Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. - Lord Acton, Letter, 5 April 1887 No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous. - Henry B. Adams, "The Education of Henry Adams", 1907 One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible. - Henry B. Adams, "The Education of Henry Adams", 1907 It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them. - Alfred Adler, 1939 Good art is not what it looks like, but what it does to us. - Roy Adzak, quoted in "Contemporary Artists", 1977 A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety. - Aesop We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified. - Aesop Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never play cards with a man named Doc. And never lie down with a woman who's got more trouble than you. - Nelson Algren, "What Every Young Man Should Know" Most of us spend the first 6 days of each week sowing wild oats, then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure. - Fred Allen Leisure time is that five or six hours when you sleep at night. - George 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, quoted in "New York Tribune", 1975 It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people. The good ones slept better ... while the bad ones seemed to enjoy the waking hours much more. - Woody Allen, "Side Effects" 1981 Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth. - Muhammad Ali, in "Time", 1978 Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible for talent is genius. - Henri-Fr‚d‚ric Amiel, "Journal", 1883 In any country there must be people who have to die. They are the sacrifices any nation has to make to achieve law and order. - Idi Amin Dada, 1976 God has been replaced, as he has all over the West, with respectability and air conditioning. - Imamu Amiri Baraka, "Home", 1966 Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise. - Maya Angelou, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", 1969 Death is life's answer to the question 'Why?' - Anonymous God is not dead. He is alive and working working on a less ambitious project. - Anonymous, 1975 In March July, October, May, The Ides are on the fifteenth day, The Nones the seventh: all other months besides Have two days less for Nones and Ides. - Anonymous Never argue with a fool - people might not know the difference. - Anonymous Never go to sea with two chronometers; take one or three. - Anonymous The fewer clear facts you have in support of an opinion, the stronger your emotional attachment to that opinion. - Anonymous Vote early and vote often. - Anonymous, on US election banners, 1850's You're never alone with schizophrenia. - Anonymous Resolved, that the women of this nation in 1876, have greater cause for discontent, rebellion and revolution than the men of 1776. - Susan B. Anthony We make war that we may live in peace. - Aristotle What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. - Aristotle What passes for optimism is most often the effect on an intellectual error. - Raymond Aron, "The Opium of the Intellectuals", 1957 We are still speaking the same language, but neither of us is hearing the other. - Hafez Assad, on Syrian relations with Egypt, in "Time", 3 April 1989 If Gary Hart had seen Fatal Attraction two years ago, he'd probably be President. - Bruce Babbitt, 1988 Presidential Campaign Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. - Francis Bacon, 1624 It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations. - Walter Bagehot, "Biographical Studies", 1863 Be careful what you set your heart upon - for it will surely be yours. - James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name" 1961 Nobody is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart; for his purity, by definition, is unassailable. - James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name" 1961 The future is like heaven - everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now. - James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name", 1961 It is easier to be a lover than a husband for the simple reason that it is more difficult to be witty every day than to say pretty things from time to time. - Honor‚ de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829 Marriage must incessantly contend with a monster that devours everything: familiarity. - Honor‚ de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829 The duration of passion is proportionate with the original resistance of the woman. - Honor‚ de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829 It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time. - Tallulah Bankhead Television is the first truly democratic culture - the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want. - Clive Barnes, in "New York Times", 1969 What is an adult? A child blown up by age. - Simone de Beauvoir, "La Femme rompue", 1967 Now comes the mystery. - Henry Ward Beecher, last words, 8 March 1887 Critics are like eunuchs in a harem: they know how it's done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves. - Brendan Behan The most important things to do in this world are to get something to eat, somthing to drink and somebody to love you. - Brendan Behan, in "Weekend", 1968 Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils. - Hector Berlioz, "Almanach des lettres fran‡aises" So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. - Psalms 90:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. - Psalms 111:10 Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. - Proverbs 16:18 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. - Proverbs 1:7 The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. - Ecclesiastes 9:11 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and riches. - Matthew 6:24 And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span? - Matthew 6:27 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. - John 15:13 Spring beckons! All things to the call respond; the trees are leaving and cashiers abscond. - Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911 Beauty, n: the power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband. - Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911 Belladonna, n. In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues. - Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911 Bore, n: a person who talks when you wish him to listen. - Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911 Conservative, n: a statesman who is enamoured of existing evils, as distinguished from a Liberal who wishes to replace them with others. - Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911 Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. - Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911 Marriage, n: the state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all, two. - Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911 Politeness, n. The most acceptable hypocrisy. - Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" Yankee, n. In Europe, an American. In the Northern States of our Union, a New Englander. In the Southern States the word is unknown. (See DAMYANK.) - Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" The wheel that squeaks the loudest is the one that gets the grease. - Josh Billings, "The Kicker" People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election. - Otto von Bismarck Universal suffrage is the government of a house by its nursery. - Otto von Bismarck If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. - Derek Bok, 1978 The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, 'She doesn't have what it takes.' They will say, 'Women don't have what it takes.' - Clare Boothe Luce Censorship, like charity, should begin at home, but unlike charity, it should end there. - Clare Boothe Luce No good deed goes unpunished. - Clare Boothe Luce When in doubt, mumble; when in trouble, delegate; when in charge, ponder. - James H. Boren Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. - Victor