return to quotes home.
100 quotes found by 64 different authors.
a uk politian
we shall drive ever foward along this line until all our citizens have above average wages.
taken from 'bbc radio interview'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:48:27. (gmt -0500).
a.a.milne
"[..] poetry and hums aren't things which you get, they're things which get you. and all you can do is go where they can find you."
taken from 'the house at pooh corner (p.144)'
quote commentary: said by pooh
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:42:43. (gmt -0500).
"rabbit's clever," said pooh thoughtfully.
"yes," said piglet, "rabbit's clever."
"and he has brain."
"yes," said piglet, "rabbit has brain."
there was a long silence.
"i suppose," said pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything."
taken from 'the house at pooh corner (p.107-8)'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:41:23. (gmt -0500).
pooh, who felt more and more that he was somewhere else, got up slowly and began to look for himself.
taken from 'the house at pooh corner (p.107)'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:40:30. (gmt -0500).
"what do jugulars do?" asked piglet, hoping that they wouldn't.
taken from 'the house at pooh corner (p.63)'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:39:35. (gmt -0500).
'hallo, rabbit,' he said, 'is that you?'
'let's pretend it isn't,' said rabbit, 'and see what happens.'
taken from 'winnie-the-pooh (p102)'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:36:30. (gmt -0500).
pooh went into a corner and tried saying 'aha!' in that sort of voice. sometimes it seemed to him that it did mean what rabbit said, and sometimes it seemed to him that it didn't. 'i suppose it's just practice,' he thought. 'i wonder if kanga will have to practice too so as to understand it.'
taken from 'winnie-the-pooh (p84)'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:35:33. (gmt -0500).
abba eban
history teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
author commentary: representative of israel in the '40s and 50s, minister from the 60s on..
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:14:15. (gmt -0500).
abelard
there are some cases where some humans prefer risk to compromise, otherwise they lose what is essential to their sense of identity.
taken from 'abelard of le pallet on theology'
author commentary: one of the more sane people i know. abelard's site is here, and has lots very interesting articles.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:24:03. (gmt -0500).
nothing is so well said that it cannot be twisted.
author commentary: medieval church philosopher - amongst other things had a load of his books burnt by the ever charming church of rome. more information here.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:49:38. (gmt -0500).
abraham lincoln
nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:52:34. (gmt -0500).
adolph hitler
what luck for the rulers that men do not think.
taken from 'mein kampf (1933)'
author commentary: it's amazing how little this guy is quoted considering how much people purport to write about his character.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:50:26. (gmt -0500).
aesop
the mice voted to bell the cat.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:27:40. (gmt -0500).
alan ball
it's hard to stay mad when there is so much beauty in the world.
taken from 'american beauty'
quote commentary: said by 'lester burnham'... amazingly similar to my attitude - i've at times tried to stay annoyed at something or other, and invariably i end up laughing.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:05:04. (gmt -0500).
alan turing
i believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted.
author commentary: one of the first people to build and work on computers, starting during the second world war. after the war he was hounded by the government for being homosexual and eventually commited suicide... aren't governments so helpful?
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:55:26. (gmt -0500).
albert einstein
the world is a dangerous place; not because of the evil people, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:33:26. (gmt -0500).
aldrous huxley
the greeks..knew very well that hubris against the essentially divine order of nature would be followed by its appropriate nemesis.
taken from 'themes & variations'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:07:44. (gmt -0500).
anonymous
don't vote. it only encourages them.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:40:59. (gmt -0500).
aristophanes
boulei nefelokokkugian
taken from 'the birds'
quote commentary: means 'how about cloudcuckooland?'.. suggested as a name for the new kingdom of the birds, by pithetaerus.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:02:45. (gmt -0500).
attributed to edmond burke
all that is needed for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.
author commentary: irish statesman (1729-1797)
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:36:34. (gmt -0500).
