails the Judgment is violated.
William Penn (1644-1718) English writer, philosopher, politician, statesman
Some Fruits of Solitude, #127 (1693)
I am a sporting man. I always like to give trains and aeroplanes a fair chance of getting away.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
(Attributed)
Regarding his unpunctuality.
Many hands make light warke.
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 2, ch. 5 (1546)
(Source)
The function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought.
Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) British conductor
(Attributed)
In Atkins and Newman, Beecham Stories (1978)
Acquire knowledge. It enables its possessor to distinguish right from wrong; it lights the way to Heaven; it is our friend in the desert, our society in solitude, our companion when friendless; it guides us to happiness; it sustains us in misery; it is an ornament among friends and an armor against enemies.
Muhammad (570-632) Arabian merchant, prophet, founder of Islam [Mohammed]
The Sayings of Muhammad, #290 [tr. Al-Suhrawardy (1941)]
Despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.
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 2, ch. 2 “The Council of Elrond” [Gandalf] (1954)
(Source)
Habit converts luxurious enjoyments into dull and daily necessities.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Point Counter Point (1928)
The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.
Jane Wagner (b. 1935) American humorist, writer, director
Material written for Lily Tomlin
Quoted by Tomlin in "Thoughts on the Business of Life," Forbes (4 Mar 1991)
Christianity is not one ideology over against other ideologies. It is a life inspired by the Holy Spirit. Its victories are nothing but victories over itself, not over others. It propagates itself through humility and self-examination, not through triumphs.
Paul Tournier (1848-1986) Swiss physician, writer, philosopher
The Whole Person in a Broken World (1964)
Justice without might is helpless; might without justice is tyrannical.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) French scientist and philosopher
Pensées, #298 (1670) [tr. Trotter (1931)]
He ’s armed without that’s innocent within.
Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Epistles, Book 1, Epistle 1, l. 94 (c. 20 BC and 14 BC) [tr. Pope]
I hold it, therefore, certain, that to open the doors of truth, and to fortify the habit of testing everything by reason, are the most effectual manacles we can rivet on the hands of our successors to prevent their manacling the people with their own consent.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to John Tyler (28 Jun 1804)
(Source)
Administrivia: The Pause that Refreshes
I’m headed off on holiday, so WIST will likely be much more sporadic for the next few weeks. I didn’t have time to queue up daily quotes, but I will have a laptop with me and so may get the opportunity to do some quotational goodness.
Or perhaps I’ll simply feel fulfilled sipping prosecco and watching the sun drop down into the Mediterranean. Either way, we will resume our normal posting schedule around 6 June.
A man who has not been in Italy is always conscious of an inferiority.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (11 Apr 1776)
In J. Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
The most wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed.
[La plus perdue de toutes les journées est celle où l’on n’a pas ri.]
Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées], ch. 1, # 80 (1795) [tr. Morley (1887)]
(Source)
Often attributed to a more contemporary comedian (Groucho Marx, Charlie Chaplin) or writers such as Ben Burroughs, Grigori Alexandrov. It is arguably a clear enough sentiment that others might reinvent it.
(Source (French)). Alternate translation:The most lost of all days, is that in which we have not laughed.
[Source (1803)]The most completely lost of all days is that on which one has not laughed.
[Source (1891)]The worst wasted of all days is that during which one has not laughed.
[tr. Hutchinson (1902), "The Cynic's Breviary"]Of all days, the day on which one has not laughed is the one most surely wasted.
[tr. Mathers (1926)]That of all days is the most completely wasted in which one did not once laugh.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]The day that we have most lost is the one on which we have not laughed.
[Source]
Other versions:More history of the quotation: A Day Without Laughter is a Day Wasted – Quote Investigator®
- "A day without laughter is a day wasted." [Chaplin]
- "The most lost of all days is that in which one has not laughed."
- "The most wasted day of all is that in which we have not laughed."
Happiness depends more on the inward Disposition of Mind than on the outward Circumstances.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (Nov 1757)
SUSAN: Sally, does it ever occur to you that age brings wisdom and greater confidence?