Borge Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone. - Jorge Luis Borges, 1972 We never know whether we are victors or whether we are defeated. - Jorge Luis Borges, "Borges On Writing", 1974 It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated. - Alec Bourne, "A Doctor's Creed" Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner. - General Omar Bradley I either want less corruption, or more chance to participate in it. - Ashleigh Brilliant Please don't ask me what the score is, I'm not even sure what the game is. - Ashleigh Brilliant To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, and call whatever you hit the target. - Ashleigh Brilliant No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power. - Jacob Bronowski, in "Encounter", 1971 Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance. - Sam Brown, in "Washington Post", 1977 Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. - Matthew Browne, "Lilliput Levee" As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children. - Anita Bryant, 1977 Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive. - William F. Buckley Before you kill something make sure you have something better to replace it with; something better than political opportunist slamming hate horseshit in the public park. - Charles Bukowski, "Notes of a Dirty Old Man", 1969 We love your adherence to democratic principles. - George Bush speaking to Ferdinand Marcos, June 1981 The final lesson of Viet Nam is that no great nation can long afford to be sundered by a memory. - George Bush, 1989 Inaugural Address The caribou love [the Alaska oil pipeline]. They run up against it, and they have babies. - George Bush, 1988 and again "New York Times", 3 April 1989 It would be inappropriate for the President of the United States to try to fine-tune for the people of Hungary how they ought to eat - how the cow out to eat the cabbage, as we say in the United States. - George Bush, quoted in "Philadelphia Inquirer", 13 July 1989 An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less. - Nicholas Murray Butler The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore. - Samuel Butler, "The Fair Haven", 1873 Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well. - Samuel Butler, "Notebooks" 1912 Marriage is distinctly and repeatedly excluded from heaven. Is this because it is thought likely to mar the general felicity? - Samuel Butler, "Notebooks" 1912 One was never married, and that's his hell; another is, and that's his plague. - Robert Burton, 1651 For truth is always strange; stranger than fiction. - Lord Byron, "Don Juan", 1818 The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. - James B. Cabell, "The Silver Stallion" 1926 Men willingly believe what they wish. - Julius Caesar What is life? An illusion, a shadow, a story. And the greatest good is little enough: for all life is a dream, and dreams themselves are only dreams. - Pedro Calderon de la Barca, "Life is a Dream" It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies. - Arthur Calwell, 1968 An honest politician is one who when he is bought will stay bought. - Simon Cameron Every revolutionary ends up either by becoming an oppressor or a heretic. - Albert Camus, "The Rebel", 1951 When I sell liquor, its called bootlegging; when my patrons serve it on Lake Shore Drive, its called hospitality. - Al Capone You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone. - Al Capone Anyone who can walk to the welfare office can walk to work. - Al Capp, in "Esquire", 1970 It is long accepted by the missionaries that morality is inversely proportional to the amount of clothing people wore. - Alex Carey Because of the greatness of the Shah, Iran is an island of stability in the Middle East. - Jimmy Carter, 31 December 1977 Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie!" till you can find a rock. - Wynn Catlin As long as people will accept crap, it will be financially profitable to dispense it. - Dick Cavett, in "Playboy", 1971 Everything beautiful has its moment and then passes away. - Luis Cernuda, "Las Ruinas" I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse. - Charles V, King of France In some cases non-violence requires more militancy than violence. - Cesar Chavez The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out. - Chinese proverb I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man. - Chuang Tzu I like a man who grins when he fights. - Winston Churchill It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. - Winston Churchill Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most times he will pick himself up and carry on. - Winston Churchill Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times. - Winston Churchill The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. - Winston Churchill Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others. - Winston Churchill, Speech, January 1952 Preparation, knowledge, and discipline can deal with any form of danger. - Tom Clancy, "THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER", 1984 Who will protect the public when the police violate the law? - Ramsey Clark It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him. - Arthur C. Clarke Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories. - Arthur C. Clarke Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - Arthur C. Clarke, "Profiles of the Future", 1962 You're either part of the solution or part of the problem. - Eldridge Cleaver, 1968 The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less. - Eldridge Cleaver, "Soul on Ice", 1968 America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization. - Georges Clemenceau, 1 December 1945 War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military. - Georges Clemenceau Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous. - Confucius Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance. - Confucius When we see persons of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see persons of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves. - Confucius Imprisoned in every fat man a thin man is wildly signaling to be let out. - Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945 Slums may well be breeding grounds of crime, but middle class suburbs are incubators of apathy and delirium. - Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945 Truth is a river that is always splitting up into arms that reunite. Islanded between the arms the inhabitants argue for a lifetime as to which is the main river. - Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945 Always be nice to those younger than you, because they are the ones who will be writing about you. - Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983 Youth is a period of missed opportunities. - Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983 The past is the only dead thing that smells sweet. - Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983 You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends. - Joseph Conrad, "Lord Jim", 1900 The horror! The horror! - Joseph Conrad, "Heart of Darkness", 1902 I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and invigorating climate, but most of all because of her indomitable people. - Calvin Coolidge, Speech, 21 September 1928 Don't talk unless you can improve the silence. - Laurence Coughlin A man feared that he might find an assassin; Another that he might find a victim. One was more wise than the other. - Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895 I stood upon a high place, and saw, below, many devils, running, leaping, and carousing in sin. One looked up, grinning, and said, "Comrade! Brother!" - Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895 I walked in a desert. And I cried, "Ah, God, take me from this place!" A voice said, "It is no desert." I cried, "Well, but--- "The sand, the heat, the vacant horizon." A voice said, "It is no desert." - Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895 