IT IS ONE THING TO SHOW A MAN THAT HE IS IN AN ERROR, AND ANOTHER TO PUT HIM IN POSSESSION OF TRUTH.$John Locke, “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”
A MAN SHOULD NEVER BE ASHAMED TO OWN THAT HE HAS BEEN IN THE WRONG, WHICH IS BUT SAYING, IN OTHER WORDS, THAT HE IS WISER TODAY THAN HE WAS YESTERDAY.$Alexander Pope, “Thoughts on Various Subjects”
THE ONLY THING NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING.$Edmund Burke, attributed
THE BELIEF IN A SUPERNATURAL SOURCE OF EVIL IS NOT NECESSARY; MEN ALONE ARE QUITE CAPABLE OF EVERY WICKEDNESS.$Joseph Conrad, “Under Western Eyes”
THE RESOLUTION TO AVOID AN EVIL IS SELDOM FRAMED UNTIL THE EVIL IS SO FAR ADVANCED AS TO MAKE AVOIDANCE IMPOSSIBLE.$Thomas Hardy, “Far From the Madding Crowd”
TO MOST MEN, EXPERIENCE IS LIKE THE STERN LIGHTS OF A SHIP, WHICH ILLUMINATE ONLY THE TRACK IT HAS PASSED.@ - SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE$“Table Talk”
AN EXPERT IS SOMEONE WHO KNOWS SOME OF THE WORST MISTAKES THAT CAN BE MADE IN HIS SUBJECT, AND HOW TO AVOID THEM.$Werner Heisenberg, “Physics and Beyond”
THE FICKLENESS OF THE WOMEN I LOVE IS ONLY EQUALLED BY THE INFERNAL CONSTANCY OF THE WOMEN WHO LOVE ME.$George Bernard Shaw, “The Philanderer”
A CELEBRITY IS A PERSON WHO WORKS HARD ALL HIS LIFE TO BECOME WELL KNOWN, THEN WEARS DARK GLASSES TO AVOID BEING RECOGNIZED.$Fred Allen, “Treadmill to Oblivion”
I WOULD MUCH RATHER HAVE MEN ASK WHY I HAVE NO STATUE, THAN WHY I HAVE ONE.@ - CATO THE ELDER$quoted by Plutarch in “Parallel Lives”
HE THAT HAS NO FOOLS, KNAVES, NOR BEGGARS IN HIS FAMILY WAS BEGOT BY A FLASH OF LIGHTNING.@ - THOMAS FULLER$“Gnomologia”
EVERY GENERATION LAUGHS AT THE OLD FASHIONS, BUT FOLLOWS RELIGIOUSLY THE NEW.@ - HENRY DAVID THOREAU$“Walden”
A FASHION IS MERELY A FORM OF UGLINESS SO UNBEARABLE THAT WE ARE COMPELLED TO ALTER IT EVERY SIX MONTHS.$Oscar Wilde, quoted by Richard Ellmann in “Oscar Wilde”
IT IS WELL THAT THERE IS NO ONE WITHOUT A FAULT; FOR HE WOULD NOT HAVE A FRIEND IN THE WORLD.$William Hazlitt, “Characteristics”
MEN ALWAYS TRY TO MAKE VIRTUES OF THEIR WEAKNESSES. FEAR OF DEATH AND FEAR OF LIFE BOTH BECOME PIETY.$H. L. Mencken, “Minority Report: H. L. Mencken’s Notebooks”
FEAR IS SHARP-SIGHTED, AND CAN SEE THINGS UNDERGROUND, AND MUCH MORE IN THE SKIES.@ - MIGUEL DE CERVANTES$“Don Quixote de la Mancha”
A DOOR SLAMMING MAKES ONE JUMP, BUT IT DOESN’T MAKE ONE AFRAID. WHAT ONE FEARS IS THE SERPENT THAT CRAWLS UNDERNEATH IT.$Colette, “Cheri”
THE COQUETS OF BOTH SEXES ARE SELF-LOVERS, AND THAT IS A LOVE NO OTHER WHATEVER CAN DISPOSSESS.$John Gay, “The Beggar’s Opera”
WHEN ONE IS IN LOVE, ONE ALWAYS BEGINS BY DECEIVING ONESELF, AND ONE ALWAYS ENDS BY DECEIVING OTHERS. THAT IS WHAT THE WORLD CALLS A ROMANCE.$Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
I LIKE TREES BECAUSE THEY SEEM MORE RESIGNED TO THE WAY THEY HAVE TO LIVE THAN OTHER THINGS DO.@ WILLA CATHER$“O Pioneers!”
