ABOUT THINGS ON WHICH THE PUBLIC THINKS LONG IT COMMONLY THINKS RIGHT.$Samuel Johnson, “Addison”
WHY SHOULD THERE NOT BE A PATIENT CONFIDENCE IN THE ULTIMATE JUSTICE OF THE PEOPLE? IS THERE ANY BETTER OR EQUAL HOPE IN THE WORLD?$Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, 1861
THE PEOPLE, AND THE PEOPLE ALONE, ARE THE MOTIVE FORCE IN THE MAKING OF HISTORY.$Mao Zedung, “Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedung”
TO PERSERVERE, TRUSTING IN WHAT HOPES HE HAS, IS COURAGE IN A MAN. THE COWARD DESPAIRS.$Euripides, “Heracles”
YOU CAN'T DO WITHOUT PHILOSOPHY, SINCE EVERYTHING HAS ITS HIDDEN MEANING WHICH WE MUST KNOW.$Maxim Gorky, “The Zykovs”
PHILOSOPHY ARISES FROM AN UNUSUALLY OBSTINATE ATTEMPT TO ARRIVE AT REAL KNOWLEDGE.$Bertrand Russell, “An Outline of Philosophy”
PHILOSOPHY BEGINS IN WONDER, AND AT THE END, WHEN PHILOSOPHIC THOUGHT HAS DONE ITS BEST, THE WONDER REMAINS.$Alfred North Whitehead, “Modes of Thought”
MOST PROPOSITIONS AND QUESTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT PHILOSOPHICAL MATTERS ARE NOT FALSE BUT SENSELESS.$Ludwig Wittgenstein, “Tractatus logico-philosophicus”
WHENEVER THE URGE TO EXERCISE COMES UPON ME, I LIE DOWN FOR A WHILE AND IT PASSES.$Robert Maynard Hutchins, quoted by Harry S. Ashmore in “The Life of Robert Maynard Hutchins”
PERSISTENCE IN ONE OPINION HAS NEVER BEEN CONSIDERED A MERIT IN POLITICAL MATTERS.$Cicero, “Ad familiares”
SINCE A POLITICIAN NEVER BELIEVES WHAT HE SAYS, HE IS SURPRISED WHEN OTHERS BELIEVE HIM.$Charles de Gaulle, interview, 1962
POLITICIANS ARE THE SAME ALL OVER. THEY PROMISE TO BUILD BRIDGES, EVEN WHEN THERE ARE NO RIVERS.$Nikita Khrushchev, remark to the press, 1960
POLITICS IS PERHAPS THE ONLY PROFESSION FOR WHICH NO PREPARATION IS THOUGHT NECESSARY.$Robert Louis Stevenson, “Familiar Studies of Men and Books”
IF A FREE SOCIETY CANNOT HELP THE MANY WHO ARE POOR, IT CANNOT SAVE THE FEW WHO ARE RICH.$John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 1961
THIS IS THE BITTEREST PAIN AMONG MEN, TO HAVE MUCH KNOWLEDGE BUT NO POWER.$Herodotus, “Histories”
IT'S A FINE THING TO RISE ABOVE PRIDE, BUT YOU MUST HAVE PRIDE IN ORDER TO DO SO.$Georges Bernanos, “The Diary of a Country Priest”
HALF OF THE HARM THAT IS DONE IN THIS WORLD IS DUE TO PEOPLE WHO WANT TO FEEL IMPORTANT.$T. S. Eliot, “The Cocktail Party”
DELAY ALWAYS BREEDS ANGER, AND TO PROTRACT A GREAT DESIGN IS OFTEN TO RUIN IT.$Cervantes, “Don Quixote”
TWO THINGS FILL THE MIND WITH EVER NEW AND INCREASING WONDER AND AWE - THE STARRY HEAVENS ABOVE ME AND THE MORAL LAW WITHIN ME.$Immanuel Kant, “Critique of Pure Reason”
THERE IS NO RIGHT TO STRIKE AGAINST THE PUBLIC SAFETY BY ANYBODY, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME.$Calvin Coolidge, letter to Samuel Gompers, 1919
TALENT IS DEVELOPED IN RETIREMENT: CHARACTER IS FORMED IN THE RUSH OF THE WORLD.$Goethe, “Tasso”
THE MARVEL OF ALL HISTORY IS THE PATIENCE WITH WHICH MEN AND WOMEN SUBMIT TO BURDENS UNNECESSARILY LAID UPON THEM BY THEIR GOVERNMENTS.$William E. Boran, speech to U. S. Senate
A TEACHER AFFECTS ETERNITY; HE CAN NEVER TELL WHERE HIS INFLUENCE STOPS.$Henry Adams “The Education of Henry Adams”
OUR AMERICAN PROFESSORS LIKE THEIR LITERATURE CLEAR, COLD, PURE, AND VERY DEAD.$Sinclair Lewis, address to Swedish Academy, 1930
