Quote Collection |
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Favorite quotes: Never express yourself more clearly than you are able
to think. Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around. I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound as they
fly by.
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You can't study the darkness by flooding it with light.
- Edward Abbey
Life is cruel? Compared to what?
- Edward Abbey
Society is like a stew. If you don't keep it stirred up,
you get a lot of scum on top.
- Edward Abbey
It may be true that there are no atheists in foxholes.
But you don't find many Christians there, either. Or about as many as one as
the other.
- Edward Abbey
Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few
men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule
others.
- Edward Abbey
The basic question is this: Why should anything exist?
Nothing would be tidier.
- Edward Abbey
Civilization, like an airplane in flight, survives only
as it keeps going forward.
- Edward Abbey
The death penalty would be even more effective, as a
deterrent, if we executed a few innocent people more often.
- Edward Abbey
Is it possible to grow wiser without knowing it? One
hopes so. We all hope so.
- Edward Abbey
To the intelligent man or woman, life appears infinitely
mysterious. But the stupid have an answer for every question.
- Edward Abbey
Love implies anger. The man who is angered by nothing
cares about nothing.
- Edward Abbey
I am happy to be a regional writer. My region is the
American West, old Mexico, West Virginia, New York, Europe, Australia, the
human heart, and the male groin.
- Edward Abbey
I, too, believe in fidelity. But how can I be true to
one woman without being false to all the others?
- Edward Abbey
Most people have no business having children. They are
unqualified, either genetically or culturally or both, to reproduce such sorry
specimens as themselves. Of all our privileges, the license to breed is the one
most grossly abused.
- Edward Abbey
What is reason? Knowledge informed by sympathy,
intelligence in the arms of love.
- Edward Abbey
Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so.
- Douglas Adams
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made
President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
- Douglas Adams
In the beginning, the universe was created. This made a
lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad idea.
- Douglas Adams
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone
discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will
instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and
inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already
happened.
- Douglas Adams
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound as they fly
by.
- Douglas Adams
There is no such thing as a 'self-made' man. We are made
up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or
spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our
character and of our thoughts, as well as our success.
- George Matthew Adams
The creator of the universe works in mysterious ways.
But he uses a base ten counting system and likes round numbers.
- Scott Adams
It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem
foolish.
- Aeschylus
Unus, sed leo! [One, but a lion!]
- Aisopos, Fabulae
Even God cannot change the past.
- Agathon (447-401 BC)
Civilization is the distance man has placed between
himself and his excreta.
- Brian Aldiss
The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at
20 has wasted 30 years of his life.
- Muhammad Ali
The good people sleep much better at night than the bad
people. Of course, the bad people enjoy the waking hours much more.
- Woody Allen
I took a speed-reading course and read 'War and Peace'
in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.
- Woody Allen
I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I
want to achieve it through not dying.
- Woody Allen
The difference between sex and death is that with death
you can do it alone and no one is going to make fun of you.
- Woody Allen
Is sex dirty? Only when it's being done right.
- Woody Allen
Interestingly, according to modern astronomers, space is
finite. This is a very comforting thought - particularly for people who can
never remember where they have left things.
- Woody Allen
Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the
poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the
other.
- Oscar Ameringer
Our lives improve only when we take chances - and the
first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.
- Walter Anderson
Women like silent men. They think they're listening.
- Marcel Archard
Education is the best provision for old age.
- Aristotle (384-322 BC)
It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.
- Aristotle (384-322 BC)
The gods too are fond of a joke.
- Aristotle (384-322 BC)
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to
entertain a thought without accepting it.
- Aristotle (384-322 BC)
There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.
- Aristotle (384-322 BC)
From what we get, we can make a living; what we give,
however, makes a life.
- Arthur Ashe
Though science can cause problems, it is not by
ignorance that we will solve them.
- Isaac Asimov
Scientific apparatus offers a window to knowledge, but
as they grow more elaborate, scientists spend ever more time washing the
windows.
- Isaac Asimov
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one
that heralds the most discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' ('I found it!') but 'That's
funny...'
- Isaac Asimov
The three fundamental Rules of Robotics...One: a robot
may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come
to harm...Two:... a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except
where such orders would conflict with the First Law...Three: a robot must
protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the
First and Second Laws.
- Isaac Asimov
I married beneath me, all women do.
- Nancy Astor (1879-1964)
I loved not yet, yet I loved to love... I sought what I
might love, in love with loving.
- St. Augustine (354-430)
A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered,
nor false because spoken magnificently.
- St. Augustine (354-430)
Give me chastity and continency, but do not give it yet.
- St. Augustine (354-430)
Execute every act of thy life as though it were thy
last.
- Marcus Aurelius
A wrongdoer is often a man that has left something
undone, not always he that has done something.
- Marcus Aurelius
I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice,
though not in principle.