SALLY: Susan, age brings you more to shave.Steven Moffat (b. 1961) Scottish television writer, producer
Coupling, “Flushed” (12 May 2000)
There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult — to begin a war and to end it.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French writer, diplomat, politician
Democracy in America, Vol. 2, Book 3, ch. 22 (1840)
Up, Sluggard, and waste not life;
in the grave will be sleeping enough.Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Alamanack (Sep 1741)
Repeated as "There will be enough sleeping in the Grave" in "The Way of Wealth" (7 Jul 1756).
Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
The Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 58 (1955)
(Source)
Seek for the Sword that was broken:
In Imladris it dwells;
There shall be counsels taken
Stronger than Morgul-spells.
There shall be shown a token
That Doom is near at hand,
For Isildur’s Bane shall waken,
And the Halfling forth shall stand.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 2, ch. 2 “The Council of Elrond” (1954)
(Source)
Boromir's prophetic dream, which brought him to Rivendell.
What the cinema can do better than literature or the spoken drama is to be fantastic.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
“Where are the Movies Moving?”, Essays Old and New (1926)
In science, “fact” can only mean “confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.” I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.
Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) American paleontologist, geologist, biologist
“Evolution as Fact and Theory” in Speak Out Against the New Right [ed. Herbert Vetter] (1982)
Full text.
Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) English writer and social critic
A Christmas Carol, stave 1
We can best get justice by doing justice.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
“National Duties” (2 Sep 1901)
I am displeased when sometimes even the worthy Homer nods
[Indignor quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus]
Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Ars Poetica, l. 359 (c. 18 BC)
Source of the expression, "Even Homer nods" (i.e., nobody one is perfect, even the wisest make mistakes).
The firmness with which the people have withstood the late abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false, and to form a correct judgment between them. As little is it necessary to impose on their senses, or dazzle their minds by pomp, splendor, or forms. Instead of this artificial, how much surer is that real respect, which results from the use of their reason, and the habit of bringing everything to the test of common sense.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to John Tyler (28 Jun 1804)
(Source)
Sloth (like Rust) consumes faster than Labor wears:
the used Key is always bright.Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (Jul 1744)
Ye poor posterity, think not that ye are the first. Other fools before ye have seen the sun rise and set, and the moon change her shape and her hour. As they were so ye are; and yet not so great; for the pyramids my people built stand to this day; whilst the dustheaps on which ye slave, and which ye call empires, scatter in the wind even as ye pile your dead sons’ bodies on them to make yet more dust.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Caesar and Cleopatra
For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
Speech, House of Commons (23 Jan 1948)
(Source)
Sometimes given: "History will bear me out, particularly as I shall write that history myself." More discussion here: Churchillisms: "Leave the Past to History" (which He will Write).
Experience: The name every one gives to his mistakes.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
The Roycroft Dictionary (1914)
(Source)
Everything comes in time to him who knows how to wait.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
War and Peace, Book 10, ch. 16 (1865-1869)
Monty Python’s usual schoolboy humour is here let loose on a period of history appropriately familiar to every schoolboy in the West, and a faith which could be shaken by such good-humoured ribaldry would be a very precarious faith indeed.
(Other Authors and Sources)
The British Board Of Film Censors, Report on Life of Brian (1979)
The great lesson to draw from revolutions is not that they devour humanity but rather that tyranny never fails to generate them.
Pierre Trudeau (1919–2000) Canadian politician
“When the People Are in Power” (1958)
The happiest excitement in life is to be convinced that one is fighting for all one is worth on behalf of some clearly seen and deeply felt good, and against some greatly scorned evil.
Ruth Benedict (1887-1947) American anthropologist
Journal, undated (1915-1934)
We have discovered that what a year ago seemed to be a neglected house is essentially a ruin. This is not a pleasant fact, and it is not surprising that all of us are rather annoyed and disappointed about it.