azimov
violence is the last resort of the incompetent
taken from 'foundation'
quote commentary: said by 'saldor hardin'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:59:29. (gmt -0500).
benjamin franklin
those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
author commentary: great american allrounder (1706-1790), amongst other things a founding father, inventor of bifocals and the lightening rod, one of the early scientists working with electricity, and many many other things... look him up.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:58:17. (gmt -0500).
blaise pascal
men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
author commentary: mathematician, physicist, philosopher, ... from 1623 to 1662.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:54:27. (gmt -0500).
bruce lee
you can't change people with your fists; i've learnt that... they see something strange, something they don't understand, and they get afraid... you show them the beauty of that strange thing, and they are no longer afraid because it has become part of them.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:18:57. (gmt -0500).
the key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:45:13. (gmt -0500).
c.s.lewis
the claim to equality, outside the strictly political field, is made only by those who feel themselves to be in some way inferior.
taken from 'screwtape proposes a toast (p.10)'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:28:02. (gmt -0500).
cameron crowe
if you ever get lonely, go to the record store and visit your friends.
taken from 'almost famous'
quote commentary: said by the character 'penny lane'. this is one of my very favourite films.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:29:10. (gmt -0500).
chinese adage
in the course of a long life, a wise man will be prepared to abandon his baggage several times.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:28:24. (gmt -0500).
d. hofstadter
anarchy has its own kinds of rules, no less than does civilized society: it is just that they operate from the bottom up, not from the top down.
taken from 'godel, echer, bach'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:55:52. (gmt -0500).
dan quayle
people that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history.
author commentary: former vice-president of the usa.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:55:17. (gmt -0500).
dante alighieri
o dignitosa concïenza e metta,
come t'è picciol fallo amaro morso!
taken from 'purgatorio'
quote commentary: translates as "o pure and noble conscience, how bitter a sting is a little fault to you!"
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:18:06. (gmt -0500).
david hume
it is seldom that freedom of any kind is lost all at once.
author commentary: british political thinker (1711-1776)
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:56:17. (gmt -0500).
douglas adams
i really didn't foresee the internet. but then, neither did the computer industry. not that that tells us very much of course - the computer industry didn't even foresee that the century was going to end.
author commentary: surrealist writer... examples of his writing... h2g2 project... read his stuff... not just the funny stuff...
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:12:32. (gmt -0500).
edward gibbon
in the end more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. when the athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for was freedom from responsibility, then athens ceased to be free.
author commentary: writer of the epic 'rise and fall of the roman empire'.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:20:49. (gmt -0500).
eric frank russell
myob
taken from 'and then there were none'
quote commentary: an acronym for 'mind your own business'. an educative slogan. the story in full can be found here.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:52:41. (gmt -0500).
freedom - i won't.
taken from 'and then there were none'
quote commentary: an educative slogan. the story in full can be found here.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:51:01. (gmt -0500).
hanlon
never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
author commentary: nobody knows who hanlon is, but some guess that it's a corruption of 'heinlein', particularly as there is a similar sentiment in one of his stories... see here.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:16:40. (gmt -0500).
hayek
words become empty shells deprived of any definite meaning [...] used solely for the emotional associations which still adhere to them.
taken from 'the road to serfdom'
quote commentary: this book gives an overwhelming impression of just what socialism, in whatever form, leads to... totalitarianism.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:59:05. (gmt -0500).
heinlein
it's impossible for a woman to lay it on too thick with a man. if you tell a man he's eight feet tall and say it often enough, with your eyes wide and throb in your voice, he'll start stooping to go through seven-foot doors.
taken from 'i will fear no evil'
quote commentary: said by eunice to joan
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:24:31. (gmt -0500).
dr.garcia: do you know the technical term we physicians use to describe girls who depend on rhythm?
miss smith: no what?
dr.garcia: we call them "mothers".
taken from 'i will fear no evil'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:21:38. (gmt -0500).