I was in the darkness; I could not see my words Nor the wishes of my heart. Then suddenly there was a great light--- "Let me into the darkness again." - Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895 A man said to the universe, "Sir, I exist." "However," replied the universe, "the fact has not created in me a sense of obligation." - Stephan Crane, "War is Kind", 1899 There is growing evidence that smoking has pharamacological ... effects that are of real value to smokers. - Joseph F. Cullman III (Pres. of Phillip Morris) Annual Report to Stockholders, 1962 There are no atheists in the foxholes. - William Thomas Cummings, 1942 Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day. - the 14th Dalai Lama, interview in "TIME", 11 April 1988 The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crises maintain their neutrality. - Dante The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, and the second half by our children. - Clarence Darrow There is no such thing as justice - in or out of court. - Clarence Darrow, Interview, April 1936 When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it. - Clarence Darrow The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealised past. - Robertson Davies, "A Voice from the Attic", 1960 There is no such thing as a nonracial society in a multiracial country. - F. W. de Klerk, President of South Africa, quoted in _Time_, 11 September 1989 There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back. - Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, _Peopleware_, 1987 People are always talking about tradition, but they forget we have a tradition of a few hundred years of nonsense and stupidity, that there is a tradition of idiocy, incompetence and crudity. - Hugo Demartini, in "Contemporary Artists", 1977 Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives. - William Dement, in "Newsweek", 1959 I never deny, I never contradict. I sometimes forget. - Benjamin Disraeli There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. - Benjamin Disraeli Youth is a blunder, manhood a struggle, old age a regret. - Benjamin Disraeli, "Coningsby" 1844 The average Ph.D. thesis is nothing but a transference of bones from one graveyard to another. - J. Frank Dobie, "A Texan in England", 1945 Love built on beauty, soon as beauty dies. - John Donne, "Elegy II, The Anagram" Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius. - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Valley of Fear", 1914 Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches beyond their own understanding. - Fran‡ois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665 Old people like to give good advice, as solace for no longer being able to provide bad examples. - Fran‡ois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665 Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done as the fear of the consequences. - Fran‡ois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665 The reason that lovers never weary each other is because they are always talking about themselves. - Fran‡ois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665 One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say. - Will Durant, in "Reader's Digest", 1972 Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. - Will Durant, in "National Enquirer", 1980 A man's got to know his limitations. - Clint Eastwood in "Magnum Force", 1973 History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. - Abba Eban, 1970 Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. - Thomas Alva Edison, "Life", 1932 There is no substitute for hard work. - Thomas Alva Edison, "Life", 1932 To err is human but to really foul things up requires a computer. - Paul Ehrlich, in "The Farmers Almanac, 1978" Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity. - Albert Einstein God does not play dice. - Albert Einstein God may be subtle. But He is not malicious. - Albert Einstein I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed. - Albert Einstein I never think of the future - it comes soon enough. - Albert Einstein The important thing is not to stop questioning. - Albert Einstein The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one. - Albert Einstein The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish. - Albert Einstein, "Cosmic Religion" The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible. - Albert Einstein, "Life", 1950 Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. - Albert Einstein, "Ideas and Opinions", 1954 A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. - Dwight D. Eisenhower I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it. - Dwight D. Eisenhower In the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy as a prisoner's chains. - Dwight D. Eisenhower We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it. - Dwight D. Eisenhower What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog. - Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958 This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper. - T. S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men", 1925 The greatest task before civilization at present is to make machines what they ought to be, the slaves, instead of the masters of men. - Havelock Ellis, "Little Essays of Love and Virtue", 1922 The place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum. - Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923 The sun and the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago... had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands. - Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923 What we call "morals" is simply blind obedience to words of command. - Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923 Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. - Ralph Waldo Emerson What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. - Ralph Waldo Emerson To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Journal", 20 December 1822 A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841 I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841 To be great is to be misunderstood. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841 I hate quotations. Tell me what you know. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Journal", May 1849 Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Conduct of Life", 1860 Hitch your wagon to a star. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Conduct of Life", 1860 A wise man first determines what is within his control; all else is then irrelevant. - Epictetus We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. - Epictetus War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it. - Desiderius Erasmus A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems. - Paul Erd"s A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece. - Ludwig Erhard, in "The Observer", 1958 Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. - Susan Ertz The best of seers is he who guesses well. - Euripides The camera cannot lie. But it can be an accessory to untruth. - Harold Evans, "Pictures on a Page", 1978 The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them... Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not on your tale of years, but on your will. - Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, 1580 When you read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before. You see more in you than there was before. - Clifton Fadiman, "Any Number Can Play", 1957 The only accident [at Three Mile Island] is that this thing leaked out. You could have avoided this whole thing by not saying anything. - Craig Faust (control-room operator at TMI), 1979, quoted from "Loose Talk" If people really liked to work, we'd still be plowing the land with sticks and transporting goods on our backs. - William Feather A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes. - James Feibleman, "Understanding Philosophy", 1973 The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. - Fanny Fern, "Willis Parton" The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard Feynman, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the poor, to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. - Anatole France I am responsible only to God and history. - Francisco Franco I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death. - Anne Frank Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other. - Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes. - Benjamin Franklin, 1789 Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. - Sigmund Freud The news is the one thing the networks can point to with pride. Everything else they do is crap - and they know it. - Fred Friendly, 1980 A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain. - Robert Frost A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer. - Robert Frost A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel. - Robert Frost The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep. - Robert Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", 1923 We compound our suffering by victimising each other. - Athol Fugard, in "The Observer", 1971 The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun. - R. Buckminster Fuller The most important thing about Spaceship Earth - an instruction book didn't come with it. - R. Buckminster Fuller, quoted in "Contemporary Architects", 1980 It's not your blue blood, your pedigree or your college degree. It's what you do with your life that counts. - Millard Fuller, in "Time", 16 January 1989 Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory. - John Kenneth Galbraith Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. - John Kenneth Galbraith The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. - John Kenneth Galbraith In economics, the majority is always wrong. - John Kenneth Galbraith, in "Saturday Evening Post", 1968 One of the greatest pieces of economic wisdom is to know what you do not know. - John Kenneth Galbraith, in "Time", 1961 I could prove God statistically. - George Gallup He who awaits much can expect little. - Gabriel Garc¡a M rquez, "El Coronel no Tiene quien le Escriba" Si Dios no hubiera descansado el domingo habr¡a tenido tiempo de terminar el mundo. (If God hadn't rested on Sunday, He would have had time to finish the world.) - Gabriel Garc¡a M rquez, "Los Funerales de Mam Grande", 1974 No creo en Dios, pero le tengo miedo. (I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of Him.) - Gabriel Garc¡a M rquez, "El Amor en los Tiempos de C¢lera", 1985 The true statesman is the one who is willing to take risks. - Charles de Gaulle, 1967 If you can count your money you don't have a billion dollars. - J. Paul Getty Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. - Andr‚ Gide In hell there is no other punishment than to begin over and over again the tasks left unfinished in your lifetime. - Andr‚ Gide The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made. - Jean Giraudoux We are not abandoning our convictions, our philosophy or traditions, nor do we urge anyone to abandon theirs. - Mikhail Gorbachev, UN address, 7 December 1988 The truest wild beasts live in the most populous places. - Baltasar Gracian, "The Art of Worldly Wisdom" 1647 Thirty days hath November, April, June, and September, February hath twenty-eight alone, And all the rest have thirty-one. - Richard Grafton, 1562 I think when a person has been found guilty of rape he should be castrated. That would stop him pretty quick. - Billy Graham, 1974 The illusion that times that were are better than those that are, has probably pervaded all ages. - Horace Greeley, "The American Conflict", 1864-1866 If you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow. - Motto of the Green Berets Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought. - Graham Greene, 1981 It's round the world I've traveled; it's round the world I've roamed; but I've yet to see an outlaw drive a family from its home. - Woody Guthrie, "Pretty Boy Floyd" Those who stand for nothing fall for anything. - Alex Hamilton, "The Listener", 1978 The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers. - R. W. Hamming, "Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers", 1973 War will cease when men refuse to fight. - Fridtjof Hansen Licker talks mighty loud w'en it gets loose fum de jug. - Joel C. Harris, "Uncle Remus: Plantation Proverbs" In times like these, it is helpful to remember that there have always been times like these. - Paul Harvey The probability of anything happening is in inverse ratio to its desirability. - John W. Hazard, "Changing Times" 1957 Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another. - Ernest Hemingway, quoted in "Sunday Times", 1966 Is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? - Patrick Henry All is flux, nothing stays still. - Heraclitus There is nothing permanent except change. - Heraclitus Some actions have an end but no beginning; some begin but do not end. It all depends upon where the observer is standing. - Frank Herbert I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. - Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965 Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks. - Herodotus If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it. - Herodotus There's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos. - Jim Hightower, in "Time", 3 April 1989 Drama is life with the dull bits cut out. - Alfred Hitchcock, in "The Observer", 1960 In films murders are always very clean. I show how difficult it is and what a messy thing it is to kill a man. - Alfred Hitchcock, 1966 The victor will never be asked if he told the truth. - Adolf Hitler What luck for the rulers that men do not think. - Adolf Hitler Never tolerate the establishment of two continental powers in Europe. - Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933 Strength lies not in defense but in attack. - Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933 Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong. - Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933 The great masses of the people ... will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one. - Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933 You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you. - Eric Hoffer, in "The Faber Book of Aphorisms", 1964 Justice is incidental to law and order. - J. Edgar Hoover Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero! (Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow!) - Horace Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. (It is sweet and honorable to die for one's country.) - Horace Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled. - Horace Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men. - Kin Hubbard Now and then an innocent man is sent to the legislature. - Kin Hubbard, "Abe Martin's Broadcast", 1930 We believe that to err is human. To blame it on someone else is politics. - Hubert H. Humphrey The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously. - Hubert H. Humphrey, 1965 The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment. - Robert Hutchins, "Great Books" 1954 Maybe this world is another planet's Hell. - Aldous Huxley The most distressing thing that can happen to a prophet is to be proved wrong. The next most distressing thing is to be proved right. - Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World Revisited", 1956 Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you. - Aldous Huxley, in "Reader's Digest", 1956 Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards. - Aldous Huxley, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", 1956 A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm. - Henrik Ibsen, "An Enemy of the People", 1882 The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone. - Henrik Ibsen, "An Enemy of the People", 1882 There is always something to upset the most careful of