- Jane Austen (1775-1817) [Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice]
You white people are so strange. We think it is very
primitive for a child to have only two parents.
- Australian Aboriginal Elder
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and
thinking what nobody has thought.
- Albert Axent-Gyorgyi, The Scientist Speculates
It seems that I have spent my entire time trying to make
life more rational and that it was all wasted effort.
- A.J. Ayer (1910-1989)
There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do
is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.
- Johann Sebastian Bach
Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth
is finished. If you're alive, it isn't.
- Richard Bach
Silence is the virtue of fools.
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Words, when written, crystallize history; their very
structure gives permanence to the unchangeable past.
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
It is better to have no opinion about God at all than to
hold beliefs that are not worthy of Him.
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
We cannot command nature except by obeying her.
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
There is in human nature generally more of the fool than
of the wise.
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what
he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but
depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in
doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in
certainties.
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Nam et ipse scientia potestas est.
[Knowledge itself is power.]
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can
only be to make us freer and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is
time we got rid of Him.
- James Baldwin (1867-1947)
Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing
can be changed until it is faced.
- James Baldwin (1867-1947)
Children have never been very good at listening to their
elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.
- James Baldwin (1867-1947)
I thought that he [Churchill] was a young man of
promise, but it appears he is a young man of promises.
- Arthur Balfour (1848-1930)
Frank Harris said The fact is, Mr. Balfour, all the
faults of the age come from Christianity and journalism. Christianity, of
course, but why journalism?
- Arthur Balfour (1848-1930)
History does not repeat itself. Historians repeat each
other.
- Arthur Balfour (1848-1930)
Behind every great fortune there is a crime.
- Honore de Balzac (1799-1850)
The more you judge, the less you love.
- Honore de Balzac
It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls
never have the time.
-Tallulah Bankhead
Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic
response.
- Mildred Barthel
Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of
old; seek what they sought.
- Basho
What is past my help is past my care.
- Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher
Drinking when we are not thirsty and making love all
year round, madam; that is all there is to distinguish us from other animals.
- Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, The Marriage of Figaro
I have my faults, but changing my tune is not one of
them.
- Samuel Beckett
There is always something rather absurd about the past.
- Sir Max Beerbohm (1872-1956)
Mankind is divisible into two great classes: hosts and
guests.
- Sir Max Beerbohm (1872-1956)
When one door closes another door opens; but we so often
look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the
ones which open for us.
- Alexander Graham Bell or Helen Keller
Perhaps a new age is opening up before us, in which the
intelligentsia and the cultured classes will dream of ways to avoid utopias and
to return to a non-utopian society, to a less perfect, a free society.
- Nikolai Berdyaev (1874-1948)
Suppose everyone cared enough, everyone shared enough,
wouldn't everybody have enough? There is enough in the world for everyone's
need, but not enough for everyone's greed.
- Nikolai Berdyaev (1874-1948)
Happiness is good health and a bad memory.
- Ingrid Bergman (1917-1982)
The present contains nothing more than the past, and what
is found in the effect was already in the cause.
- Henri Bergson (1853-1941)
Truth is the cry of all, but the game of few.
- Bishop George Berkeley (1685-1753)
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all
its pupils.
-Hector Berlioz
Why haven't women got labels on their foreheads saying
Danger: Government Health Warning: Women can seriously damage your brains,
genitals, current account, confidence, razor blades, and good standing among
your friends?!
- Jeffrey Bernard, Spectator
This is like deja vu all over again.
- Yogi Berra
Think?! How the hell are you gonna think and hit at the
same time?
- Yogi Berra
I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left
early.
- Yogi Berra
A nickel isn't worth a dime today.
- Yogi Berra
Do you mean now?
- Yogi Berra, when asked for the time
I made a wrong mistake.
- Yogi Berra
Thanks, you don't look so hot yourself.
- Yogi Berra, after being told he looked cool
You got to be careful if you don't know where you're
going, because you might not get there.
- Yogi Berra
You can observe a lot by watching.
- Yogi Berra
Alliance, n: in international politics, the union of two
thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that
they cannot separately plunder a third.
- Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914), The Devil's Dictionary
Egotist: a person more interested in himself than in me.
- Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914), The Devil's Dictionary
Future, n. that period of time in which our affairs
prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured.
- Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914), The Devil's Dictionnary
Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in
the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there.
- Josh Billings
The world continues to offer glittering prizes to those
who have stout hearts and sharp swords.
- Frederick Smith, Earl of Birkenhead (1872-1930)
He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.
- William Blake (1757-1827)
I must Create a System, or be enslav'd by another Man's;
I will not Reason and Compare; my business is to Create.
- William Blake (1757-1827)
The average person asks of education only that it
increase his earning power that he may enjoy in greater quantity or quality the
material satisfactions of the uneducated.
- Morris Bishop
To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not
watch them in the making.