there has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary public interest. this strange doctrine is supported neither by statute nor common law. neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back, for their private benefit.
taken from 'life-line'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:21:13. (gmt -0500).
a slave cannot be freed, save he do it himself. nor can you enslave a free man; the very most you can do is kill him!
taken from 'double star'
quote commentary: said by 'joseph bonforte'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:15:39. (gmt -0500).
in god's name, why give a "cocktail party"? people who don't like each other particularly, standing around (never enough chairs), talking about things they aren't interested in, drinking drinks they don't want (why set a time to take a drink?) and getting high so that they won't notice they aren't having fun. why?
taken from 'glory road'
quote commentary: said by oscar gordon... one of his best books - any rpg-ists out there will love the plot, but the ideas are more important... just what is happiness? why does being 'complete' in happiness make you miserable?
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:15:06. (gmt -0500).
there are so many swell places for a man to keep his mouth shut.
taken from 'the star beast'
quote commentary: said by 'wesley robbins'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:13:52. (gmt -0500).
i always mean what i say, sir. it saves time.
taken from 'the star beast'
quote commentary: said by 'henry kiku'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:13:23. (gmt -0500).
the law is whatever you can convince a court it is.
taken from 'the star beast'
quote commentary: said by 'betty sorenson'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:13:00. (gmt -0500).
you don't own a cat, he is a free citizen. take dogs; dogs are friendly and fun and loyal. but slaves. not their fault, they've been bred for it. but slavery makes me queasy, even in animals.
taken from 'farnham's freehold'
quote commentary: said by 'hugh farnham'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:54:21. (gmt -0500).
anything that is moral for a group to do is moral for one person to do.
taken from 'the moon is a harsh mistress'
quote commentary: said by 'professor depalma'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:47:05. (gmt -0500).
i am but an egg.
taken from 'stranger in a strange land'
quote commentary: said by 'valentine michael smith'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:46:49. (gmt -0500).
i used to think i was serving humanity... then i discovered that humanity does not want to be served; on the contrary it resents any attempt to serve it. so now i do what pleases jubal harshaw.
taken from 'stranger in a strange land'
quote commentary: said by 'jubal harshaw'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:45:39. (gmt -0500).
pacifism is a shifty doctrin under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay--and claims a halo for his dishonesty.
taken from 'double star'
quote commentary: said by 'john joseph bonforte'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:44:59. (gmt -0500).
never underestimate the power of human stupidity.
taken from 'time enough for love, and about a million other places :)'
quote commentary: said by the character 'lazarus long'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:44:38. (gmt -0500).
i will accept any rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. i am free, no matter what rules surround me. if i find them tolerable, i tolerate them; if i find them too obnoxious, i break them. i am free because i know that i alone am morally responsible for everything i do.
taken from 'the is a harsh mistress'
quote commentary: said by 'professor depalma'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:43:48. (gmt -0500).
what a wonderful world it is that has girls in it.
taken from 'time enough for love'
quote commentary: said by the character 'lazarus long'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:43:14. (gmt -0500).
there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
taken from 'the moon is a harsh mistress'
quote commentary: lunar folk wisdom
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:42:49. (gmt -0500).
always yield to temptation: it may never pass your way again.
taken from 'time enough for love'
quote commentary: said by the character 'lazarus long'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:41:46. (gmt -0500).
i've never understood how god could expect his creatures to pick the one true religion by faith - it strikes me as a sloppy way to run a universe.
taken from 'stranger in a strange land'
quote commentary: said by jubal harshaw
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:41:06. (gmt -0500).
when in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
taken from 'time enough for love'
quote commentary: said by the character 'lazarus long'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:40:37. (gmt -0500).
always listen to experts. they'll tell you what can't be done, and why. then do it.
taken from 'time enough for love'
quote commentary: said by the character 'lazarus long'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:39:48. (gmt -0500).
any priest or shaman must be presumed guilty until proved innocent.