human calculations. - Ihara Saikaku To think contrary to one's era is heroism. But to speak against it is madness. - Eugene Ionesco It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are. - Clive James, in "The Observer", 1976 A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. - William James El amor es un camino que de repente aparece y de tanto caminarlo se te pierde. - Victor Jara, "El Amor es un Camino" In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to Liberty. - Thomas Jefferson I think [a black] ... could scarcely be found capable of tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid. - Thomas Jefferson, "Notes on Virginia", 1787 It is always the best policy to tell the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar. - Jerome K. Jerome To seek permission is to seek denial. - Steve Jobs Men are like wine - some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age. - Pope John XXIII, 1978 I never trust a man unless I've got his pecker in my pocket. - Lyndon B. Johnson If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: PRESIDENT CAN'T SWIM. - Lyndon B. Johnson No member of our generation who wasn't a Communist or a dropout in the thirties is worth a damn. - Lyndon B. Johnson, 1960 Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. - Samuel Johnson, 7 April 1775 The heart has its prisons that intelligence cannot unlock. - Marcel Jouhandeau, "De la grandeur" Do you not know, my son, with what little understanding the world is ruled? - Pope Julius III There are two cardinal sins from which all the others spring: impatience and laziness. - Franz Kafka The more things change, the more they remain the same. - Alphonse Karr, "Les Guˆpes", January 1849 You do not destroy an idea by killing people; you replace it with a better one. - Edward Keating Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced. - John Keats, Correspondence, 1819 We have met the enemy and he is us. - Walt Kelly in "POGO" If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament. - Florynce Kennedy, 1976 Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. - John F. Kennedy We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world - or to make it the last. - John F. Kennedy And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. - John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961 If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961 Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. - John F. Kennedy, 12 March 1962 Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say 'Why not?' - Robert F. Kennedy, quoted in "Esquire", 1969 Without feeling there's no reason to live. - Andr‚ Kert‚sz, photographer, 1894-1985 In the long run we are all dead. - John Maynard Keynes, "The General Theory", 1936 Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. - S"ren Kierkegaard, "Life" It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important. - Martin Luther King, Jr. Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the the philanthropist to over-look the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary. - Martin Luther King, Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963 The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. - Martin Luther King, Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963 The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer. - Henry Kissinger In a fight you don't stop to choose your cudgels. - Nikita Khruschev Television - a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well-done. - Ernie Kovacs It is well that war is so terrible, or we should get too fond of it. - Robert E. Lee, December 1862 To light a candle is to cast a shadow. - Ursula K. Le Guin, "A Wizard of Earthsea", 1975 It is true that liberty is precious - so precious that it must be rationed. - Nikolai Lenin The world began without man, and it will complete itself without him. - Claude Levi-Strauss, "Tristes Tropiques", 1955 Ask a man which way he is going to vote, and he will probably tell you. Ask him, however, why, and vagueness is all. - Bernard Levin, in "Daily Mail", 1964 A real diplomat is one who can cut his neighbor's throat without having his neighbor notice it. - Trygve Lie Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after. - Anne Morrow Lindbergh Winning is not everything. It's the only thing. - Vince Lombardi, 1965 The ignorant man always adores what he cannot understand. - Cesare Lombroso, "The Man of Genius" Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. - Joe Louis, 1965 In war there is no substitute for victory. - General Douglas MacArthur, Speech, 19 April 1951 There is no security on this earth, there is only opportunity. - General Douglas MacArthur, 1955 Caminante, son tus huellas el camino, y nada m s; caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar. - Antonio Machado, "Proverbios y cantares, VI" All our knowledge merely helps us to die a more painful death than the animals that know nothing. - Maurice Maeterlinck The atom bomb is a paper tiger... Terrible to look at but not so strong as it seems. - Mao Zedong Politics power grows out of the barrel of a gun. - Mao Zedong, "Quotations from Chairman Mao", 1966 Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed. - Mao Zedong, "Quotations from Chairman Mao", 1966 an optimist is a guy that has never had much experience - Donald R. Perry Marquis, "archy and mehitabel", 1927 Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms. - Groucho Marx Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others. - Groucho Marx Religion ... is the opium of the people. - Karl Marx, "Critique of the Hegelian Philosophy of Right", 1844 Unrecognized faults lead to wasted efforts - Joanot Martorell, "Tirant lo Blanc", 1490 Love is only the dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species. - W. Somerset Maugham, "A Writer's Notebook" 1949 I feel like a fugitive from the law of averages. - William H. Mauldin, "Up Front" 1944 The people here [in Nicaragua] are amazingly friendly, when you figure we're here to overthrow their government. - US Ambassador to Nicaragua Richard Melton Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. - H. L. Mencken There's always an easy solution to every human problem - neat, plausible, and wrong. - H. L. Mencken Time is the great legalizer, even in the field of morals. - H. L. Mencken, "A Book of Prefaces", 1917 Nine times out of ten, in the arts as in life, there is actually no truth to be discovered; there is only error to be exposed. - H. L. Mencken, "Prejudices, Third Series", 1922 The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom. - H. L. Mencken, "Prejudices, Third Series", 1922 Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking. - H. L. Mencken, "A Mencken Chrestomathy", 1949 Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives. - John Stuart Mill A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something. - Wilson Mizner I respect faith, but doubt is what gives you an education. - Wilson Mizner Some of the greatest love affairs I've known have involved one actor, unassisted. - Wilson Mizner Only the sinner has the right to preach. - Christopher Morley You have not converted a man because you have silenced him. - John Morley, "Rousseau", 1876 Any party which takes credit for the rain must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the draught. - Dwight Morrow Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation. - Edward R. Murrow The big majority of Americans, who are comparatively well off, have developed an ability to have enclaves of people living in the greatest misery without almost noticing them. - Gunnar Myrdal Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one. - Vladimir Nabokov, quoted in "Time", 1981 The speed of exit of a civil servant is directly proportional to the quality of his service. - Ralph Nader, "The Spoiled System" Everybody is interesting for an hour, but few people can last more than two. - V. S. Naipul, interview in "Time", 10 July 1989 Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent. - Napoleon Bonaparte A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights. - Napoleon Bonaparte, "Maxims" 1804-1815 History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon. - Napoleon Bonaparte, "Maxims" 1804-1815 Women are nothing but machines for producing children. - Napolean Bonaparte, quoted in "The Book of Insults", 1978 Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker. - Ogden Nash Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. - George Jean Nathan Nobody believes the official spokesman ... but everybody trusts an unidentified source. - Ron Nesen, 1977 If I have been further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. - Sir Isaac Newton O God, give us serenity to accept what cannot be changed, courage to change what should be changed, and wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. - Reinhold Niebuhr, sermon, 1934 Democracy is finding proximate solutions to insoluble problems. - Reinhold Niebuhr They [Nazis] came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up. - Martin Niem"ller In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play. - Friedrich Nietzsche Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves? - Friedrich Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil", 1885 - 1886 A ship is always referred to as "she" because it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder. - Chester Nimitz, Speech, 13 February 1940 I have nothing to hide. - Richard Nixon I would have made a good pope. - Richard Nixon Voters quickly forget what a man says. - Richard Nixon Your President is no crook! - Richard Nixon When the president does it, that means it is not illegal. - Richard Nixon, in interview with David Frost, 19 May 1977 Laws were made to be broken. - Christopher North Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly upon our own point of view. - Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Return of the Jedi" There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home. - Kenneth H. Olson, President of DEC, Convention of the World Future Society, 1977 The optimist thinks that this is the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist knows it. - J. Robert Oppenheimer, "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" 1951 Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket. - George Orwell Liberal - a power worshipper without power. - George Orwell On their fiftieth, everybody has the face they deserve. - George Orwell On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good and not quite all the time. - George Orwell, collected essays All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. - George Orwell, "Animal Farm" 1945 Big Brother Is Watching You - George Orwell, "1984", 1948 Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. - George Orwell, "1984", 1948 At 50 everyone has the face he deserves. - George Orwell, "Journals", 1949 Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives, but on balance life is suffering and only the very young or the very foolish imagine otherwise. - George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant", 1950 It is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe there are. - Ovid, "Ars Amatoria" To be loved, be lovable. - Ovid, "Ars Amatoria" The chief product of an automated society is a widespread and deepening sense of boredom. - Cyril Parkinson It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. - C. Northcote Parkinson, in "The Economist", 1955 If all men knew what others say of them, there would not be four friends in the world. - Blaise Pascal, 1656 Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed. - Blaise Pascal, "Pens‚es", 1670 Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply... For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much. - Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948 God forgives us. ... Who am I not to forgive? - Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948 I have one great fear in my heart, that one day when they [the whites of South Africa] have turned to loving, they will find we [the blacks] are turned to hating. - Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948 Then what is it worth, this mining industry? And why should it be kept alive, if it is only our poverty that keeps it alive? ... Is it we that must be kept poor so that others may stay rich? - Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948 What broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another? - Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948 Who knows for what we live, and struggle, and die? ... Wise men write many books, in words too hard to understand. But this, the purpose of our lives, the end of all our struggle, is beyond all human wisdom. - Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948 Yet [white] men [of South Africa] were afraid, with a fear that was deep, deep in the heart, a fear so deep that they hid their kindness, ... They were afraid because they were so few. And fear could not be cast out, but by love. - Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948 To give up the task of reforming society is to give up one's responsibility as a free man. - Alan Paton, 1967 Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. - George S. Patton, "War As I Knew It", 1947 Assuming that either the left wing or the right wing gained control of the country, it would probably fly around in circles. - Pat Paulsen Public office is the last refuge of a scoundrel. - Boies Penrose, 1931 In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. - Laurence Peter, "The Peter Principle" 1969 Democracy is a process by which the people are free to choose the man who will get the blame. - Laurence Peter, "Peter's Quotations", 1977 Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it. - Laurence Peter, "Peter's Quotations", 1977 A man who is always ready to believe what is told him will never do well. - Gaius Petronius, "Satyricon" Difference of religion breeds more quarrels than difference of politics. - Wendell Phillips, Speech, 7 November 1860 Sometimes democracy must be bathed in blood. - Augusto Pinochet The measure of man is what he does with power. - Pittacus If everybody's behavior can be explained by simple stupidity and greed, there's no point in assuming a conspiracy. - P. J. Plauger Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater. - Roman Polanski Under capitalism man exploits man; under socialism the reverse is true. - Polish proverb If you do not raise your eyes you will think you are the highest point. - Antonio Porchia, "Voces", 1968 One lives in the hope of becoming a memory. - Antonio Porchia, "Voces", 1968 A good workman is known by his tools. - Proverb Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret, especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous. - William Proxmire Maxim 914: Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage. - Publilius Syrus Maxim 1070: I have often regretted my speech, never my silence. - Publilius Syrus Practice is the best of all instructors. - Publilius Syrus If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. - J. Danforth Quayle There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better offense. In other words, a good offense wins. - J. Danforth Quayle, on "Star Wars", quoted in "Time", 19 September 1988 Happy campers you have been, happy campers you are, and happy campers you will always be. - J. Danforth Quayle, on arrival in American Samoa, quoted in "Time", 8 May 1989 I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people. - J. Danforth Quayle, quoted in "Time", 8 May 1989 What a waste it is to lose one's mind or not to have a mind. How true it is. - J. Danforth Quayle, addressing the United Negro College Fund, quoted in "Time", 26 June 1989 Mars is essentially in the same orbit [as the Earth]... We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe. - J. Danforth Quayle, interviewed