THE FLOWER IS THE POETRY OF REPRODUCTION. IT IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE ETERNAL SEDUCTIVENESS OF LIFE.$Jean Giraudoux, “The Enchanted”
A CUCUMBER SHOULD BE WELL SLICED, AND DRESSED WITH PEPPER AND VINEGAR, AND THEN THROWN OUT, AS GOOD FOR NOTHING.$Samuel Johnson, quoted by James Boswell in “Tour to the Hebrides”
THE FOLLIES WHICH A MAN REGRETS MOST IN HIS LIFE ARE THOSE WHICH HE DIDN’T COMMIT WHEN HE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY.$Helen Rowland, “Reflections of a Bachelor Girl”
HE WHO CANNOT FORGIVE A TRESPASS OF MALICE TO HIS ENEMY, HAS NEVER YET TASTED THE MOST SUBLIME ENJOYMENT OF LOVE.$Johann Kaspar Lavater, “Aphorisms on Man”
THE POWER OF FORTUNE IS CONFESSED ONLY BY THE MISERABLE; FOR THE HAPPY IMPUTE ALL THEIR SUCCESS TO PRUDENCE AND MERIT.$Jonathan Swift, “Thoughts on Various Subjects”
A MAN IS EITHER FREE OR HE IS NOT. THERE CANNOT BE ANY APPRENTICESHIP FOR FREEDOM.$Imamu Amiri Baraka, in “Kulchur”
I WOULD RATHER BE EXPOSED TO THE INCONVENIENCES ATTENDING TOO MUCH LIBERTY THAN THOSE ATTENDING TOO SMALL A DEGREE OF IT.$Thomas Jefferson, letter, 1859
NONE CAN LOVE FREEDOM HEARTILY, BUT GOOD MEN; THE REST LOVE NOT FREEDOM, BUT LICENSE.@ JOHN MILTON$“The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates”
THOSE WHO EXPECT TO REAP THE BLESSINGS OF FREEDOM, MUST, LIKE MEN, UNDERGO THE FATIGUES OF SUPPORTING IT.$Thomas Paine, “The American Crisis”
A FREE PRESS CAN OF COURSE BE GOOD OR BAD, BUT, MOST CERTAINLY, WITHOUT FREEDOM IT WILL NEVER BE ANYTHING BUT BAD.$Albert Camus, “Resistance, Rebellion and Death”
YOU CAN MUFFLE THE DRUM, AND YOU CAN LOOSEN THE STRINGS OF THE LYRE, BUT WHO SHALL COMMAND THE SKYLARK NOT TO SING?$Kahlil Gibran, “The Prophet”
THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE YOU AGREE WITH CAN SPEAK IS TO SUPPORT THE RIGHTS OF PEOPLE YOU DON’T AGREE WITH.$Eleanor Holmes Norton, quoted in “New York Post”
THE ONLY REWARD OF VIRTUE IS VIRTUE; THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE A FRIEND IS TO BE ONE.@ RALPH WALDO EMERSON$“Essays: Friendship”
A TRUE FRIEND IS THE GREATEST OF ALL BLESSINGS, AND THE ONE THAT WE TAKE THE LEAST CARE OF ALL TO ACQUIRE.$La Rochefoucauld, “Maxims”
I SUPPOSE IT CAN BE TRUTHFULLY SAID THAT HOPE IS THE ONLY UNIVERSAL LIAR WHO NEVER LOSES HIS REPUTATION FOR VERACITY.$Robert G. Ingersoll, speech, 1892
MAN IS A GAMING ANIMAL. HE MUST BE ALWAYS TRYING TO GET THE BETTER IN SOMETHING OR OTHER.@ CHARLES LAMB$“Essays of Elia”
I WANT DEATH TO FIND ME PLANTING MY CABBAGES, BUT CARING LITTLE FOR IT, AND EVEN LESS FOR MY IMPERFECT GARDEN.$Michel de Montaigne, “Essays”
EACH GENERATION IMAGINES ITSELF TO BE MORE INTELLIGENT THAN THE ONE THAT WENT BEFORE IT, AND WISER THAN THE ONE THAT COMES AFTER IT.$George Orwell, “Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell”
GENIUS WILL LIVE AND THRIVE WITHOUT TRAINING, BUT IT DOES NOT THE LESS REWARD THE WATERING POT AND PRUNING KNIFE.$Margaret Fuller, diary entry
A MAN OF GENIUS MAKES NO MISTAKES. HIS ERRORS ARE VOLITIONAL AND ARE THE PORTALS OF DISCOVERY.@ JAMES JOYCE$“Ulysses”
THERE IS NO MAN SO GOOD, WHO, WERE HE TO SUBMIT ALL HIS THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS TO THE LAWS, WOULD NOT DESERVE HANGING TEN TIMES IN HIS LIFE.$Michel de Montaigne, “Essays”
TOO BAD THAT ALL THE PEOPLE WHO KNOW HOW TO RUN THE COUNTRY ARE BUSY DRIVING TAXICABS AND CUTTING HAIR.@ GEORGE BURNS$quoted in “Life”
NOTHING APPEARS MORE SURPRISING TO THOSE WHO CONSIDER HUMAN AFFAIRS WITH A PHILOSOPHICAL EYE, THAN THE EASINESS WITH WHICH THE MANY ARE GOVERNED BY THE FEW.$David Hume, “Essays”
A LITTLE GOVERNMENT AND A LITTLE LUCK ARE NECESSARY IN LIFE, BUT ONLY A FOOL TRUSTS EITHER OF THEM.$P. J. O’Rourke, quoted in “Quote” magazine
GOVERNMENTS EXIST TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF MINORITIES. THE LOVED AND THE RICH NEED NO PROTECTION: THEY HAVE MANY FRIENDS AND FEW ENEMIES.$Wendell Phillips, speech, 1860
THE GOVERNMENT IS LIKE A BABY’S ALIMENTARY CANAL, WITH A HEALTHY APPETITE AT ONE END AND NO RESPONSIBILITY AT THE OTHER.@ RONALD REAGAN$quoted in “New York Times Magazine”
ONE OF THE GREATEST DELUSIONS IN THE WORLD IS THE HOPE THAT THE EVILS IN THIS WORLD ARE TO BE CURED BY LEGISLATION.$Thomas B. Reed, speech, 1886
GREAT INDEBTEDNESS DOES NOT MAKE MEN GRATEFUL, BUT VENGEFUL; AND IF A LITTLE CHARITY IS NOT FORGOTTEN, IT TURNS INTO A GNAWING WORM.$Friedrich Nietzsche, “Thus Spake Zarathustra”
NOTHING IS IN REALITY EITHER PLEASANT OR UNPLEASANT BY NATURE; BUT ALL THINGS BECOME SO THROUGH HABIT.$Epictetus, “Encheiridion”