- Otto von Bismarck
Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to
think.
- Niels Bohr
The opposite of a correct statement is a false
statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound
truth.
- Niels Bohr
Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
There is only one step from the sublime to the
ridiculous.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
If you wish to be a success in the world, promise
everything, deliver nothing.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
There is only one step from the sublime to the
ridiculous.
- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821)
If you are lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky
enough.
- Grace Boyle
Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.
- Victor Borge
For most folks, no news is good news; for the press,
good news is not news.
- Gloria Borger
Good ale, the true and proper drink of Englishmen. He is
not deserving of the name of Englishman who speaketh against ale.
- George Borrow (1803-1881)
My favourite - I might say - my only study, is man.
- George Borrow (1803-1881)
It is possible to store the mind with a million facts
and still be entirely uneducated.
- Alec Bourne
Intimacies between women often go backwards, beginning
in revelations and ending in small talk without loss of esteem.
- Elizabeth Bowen
If you want to win her hand / let the maiden understand
/ that she's not the only pebble on the beach.
- Harry Braisted
Documentation is like sex: when it is good, it is very,
very good; and when it is bad, it is better than nothing.
- Dick Brandon
I wish my deadly foe no worse / than want of friends,
and empty purse.
- Nicholas Breton (1545-1626)
When I say nothing I don't necessarily mean nothing.
- Ashlea Brilliant
I will stop at nothing to reach my objective, but only
because my brakes are defective.
- Ashlea Brilliant
The only way to remain a winner is to win once and then
not play any more.
- Ashlea Brilliant
My opinions may have changed but not the fact that I'm
right.
- Ashlea Brilliant
Forgive me now because tomorrow I may no longer feel
guilty.
- Ashlea Brilliant
Admire me now, avoid the June rush!
- Ashlea Brilliant
I may not be perfect, but parts of me are excellent!
- Ashlea Brilliant
Life may have no meaning. Or even worse, it may have a
meaning of which I disapprove.
- Ashlea Brilliant
Something there is moves me to love, and I / do know I
love, but know not how, nor why.
- Alexander Brome (1620-1666)
Somewhere, beyond space and time / is wetter water,
slimier slime.
- Rupert Brooke (1887-1915)
Whenever people say »we mustn't be sentimental«, you can
take it they are about to do something cruel. And if they add, »we must be
realistic«, they mean they are going to make money out of it.
- Brigid Brophy
Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to
drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.
- Lord Broughton
I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a
vegetarian because I hate plants.
- A. Whitney Brown
When your mother is mad & asks you Do I look
stupid?, it's best not to answer her.
- Meghann, age 13
You shouldn't stand in a bucket of water and touch an electric fence just
because your brother tells you to.
- Melissa, age 13
My grandmother can say more in a sentence than a college professor can say in
an hour and a half.
- Angela, age 14
- H. Jackson Brown Jr., Wit & Wisdom - Wise Words From Young Hearts
Persecution is a bad and indirect way to plant religion.
- Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682)
Take away the right to say 'fuck' and you take away the
right to say 'fuck the government'.
- Lenny Bruce
Everything has been said, and we are more than 7000
years of human thought too late.
- Jean de la Bruyere (1645-1696)
No one can earn a million dollars honestly.
- William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925)
An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of
support.
- John Buchan (1875-1940)
Suppose every cared enough, everyone shared enough,
wouldn't everybody have enough? There is enough in the world for everyone's
need, but not enough for everyone's greed.
- Frank Buchman (1878-1961)
After studying very hard to get his GED to help him get
a promotion, Archie learned that someone else got the job. He replied, 'Jesus
Christ, now here I am stuck with a high school education.'
- Archie Bunker
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for
good men to do nothing.
- Edmund Burke
Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair.
- Edmund Burke
An expert is one who knows more and more about less and
less.
- Nicholas Murray Butler
Life is not an exact science, it is an art.
- Samuel Butler (1835-1902)
Brigands demand your money or your life; women require
both.
- Samuel Butler (1835-1902)
It has been said that though God cannot alter the past,
historians can; it is perhaps because they can be useful to Him in this respect
that He tolerates their existence.
- Samuel Butler (1835-1902)
Don't go through life, grow through life.
- Eric Butterworth
Education should be the process of helping everyone to
discover his uniqueness to teach him how to develop that uniqueness, and then
to show him how to share it because that's the only reason for having anything.
- Leo Buscaglia, Love
My turn of mind is so given to taking things in the
absurd point of view, that it breaks out in spite of me every now and then.
- Lord Byron (1788–1824)
The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all
possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.
- James Branch Cabell
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never
incinerated by bolts of lightning.
- Calvin, Bill Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes
Hard to say, Ma'am. I think my cerebellum just fused.
- Calvin, Bill Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes
An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will
stay bought.
- Simon Cameron
An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself.
- Alber