on Cable Network News, 11 August 1989 Religions tend to disappear with man's good fortune. - Raymond Queneau, "A Model History" I have been staying in Moscow for only 24 hours, but already I feel almost at home. - Hashemi Rafsanjani, in "New York Times", 22 June 1989 A nuclear power plant is infinitely safer than eating, because 300 people choke to death on food every year. - Dixy Lee Ray, 1977, quoted from "Loose Talk" Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born. - Ronald Reagan Growing and decaying vegetation in this land are responsible for 93 percent of the oxides of nitrogen. - Ronald Reagan If you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all. - Ronald Reagan Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity? - Ronald Reagan Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. - Ronald Reagan, "Saturday Evening Post" 1965 I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary. - Ronald Reagan, 20 October 1965 I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. - Ronald Reagan, 1968 All the wastes in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk. - Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Burlington Free Press", 15 February 1980 History shows that when the taxes of a nation approach about 20% of the people's income, there begins to be a lack of respect for government.... When it reaches 25%, there comes an increase in lawlessness. - Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Time", 14 April 1980 Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation. So let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emissions standards for man-made sources. - Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Sierra", 10 September 1980 I have just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever; we begin bombing in 5 minutes. - Ronald Reagan, weekly radio address, 11 August 1984 Facts are stupid things. - Ronald Reagan, 1988 Republican Convention The scientists split the atom; now the atom is splitting us. - Quentin Reynolds, in "Quote & Unquote", 1970 The streets are safe in Philadelphia, it's only the people who make them unsafe. - Frank Rizzo We need excellence in public education and if the teachers can't do it, we'll send in a couple of policemen. - Frank Rizzo, Philadelphia Bulletin, Oct 19, 1973 One of the weaknesses of our age is our apparent inability to distinguish our needs from our greeds. - Don Robinson, quoted in "Reader's Digest", 1963 Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it.... You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing would fall flat in a week. - Will Rogers Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. - Will Rogers Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects. - Will Rogers There is nothing as stupid as an educated man if you get him off the thing he was educated in. - Will Rogers This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer. - Will Rogers We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by. - Will Rogers Everything is funny as long as it is happening to someone else. - Will Rogers, "The Illiterate Digest", 1924 I never met a man I didn't like. - Will Rogers, Speech, June 1930 Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save. - Will Rogers, "The Autobiography of Will Rogers", 1949 The world is an enormous injustice. - Jules Romains No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. - Eleanor Roosevelt, "This is My Story", 1937 The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. - Franklin D. Roosevelt It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. - Franklin D. Roosevelt, Speech, 22 May 1932 The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. - Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1st Inaugural Address, 1933 A technique is a trick that works. - Gian-Carlo Rota One half of the children born die before their eighth year. This is nature's law; why try to contradict it? - Jean Jacques Rousseau, "mile, ou de l'education", 1762 People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little. - Jean Jacques Rousseau, "mile, ou de l'education", 1762 Never trust anyone over thirty. - Jerry Rubin, 1966 The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. - Bertrand Russell Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth - more than ruin, more even than death. - Bertrand Russell, "Selected Papers" You can outdistance that which is running after you, but not what is running inside you. - Rwandan proverb Women and elephants never forget an injury. - Saki, "Reginald", 1904 A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation. - Saki, "The Square Egg", 1924 Neither soldiers nor money can defend a king but only friends won by good deeds, merit, and honesty. - Sallust, "De bello Iugurthino" Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands and goes to work. - Carl Sandburg, in "New York Times", 1959 In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes when you awake in the morning. - Carl Sandburg, in "New York Post", 1960 A man's feet should be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world. - George Santayana Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. - George Santayana When the rich make war it's the poor that die. - Jean-Paul Sartre, "Le Diable et le bon Dieu", 1951 Tolerance means excusing the mistakes others make. Tact means not noticing them. - Arthur Schnitzler Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world. - Arthur Schopenhauer, "Studies in Pessimism" Comment is free, but facts are sacred. - C. P. Scott, c.1900 They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist--- - General John B. Sedgwick, last words, 1864 They that govern the most make the least noise. - John Seldon, 1689 People will swim through shit if you put a few bob in it. - Peter Sellers It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing. - Seneca, "Epistles" There is no great genius without some touch of madness. - Seneca, "On Tranquility of the Mind" Every reign must submit to a greater reign. - Seneca, "Thyestes" Singing makes all the sad people happy because it is the voice of happiness. - Joseph Shabalala Assassination is the extreme form of censorship. - George Bernard Shaw, "The Rejected Statement" He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches. - George Bernard Shaw, "Man and Superman", 1903 If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion. - George Bernard Shaw Lack of money is the root of all evil. - George Bernard Shaw, "Man and Superman", 1903 Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman, but believing what he read made him mad. - George Bernard Shaw We've already established what you are, ma'am. Now we're just haggling over the price. - George Bernard Shaw Liars ought to have good memories. - Algernon Sidney All reformers, however strict their social conscience, live in houses just as big as they can pay for. - Logan Pearsall Smith I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world. - Socrates I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance. - Socrates The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance. - Socrates If God had meant there to be more than 2 factors of production, He would have made it easier for us to draw three-dimensional diagrams. - Robert Solow Interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art. - Susan Sontag Care of the poor is incumbent on society as a whole. - Spinoza, 1677 A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic. - Joseph Stalin The writer is the engineer of the human soul. - Joseph Stalin Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party. - Joseph Stalin, Speech, 19 April 1923 Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the Soviet Union. - Joseph Stalin, 1935 Must the hunger become anger and the anger fury before anything will be done? - John Steinbeck Time is the only critic without ambition. - John Steinbeck, "Writers at Work', 1977 There are really not many jobs that actually require a penis