THEOLOGY IS AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN A SUBJECT BY MEN WHO DO NOT UNDERSTAND IT. THE INTENT IS NOT TO TELL THE TRUTH BUT TO SATISFY THE QUESTIONER.$Elbert Hubbard, “The Philistine”
IF I HAVE DONE THE PUBLIC ANY SERVICE, IT IS DUE TO PATIENT THOUGHT.@ - SIR ISAAC NEWTON$remark to Dr. Bentley
IT IS CLEAR THAT THOUGHT IS NOT FREE IF THE PROFESSION OF CERTAIN OPINIONS MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO EARN A LIVING.$Bertrand Russell, “Sceptical Essays”
THERE IS A TIDE IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN, WHICH, TAKEN AT THE FLOOD, LEADS ON TO FORTUNE.$William Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar”
A TART TEMPER NEVER MELLOWS WITH AGE, AND A SHARP TONGUE IS THE ONLY EDGED TOOL THAT GROWS KEENER WITH CONSTANT USE.$Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle”
HE'S MAD THAT TRUSTS IN THE TAMENESS OF A WOLF, A HORSE'S HEALTH, A BOY'S LOVE, OR A WHORE'S OATH.$William Shakespeare, “King Lear”
GOD OFFERS TO EVERY MIND ITS CHOICE BETWEEN TRUTH AND REPOSE. TAKE WHICH YOU PLEASE, YOU CAN NEVER HAVE BOTH.$Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Essays: Intellect”
I SPEAK TRUTH, NOT SO MUCH AS I WOULD, BUT AS MUCH AS I DARE; AND I DARE A LITTLE MORE AS I GROW OLDER.$Montaigne, “Essays”
MY WAY OF JOKING IS TO TELL THE TRUTH. IT'S THE FUNNIEST JOKE IN THE WORLD.$George Bernard Shaw, “John Bull’s Other Island”
TRUTH IS THE MOST VALUABLE THING WE HAVE. LET US ECONOMIZE IT.$Mark Twain, “Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar”
WHEN OUR VICES LEAVE US, WE FLATTER OURSELVES WITH THE CREDIT OF HAVING LEFT THEM.$La Rochefoucauld, “Maxims”
ONCE THERE WERE TWO BROTHERS. ONE RAN AWAY TO SEA, THE OTHER WAS ELECTED VICE-PRESIDENT, AND NOTHING WAS EVER HEARD OF EITHER OF THEM AGAIN.$Thomas R. Marshall, “Recollections”
NOTHING EXCEPT A BATTLE LOST CAN BE HALF SO MELANCHOLY AS A BATTLE WON.$Duke of Wellington, “Dispatch”, 1815
WHEN WE ARE PLANNING FOR POSTERITY, WE OUGHT TO REMEMBER THAT VIRTUE IS NOT HEREDITARY.$Thomas Paine, “Common Sense”
THERE'S MANY A BOY HERE TODAY WHO LOOKS ON WAR AS ALL GLORY, BUT, BOYS, IT IS ALL HELL.$General William T. Sherman, address, 1880
SUPERFLUOUS WEALTH CAN BUY SUPERFLUITIES ONLY. MONEY IS NOT REQUIRED TO BUY ONE NECESSARY OF THE SOUL.$Thoreau, “Walden”
IT IS WITH WITS AS WITH RAZORS, WHICH ARE NEVER SO APT TO CUT THOSE THEY ARE EMPLOYED ON AS WHEN THEY HAVE LOST THEIR EDGE.$Jonathan Swift, “Tale of a Tub”
WE SHOULD HAVE A GREAT MANY FEWER DISPUTES IN THE WORLD IF WORDS WERE TAKEN FOR WHAT THEY ARE, THE SIGNS OF OUR IDEAS ONLY, AND NOT FOR THINGS THEMSELVES.$Jonathan Locke, “Essay on Human Understanding”
FLAMING YOUTH HAS BECOME A FLAMING QUESTION. AND YOUTH COMES TO US WANTING TO KNOW WHAT WE MAY PROPOSE TO DO ABOUT A SOCIETY THAT HURTS SO MANY OF THEM.$Franklin D. Roosevelt, address, 1936
ALL PROGRESS IS BASED UPON A UNIVERSAL INNATE DESIRE OF EVERY ORGANISM TO LIVE BEYOND ITS MEANS.$Sameual Butler, “Notebooks”
AS NATURAL SELECTION WORKS SOLELY BY AND FOR THE GOOD OF EACH BEING, ALL CORPOREAL AND MENTAL ENDOWMENTS WILL TEND TO PROGRESS TOWARD PERFECTION.$Charles Darwin “The Origin of Species”
THE DESIRE TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD AND THE DESIRE TO REFORM IT ARE TWO GREAT ENGINES OF PROGRESS.$Bertrand Russell, “Marriage and Morals”
YOU HAVE THE WORLD BEFORE YOU. STOOP AS YOU GO THROUGH IT, AND YOU WILL MISS MANY HARD THUMPS.$Cotton Mather, advice to Benjamin Franklin