Václav Havel (1936-2011) Czech playwright, essayist, dissident, politician
New Year’s Address to the Nation, Prague (1 Jan 1991)
Commerce is naturally adverse to all the violent passions; it loves to temporize, takes delight in compromise, and studiously avoids irritation. It is patient, insinuating, flexible, and never has recourse to extreme measures until obliged by the most absolute necessity. Commerce renders men independent of each other, gives them a lofty notion of their personal importance, leads them to seek to conduct their own affairs, and teaches how to conduct them well; it therefore prepares men for freedom, but preserves them from revolutions.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French writer, diplomat, politician
Democracy in America, Vol. 2, Book 3, ch. 21 (1840)
Alt. trans.: "Trade is the natural enemy of all violent passions. Trade loves moderation, delights in compromise, and is most careful to avoid anger. It is patient, supple, and insinuating, only resorting to extreme measures in cases of absolute necessity. Trade makes men independent of one another and gives them a high idea of their personal importance: it leads them to want to manage their own affairs and teaches them to succeed therein. Hence it makes them inclined to liberty but disinclined to revolution."
From the perspective of society the highest moral ideal is justice. From the perspective of the individual the highest ideal is unselfishness. Society must strive for justice even if it is forced to use means, such as self-assertion, resistance, coercion and perhaps resentment, which cannot gain the moral sanction of the most sensitive moral spirit.
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) American theologian and clergyman
“Pacifism Against the Wall,” The American Scholar (Spring 1936)
Full text.
Ever’ once in a while we meet a feller that’s too proud t’ beg, an’ too honest t’ steal, an’ too lazy t’ work.
Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist
Abe Martin’s Almanack
Full text.
Judgment is to be made of actions according to the times in which they were performed.
Plutarch (AD 46-127) Greek historian, biographer, essayist [Mestrius Plutarchos]
Parallel Lives, “Policola and Colon Compared” [Dryden Ed. (1693)]
If you’re not a liberal when you’re 25, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative by the time you’re 35, you have no brain.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
(Spurious)
This hasn't been found in Churchill's writings, and is generally believed by researchers (and the Churchill Centre) to be spurious. It's also misaligned with the ideological cycle of Churchill's own career.
See Clemenceau for more discussion about this general quotation form.
But he was at home there, he might speake his will,
Every cocke is proud on his owne dunghill.John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 11 (1546)
(Source)
Laff every good chance ya kan git, but don’t laff unless yu feal like it, for there ain’t nothing in this world more harty than a good honest laff, nor nothing more hoollow than a hartless one.
[Laugh every good chance you can get, but don’t laugh unless you feel like it, for there ain’t nothing in this world more hearty than a good, honest laugh, nor nothing more hollow than a heartless one.]
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, “Laffing” (1874)
Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (18 Apr 1775)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Gil-galad was an Elven-king.
Of him the harpers sadly sing:
the last whose realm was fair and free
between the Mountains and the Sea.His sword was long, his lance was keen,
his shining helm afar was seen;
the countless stars of heaven’s field
were mirrored in his silver shield.But long ago he rode away
and where he dwelleth none can say;
for into darkness fell his star
in Mordor where the shadows are.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. 11 “A Knife in the Dark” [Sam] (1954)
(Source)
Sam says he was taught it by Bilbo, who claimed to have written it. Aragorn corrects him, saying it is part of a lay called "The Fall of Gil-galad," though Bilbo appears to have translated it from the Elvish.
It almost seems that nobody can hate America as much as native Americans. America needs new immigrants to love and cherish it.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
“Thoughts of Eric Hoffer,” New York Times Magazine (25 Apr 1971)
Maybe we should always show pictures. Bin Laden, pictures of our wounded service people, pictures of maimed innocent civilians. We can only make decisions about war if we see what war actually is — and not as a video game where bodies quickly disappear, leaving behind a shiny gold coin.
Jon Stewart (b. 1962) American satirist, comedian, and television host. [b. Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz]
The Daily Show (2011-05-04)
A musicologist is a man who can read music but can’t hear it.
Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) British conductor
(Attributed)
In H. Proctor-Gregg, Beecham Remembered (1976)
He who is only just is cruel; who
Upon the earth would live were all judged justly?George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice, Act 5, sc. 1 [Angiolina] (1821)
(Source)
Struggling to be brief
I become obscure.[Brevis esse laboro,
obscurus fio.]Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Ars Poetica, l. 25 (c. 18 BC)
Alt. trans.: "Aiming at brevity, I become obscure."
My opinion is that there would never have been an infidel, if there had never been a priest. The artificial structures they have built on the purest of all moral systems, for the purpose of deriving from it pence and power, revolts those who think for themselves, and who read in that system only what is really there.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to Mrs. Samuel H. Smith [Margaret Bayard Smith] (6 Aug 1816)
Vulgarity in a king flatters the majority of the nation.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Man and Superman, “Maxims for Revolutionists: Royalty” (1903)
Wouldn’t it be great if we all grew up to be what we wanted to be? The world would be full of nurses, firemen, and ballerinas.
Lily Tomlin (b. 1939) American comedian and actress
Saturday Night Live (22 Nov 1975)
History is not, of course, a cookbook, offering pretested recipes. It teaches by analogy, not by maxims.
Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
White House Years, ch. 3 (1979)
Genius is often only the power of making continuous efforts. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it — so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success. As the tide goes clear out, so it comes clear in. In business sometimes prospects may seem darkest when really they are on the turn. A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
Electrical Review (c. 1895)
Original source not found, but as such in Evelyn Briggs Baldwin, The Search for the North Pole (1896). Later published in various works by Hubbard, including FRA Magazine : A Journal of Affirmation (1915), and An American Bible (1918) (ed. Alice Hubbard).
You will die — and it will all be over. You will die and find out everything — or cease asking.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
War and Peace, Book 5, ch. 1 (1865-1869)
What no human soul desires there is no need to prohibit; it is automatically excluded. The very emphasis of the commandment, Thou shalt not kill, makes it certain that we spring from an endless ancestry of murderers, with whom the lust for killing was in the blood, as possibly it is to this day with ourselves.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Austrian psychoanalyst and neurologist
“Reflections upon War and Death” (2) (1915) [tr. Mayne (1963)]
Sail, quoth the King; hold, saith the Wind.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #4064 (1732)
(Source)
Human happiness konsists in having what yu want, and wanting what yu hav.
[Human happiness consists in having what you want, and wanting what you 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. 131 “Affurisms: Plum Pits (1)” (1874)
(Source)
It would be very unreasonable to understand the sad legacy of the last forty years as something alien, which some distant relative bequeathed to us. On the contrary, we have to accept this legacy as a sin we committed against ourselves. If we accept it as such, we will understand that it is up to us all, and up to us alone to do something about it. We cannot blame the previous rulers for everything, not only because it would be untrue, but also because it would blunt the duty that each of us faces today: namely, the obligation to act independently, freely, reasonably and quickly.
Václav Havel (1936-2011) Czech playwright, essayist, dissident, politician
New Year’s Address to the Nation, Prague (1 Jan 1990)
In the United States, the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their own.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French writer, diplomat, politician
Democracy in America, Vol. 2, Book 1, ch. 2 (1840)
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Japanese proverb
Special mercy arouses more gratitude than universal mercy.
Richard Baxter (1615-1691) English Puritan clergyman and writer
The Saints’ Everlasting Rest, “The Splendor of the Saints’ Rest” (1650)
Distrust your judgment the moment you can discern the shadow of a personal motive in it.
[Mißtraue deinem Urteil, sobald du darin den Schatten eines persönlichen Motivs entdecken kannst.]
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) Austrian writer
Aphorisms [Aphorismen], No. 548 (1880) [tr. Scrase/Mieder (1994)]
(Source)
He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
It hurteth not the toung to give faire words.
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 9 (1546)
(Source)
It’s not whether God is on our side or whether we’re doing God’s will, it’s being so narcissistic as to think that God is telling you what to do.