taken from 'time enough for love'
quote commentary: said by the character 'lazarus long'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:39:18. (gmt -0500).
hitler
basically national socialism and marxism are the same.
author commentary: german leader before and during world war two... one of the most popular leaders the world has seen, and also one of the most destructive - starting a world wide war, and ordering the killings of millions of jews and other people he decided weren't fit to be called human. some interesting information about hitler can be found here.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:57:35. (gmt -0500).
horace
nescit vox missa reverti
author commentary: a roman poet
quote commentary: means 'once sent out, the voice cannot come back'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:03:24. (gmt -0500).
hubert h. humphrey
the right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.
author commentary: vice president of the usa immortalised by tom lehrer.
quote commentary: 1965
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:49:23. (gmt -0500).
john f. kennedy
those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
author commentary: one of the few leaders in modern times who seemed to understand the importance of freedom, and the consequences.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:52:16. (gmt -0500).
john maynard keynes
marxian socialism must always remain a portent to the historians of opinion - how a doctrine so illogical and so dull can have exercised so powerful and enduring an influence over the minds of men, and, through them, the events of history.
taken from '"the end of laissez-faire" (1926)'
author commentary: one of the great economic thinkers, although it'd be hard to tell given the rubbish written about his work by those who either didn't read or didn't comprehend the original.
quote commentary: almost eighty years later, socialism is still trying to take its last gasps.
quote added sunday 26th january 2003 23:00:55. (gmt -0500).
john philpot curran
the condition upon which god hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt.
taken from 'from a speech upon the right of election given in 1790.'
author commentary: irish statesman and trial laywer.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:43:56. (gmt -0500).
jonathan ross
here at radio 2 we enjoy music more than is actually healthy.
taken from 'ad for bbc radio 2'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:29:33. (gmt -0500).
kevin smith
i was thorough when i looked for you, and i feel justified lying in your arms.
taken from 'chasing amy'
quote commentary: said by 'alyssa', played by joey lauren adams.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:39:51. (gmt -0500).
linus torvalds
i am pragmatic. that which works, works, and theory can go screw itself.
author commentary: creator of the linux kernel
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:15:57. (gmt -0500).
martin daly & margo wilson
the genuine disagreement is not about the relative importance of 'nature vs. nurture' in development (an inane formulation that has spectacularly impeded progress; one might as well ask whether hemoglobin or air is more essential to human survival).
taken from 'homicide'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:20:24. (gmt -0500).
the very distastefulness of violence obstructs objective analysis by inspiring 'explanations' that are really just value judgements.
taken from 'homicide'
quote commentary: an interesting look at the factors involved in murder, with a view to explaining in terms of evolutionary pressures... i was reading this to help with my article on marriage! :)
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:20:00. (gmt -0500).
martin luther king
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.
quote commentary: feeling paranoid today, but then again, when am i not?
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:51:37. (gmt -0500).
michael robertson
all i know is that i'm being sued for unfair business practices by microsoft. hello pot? it's kettle on line two.
taken from 'interview, on news of microsoft sueing lindows.'
author commentary: mp3.com founder
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:30:14. (gmt -0500).
mil millington
do not fall into the trap of believing you exist in the same universe.
author commentary: author of a hilarious stream of arguments and situations involving him and a his equally wacky girlfriend.
he also has an account of the mail on sunday showing the sort of bullying dishonesty regularly shown by the daily mail since it's inception... one of his friends has written a slightly different account of the saga here.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:26:44. (gmt -0500).
mohandas gandhi
they may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me... then they will have my dead body... not my obedience.
taken from 'at a national congress party meeting in south africa'
author commentary: one of the great thinkers and leaders... although his ideas aren't as widely applicable as he or others claim - some people do not feel guilt at their 'injustice' being shown up...
