People who used magic without knowing what they were doing usually came to a sticky end.
All over the entire room, sometimes.
Quotations about:
danger
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
But if he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, Sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (1763-07-14)
(Source)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 1: 1709-1765 (1791). Regarding an unnamed "impudent fellow from Scotland" Boswell told him of.
CALVIN: Where do we keep all our chainsaws, Mom?
The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Message (1862-12-01) to Congress, Annual Message (State of the Union)
(Source)
Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.
George Washington (1732–1799) American military leader, Founding Father, US President (1789–1797)
(Attributed)
Unsourced. First attributed to "The First President of the United States" in "Liberty and Government" by W. M., in The Christian Science Journal (Nov 1902) [ed. Mary Baker Eddy].
Variant: "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence — it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action."
More information on this quotation's origins and inspiration: Quote Origin: Government Is Like Fire, a Dangerous Servant and a Fearful Master – Quote Investigator®.
Every evil in the bud is easily crushed: as it grows older, it becomes stronger.
[Omne malum nascens facile opprimitur; inveteratum fit pleurumque robustius.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 5, ch. 11 / sec. 31 (5.11/5.31) (43-01-01 BC) [ed. Hoyt (1896)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:Every evil is easily crushed at its birth; when it has become of long standing, it usually gets stronger.
[tr. Yonge (1903)]Every evil at its birth is easily suppressed; but if it be of long standing, it will offer a stouter resistance.
[ed. Harbottle (1906)]Every evil is easily crushed at its birth; become inveterate it as a rule gathers strength.
[tr. Ker (Loeb) (1926)]Every evil is easily nipped in the bud; with age it usually gets stronger.
[tr. Manuwald (2007)]
Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (1777-09-19)
(Source)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
It’s starting to smell a little like danger in here — or heavily fried food.
Ben Edlund (b. 1968) American cartoonist, writer, producer
The Tick, Ep. 12, “The Tick vs. Proto Clown” (1995)
If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.
Thomas Paine (1737-1809) American political philosopher and writer
“The American Crisis” #1 (19 Dec 1776)
Source essay
The Framers knew, better perhaps than we do today, the risks they were taking. They knew that free speech might be the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always the deadliest enemy of tyranny. With this knowledge they still believed that the ultimate happiness and security of a nation lies in its ability to explore, to change, to grow and ceaselessly to adapt itself to new knowledge born of inquiry free from any kind of governmental control over the mind and spirit of man. Loyalty comes from love of good government, not fear of a bad one.
Hugo Black (1886-1971) American politician and jurist, US Supreme Court Justice (1937-71)
James Madison Lecture, NYU School of Law (1960-02-17)
(Source)
The inaugural Madison lecture. Reprinted as "The Bill of Rights," NYU Law Review, Vol. 35 (Apr 1960).
Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.
[In tranquillo esse quisque gubernator potest.]
Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 358
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Hobbit, ch. 12 “Inside Information” (1937)
(Source)
So we’re just in this maze for now, trying to figure out if that glint in the distance is daylight, or a Minotaur with an Uzi.
J. Michael (Joe) Straczynski (b. 1954) American screenwriter, producer, author [a/k/a "JMS"]
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, “ATTN JMS: Warner Bros” (8 Dec 1996)
(Source)
The saying that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing is, to my mind, a very dangerous adage. If knowledge is real and genuine, I do not believe that it is other than a very valuable possession, however infinitesimal its quantity may be. Indeed, if a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?
Act nothing in furious Passion; it’s putting to Sea in a Storm.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 365 (1725)
(Source)
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet
“An Essay on Criticism,” Part 2, ll. 15-18 (1711)
(Source)
In Greek mythology, the Pierian Spring was sacred to the Muses, representing the metaphorical source of knowledge.
The first line is more commonly paraphrased as "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."
When you want to test the depths of a stream, don’t use both feet.
Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
Chinese proverb
Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your own home.