Lily Tomlin (b. 1939) American comedian and actress
Interview with Alonso Duralde, “Thoroughly Modern Lily” The Advocate (15 Mar 2005)
Let us put aside resolutely that great fright, tenderly and without malice, daring to be wrong in something important rather than right in some meticulous banality, fearing no evil while the mind is free to search, imagine, and conclude, inviting our countrymen to try other instruments than coercion and suppression in the effort to meet destiny with triumph, genially suspecting that no creed yet calendared in the annals of politics mirrors the doomful possibilities of infinity.
Charles Beard (1874-1948) American historian
Address, American Political Science Assoc., St. Louis, Missouri (29 Dec 1926)
Reprinted as "Time, Technology, and the Creative Spirit in Political Science," The American Political Science Review, (February 1927)
That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don’t know nothing about it.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, ch. 1 (1884)
But either in his dreams or out of them, he could not tell which, Frodo heard a sweet singing running in his mind: a song that seemed to come like a pale light behind a grey rain-curtain, and growing stronger to turn the veil all to silver and glass, until at last it was rolled back, and a far green country opened before him under a swift sunrise.
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)
How frighteningly few are the persons whose death would spoil our appetite and make the world seem empty.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
“Thoughts of Eric Hoffer,” New York Times Magazine (1971-04-25)
(Source)
Vengeance is counterproductive, always. Not to mention the fact it gets your soul all sticky.
Spider Robinson (b. 1948) American-Canadian author
Callahan’s Con, ch. 2 [Lady Sally] (2003)
My evangelistic brethren confuse an objection to compulsion with an objection to religion. It is possible to hold a faith with enough confidence that what should be rendered to God does not need to be decided and collected by Caesar.
Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Zorach v. Clauson, 343 US 306, 324-325 (1952) [dissent]
We can remember minutely and precisely only the things which never really happened to us.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
“Thoughts of Eric Hoffer,” The New York Times Magazine (25 Apr 1971)
It is a curious fact (or it isn’t) that of all the illusions that beset mankind none is quite so curious as that tendency to suppose that we are mentally and morally superior to those who differ from us in opinion.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
The Selected Writings of Elbert Hubbard [ed. Ben Hubbard] (1922)
Full text.
He who feared that he would not succeed sat still.
[Sedit qui timuit ne non succederet.]
Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Epistles, Book 1, Epistle 17, l. 37 (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
But the whole history of these books [the Bible] is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been plaid with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are genuine. In the New testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to John Adams (24 Jan 1814)
(Source)
Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule.
Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) English historian
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. 7 (1776-88)
There are more Fools than Knaves in the World,
Else the Knaves would not have enough to live upon.Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
Prose Observations, “Sundry Thoughts”
(Source)
The most persistent sound which reverberates through history is the beating of war drums.
Alfred Koestler (1905-1983) Hungarian-English novelist, essayist
Janus: A Summing Up, Prologue (1978)
Piety is the tinfoil of pretense.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
The Philistine (Sep 1908)
Full text.
Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. It is the one thing we are interested in here.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
War and Peace, Book 4, ch. 11 (1865-1869)
Calamity and Prosperity are the Touchstones of Integrity.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (Mar 1752)
I might repeat to myself slowly and soothingly, a list of quotations beautiful from minds profound — if I can remember any of the damn things.
Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
“The Little Hours,” Here Lies (1939)
The original and essential office of government is that of protecting its subjects against aggression external and internal.
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) English philosopher, naturalist
“Representative Government — What Is It Good For?” Westminster Review (Oct 1857)
No one can understand history without continually relating the long periods which are constantly mentioned to the experiences of our own short lives. Five years is a lot. Twenty years is the horizon to most people. Fifty years is antiquity. To understand how the impact of destiny fell upon any generation of men one must first imagine their position and then apply the time-scale of our own lives.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Vol. 1 “The Birth of Britain” (1956-58)
By hooke or crooke.