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:40:45. (gmt -0500).
monty python
every sperm is sacred.
quote commentary: it's a song mocking the catholics' rediculous contraception policies.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:08:30. (gmt -0500).
i fart in your general direction... your mother was a hamster, and your father smells of elderberries.
taken from 'monty python and the holy grail'
quote commentary: said by some frenchman in a castle to the obnoxious english knights
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:46:14. (gmt -0500).
nancy reagan
i believe that people would be alive today if there were a death penalty.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:55:37. (gmt -0500).
pablo picasso
if i spit, they will take my spit and frame it as great art.
quote commentary: this about sums up what i think of his work.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:53:55. (gmt -0500).
patrick henry
is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? forbid it, almighty god! i know not what course other may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!!!
taken from 'a speech in 1775'
author commentary: one of the many great minds behind the formation of the usa... thought to be largely responsible for the bill of rights.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:27:29. (gmt -0500).
paul merton
annoyingly martians appear.
quote commentary: from an advert for the 'mini' - summer 2001
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:24:51. (gmt -0500).
r.w. mycroft
the eradication of ignorance, the source of all evil, is the duty of every reasoning creature.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:34:24. (gmt -0500).
rex stout
there are numerous layers of honesty, and the deepest should not have a monopoly.
taken from 'the second confession (p194)'
quote commentary: said by 'nero wolfe'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:32:44. (gmt -0500).
robert bolt
william roper: "so now you'd give the devil benefit of law!"
thomas more: "yes. what would you do? cut a great road through the law to get after the devil?"
william roper: "i'd cut down every law in england to do that."
thomas more: "oh? and when the last law was down, and the devil turned round on you - where would you hide...the laws all being flat?"
taken from 'a man for all seasons'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:46:56. (gmt -0500).
robert frost
a liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel.
author commentary: political commentator.
quote commentary: very similar to my attitude: "i will tolerate anything but intolerance".
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:47:50. (gmt -0500).
robert keith leavitt
people don't ask for facts in making up their minds. they would rather have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts.
author commentary: who??
quote commentary: this about sums up my opinion of most people.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:53:22. (gmt -0500).
samurai maxim
to know and to act are one and the same thing.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:53:55. (gmt -0500).
terry prachett
"slave is an ephebian word. in om we have no word for slave," said vorbis.
"so i understand," said the tyrant. "i imagine that fish have no word for water."
taken from 'small gods (p125)'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:46:16. (gmt -0500).
terry pratchett
there was something creepy about that boy, nhumrod thought. it was the way he looked at you when you were talking, as if he was listening.
taken from 'small gods (p10)'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:45:34. (gmt -0500).
gravity is a habit that is hard to shake off.
taken from 'small gods (p5)'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:44:39. (gmt -0500).
thomas jefferson
i think [a black] ... could scarcely be found capable of tracing and comprehending the investigations of euclid.
author commentary: even the great have their failings.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:51:01. (gmt -0500).
thomas watson
i think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
author commentary: chairman of ibm
quote commentary: 1943
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 23:56:23. (gmt -0500).
tony blair
every vote is sacred.
quote commentary: 8th may 2001, election announcement speech... see here for a rather good filk along these lines.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:09:27. (gmt -0500).
unknown
when they find the centre of the universe, a lot of people are going to be disappointed that it isn't them.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:54:47. (gmt -0500).
the borders of my country run along the soles of my feet
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:54:35. (gmt -0500).
beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.
taken from 'alpha centuri (a game in the civilisation series)'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:53:39. (gmt -0500).
i want to be free, but my chains are broken.
taken from 'zen grafitti'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:38:34. (gmt -0500).
all day and night i hunger for the truth, but in the morning i hunger for breakfast.
taken from 'zen grafitti'
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 17:37:53. (gmt -0500).
william of occam
entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
author commentary: 14th century philosopher
quote commentary: translates as "entities should not be multiplied without necessity".
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:18:40. (gmt -0500).
willie whitelaw
wilson is going round the country stirring up apathy.
quote added sunday 10th march 2002 18:28:14. (gmt -0500).
| 