or a vagina, and all other occupations should be open to everyone. - Gloria Steinem A humgry man is not a free man. - Adlai Stevenson Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them. - Adlai Stevenson The time to stop a revolution is at the beginning, not the end. - Adlai Stevenson, 9 September 1952 The cruelest lies are often told in silence. - Robert Louis Stevenson, "Virginibus Puerisque", 1881 Success always necessitates a degree of ruthlessness. Given the choice of friendship or success, I'd probably choose success. - Sting (Gordon Summer), 1980 If God, as some now say, is dead, He no doubt died of trying to find an equitable solution to the Arab-Jewish problem. - I. F. Stone, 1967 Ninety per cent of everything is crap. - Theodore Sturgeon There is nothing in this world constant but inconstancy. - Swift And you may ask yourself "Am I right? ... Am I wrong?" And you may say to yourself "MY GOD! ... WHAT HAVE I DONE?" - The Talking Heads A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, will tell you. - Bert Taylor, "The So-Called Human Race", 1922 The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread. - Mother Teresa, quoted in "Time", 4 December 1989 El infierno es el lugar donde no se ama. (Hell is the place where love is not found.) - Santa Teresa If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman. - Margaret Thatcher You don't tell deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive. - Margaret Thatcher, 1976 Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. - Henry David Thoreau That government is best which governs least. - Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience" 1849 The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. - Henry David Thoreau, "Walden", 1854 If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. - Henry David Thoreau, "Walden", 1854 The savage in man is never quite eradicated. - Henry David Thoreau, "Journal", 26 September 1859 It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers. - James Thurber You can fool too many of the people too much of the time. - James Thurber, "The Thurber Carnival", 1945 The Law of Raspberry Jam - The wider any culture is spread, the thinner it gets. - Alvin Toffler, "The Culture Consumers", 1964 The trouble with the rat-race is that even if you win, you're still a rat. - Lily Tomlin The function of genius is not to give new answers, but to pose new questions - which time and mediocrity can solve. - Hugh Trevor-Roper, "Men and Events" The dictatorship of the Communist Party is maintained by recourse to every form of violence. - Leon Trotsky, "Terrorism and Communism", 1924 If you can't convince them, confuse them. - Harry S. Truman If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. - Harry S. Truman It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. - Harry S. Truman Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past. - Harry S. Truman, "Memoirs, Vol. II", 1955 A President cannot always be popular. - Harry S. Truman, "Memoirs, Vol. II", 1955 It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours. - Harry S. Truman, 1958 Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship. - Harry S. Truman, 1959 A little more moderation would be good. Of course, my life hasn't exactly been one of moderation. - Donald Trump, in "Time", 16 January 1989 I like thinking big. If you're going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big. - Donald Trump, in "Time", 16 January 1989 Words divide us, action unites us. - Slogan of the Tupamaros When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years. - Mark Twain Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear. - Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson", 1894 Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with. - Mark Twain, "Following the Equator", 1897 Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work. - Mark Twain, Correspondence, 1908 Good politics are often inextricably intertwined. - Morris Udall, "Too Funny to Be President", 1988 Lord, give us the wisdom to utter words that are gentle and tender, for tomorrow we may have to eat them. - Morris Udall, quoted in "Sierra", May/June 1989 To fall into a habit is to begin to cease to be. - Miguel de Unamuno, "The Tragic Sense of Life", 1913 Nada muere, todo baja del r¡o del tiempo al mar de la eternidad y all¡ queda. - Miguel de Unamuno, "Ver con los Ojos y Otros Relatos Novelescos" ¨No es acaso todo esto un sue¤o de Dios o de quien sea, que se desvanecer en cuanto l despierte, y por eso le rezamos y elevamos a l c nticos e himnos, para adormecerle, para cunar su sue¤o? - Miguel de Unamuno, "Niebla", 1914 Nadie tiene m s imaginaci¢n que la realidad. - Miguel de Unamuno, "El Espejo de la Muerte", 1941 The Vice Presidency is sort of like the last cookie on the plate. Everybody insists he won't take it, but somebody always does. - Bill Vaughan Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit. (And perhaps at some later date it will be pleasant to remember these things.) - Vergil Time is flying never to return. - Vergil There's a lot to be said for being noveau riche, and the Reagans mean to say it all. - Gore Vidal, in "The Observer", 1981 If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. - Voltaire, "pŒtres, XCVI" We are what we pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. One's company, two's a crowd and three's a party. - Andy Warhol, in "Exposures", 1979 The sports page records people's accomplishments; The front page nothing but their failures. - Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns. - James Watt, in "The Washington Post", 24 May 1981 If you worry about your customers, you won't have to worry about money. - Les Welch, in "Bicycle USA", March/April 1990 I passionately hate the idea of being with it, I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time. - Orson Welles, 1966 I never loved another person the way I loved myself. - Mae West When choosing between two evils, I always like to take the one I've never tried before. - Mae West, in "Klondike Annie" 1936 Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) - Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass", 1855 A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies. - Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Grey", 1891 Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them. - Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Grey", 1891 There is no sin except stupidity. - Oscar Wilde, "The Critic as Artist", 1891 We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. - Oscar Wilde, "Lady Windermere's Fan", 1892 Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die. - Oscar Wilde, "The Importance of Being Earnest", 1895 Hindsight is always 20:20. - Billy Wilder Voters do not decide issues. They decide *who* will decide issues. - George F. Will, in "Newsweek", 1976 Only the winners decide what were war crimes. - Gary Wills, in "New York Times", 1975 Not-really-trying is just as much effort as trying-really-hard. The only difference ... is that not-really-trying receives no reward. - A. N. Wilson, "Incline Our Hearts", 1989 If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments. - Earl Wilson You can't expect to hit the jackpot if you don't put a few nickels in the machine. - Flip Wilson, 1971 Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others. - Jonathan Winters in "The Twilight Zone" The limits of my language means the limits of my world. - Ludwig Wittgenstein Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size. - Virginia Woolf, "A Room of One's Own", 1929 I believe that in the end the truth will conquer. - John Wycliffe He who is conceived in a cage yearns for the cage. - Yevgeny Yevtushenko, 1968 It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees! - Emiliano Zapata One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds. - Frank Zappa, 1979 Progress might be a circle, rather than a straight line. - Eberhard Zeidler, in "Contemporary Architects", 1980