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 11 (1546)
(Source)
The phrase most likely derives from English tenant rights to gather firewood "by hook or by crook" -- as much loose timber as could be pulled down from branches by a (shepherd's) crook, or cut with from underbrush by a (pruning) billhook. The phrase first appears in the 14th Century.
Integrity and firmness is all I can promise; these, be the voyage long or short, never shall forsake me although I may be deserted by all men. For of the consolations which are to be derived from these (under any circumstances) the world cannot deprive me.
George Washington (1732-1799) American military leader, Founding Father, US President (1789-1797)
Letter to Henry Knox (1 Apr 1789)
Written four weeks before assuming the Presidency.
Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless.
What will you do on the day of reckoning,
when disaster comes from afar?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your riches?
Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives
or fall among the slain.The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Isaiah 10:1-3 [NIV (2011 ed.)]
(Source)
Alternate translations:Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain.
[KJV (1611)]You are doomed! You make unjust laws that oppress my people. That is how you keep the poor from having their rights and from getting justice. That is how you take the property that belongs to widows and orphans. What will you do when God punishes you? What will you do when he brings disaster on you from a distant country? Where will you run to find help? Where will you hide your wealth? You will be killed in battle or dragged off as prisoners.
[GNT (1976)]Woe to those who enact unjust decrees, who compose oppressive legislation to deny justice to the weak and to cheat the humblest of my people of fair judgement, to make widows their prey and to rob the orphan. What will you do on the day of punishment, when disaster comes from far away? To whom will you run for help and where will you leave your riches, to avoid squatting among the captives or falling among the slain?
[NJB (1985)]Ha! Those who write out evil writs and compose iniquitous documents, to subvert the cause of the poor, to rob of their rights the needy of My people; that widows may be their spoil, and fatherless children their booty! What will you do on the day of punishment, When the calamity comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help, And how will you save your carcasses from collapsing under [fellow] prisoners, from falling beneath the slain?
[JPS (1985)]Woe to those who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, to make widows their spoil and to plunder orphans! What will you do on the day of punishment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth, so as not to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain?
[NRSV (1989 ed.)]
Many men easily do without truth, but none is strong enough to do without illusions.
Gustave LeBon (1841-1931) German psychologist
(Attributed)
He is not poor who has enough of things to use.
If it is well with your belly, chest and feet,
the wealth of kings can give you nothing more.[Pauper enim non est, cui rerum suppetit usus.
si ventri bene, si lateri est pedibusque tuis, nil
divitiae poterunt regales addere maius.]Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Epistles, Book 1, Epistle 12, l. 4 (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Any manifest error on the part of an enemy should make us suspect some stratagem.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian politician, philosopher, political scientist
The Discourses on Livy, Book 3, ch. 48 (1517) [tr. Detmold (1882)]
One genetic evil of an institution of any kind is that people who have identified themselves with it are prone to make an idol of it.
Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) English historian
An Historian’s Approach to Religion, 2d ed., ch. 19 (1956; 1979)
History is made out of the failures and heroism of each insignificant moment. If one throws a stone into a river, it produces a succession of ripples. But most men live without being conscious of a responsibility which extends beyond themselves. And that — I think — is the root of our misery.
Franz Kafka (1883-1924) Czech-Austrian Jewish writer
In Gustav Janouch, Conversations with Kafka [tr. Rees (1953)]
The notion that the church, the press, and the universities should serve the state is essentially a Communist notion. In a free society these institutions must be wholly free –- which is to say that their function is to serve as checks upon the state.
Alan Barth (1906-1979) American journalist
The Rights of Free Men: An Essential Guide to Civil Liberties (1984)
PRAXAGORA: I want all to have a share of everything and all property to be in common; there will no longer be either rich or poor; […] I shall begin by making land, money, everything that is private property, common to all. […]
BLEPYRUS: But who will till the soil?
PRAXAGORA: The slaves.Aristophanes (c. 450-c. 388 BC) Athenian comedic playwright
Ecclesiazusae, ll. 590-591, 597-598, 651 (392 BC) [tr. O’Neill (1938)]
Full text.
