A quotation from Ingersoll

Christians have placed upon the throne of the universe a God of eternal hate. I cannot worship a being whose vengeance is boundless, whose cruelty is shoreless, and whose malice is increased by the agonies he inflicts.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1881-05-01) “The Great Infidels,” Booth’s Theater, New York

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A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Those who do not feel pain, seldom think that it is felt.

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1750-09-01), The Rambler, No. 48

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A quotation from Hemingway

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice, and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the sacrifices were like the stockyards in Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American writer
A Farewell to Arms, ch. 27 (1929)

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A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson

I’ve a grand memory for forgetting, David.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Novel (1886), Kidnapped, ch. 18 “I Talk with Alan in the Wood of Lettermore”
[Alan]

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A quotation from La Rochefoucauld

The extreme pleasure we take in talking about ourselves should make us afraid that we are not giving the same pleasure to those who listen to us.
 
[L’extrême plaisir que nous prenons à parler de nous-mêmes nous doit faire craindre de n’en donner guère à ceux qui nous écoutent.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶314 (1665-1678) [tr. Chandler]

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A quotation from Terry Pratchett

Time is a drug. Too much of it kills you.

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
Discworld No. 13, Small Gods (1992)

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A quotation (probably) from Carlyle

I don’t like to talk much with people who always agree with me. It is amusing to coquette with an echo for a little while, but one soon tires of it.

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Attributed)

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A quotation from Doctor Who

THE DOCTOR: One good solid hope’s worth a cartload of certainties.

Doctor Who (1963–1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
18×05 “Warriors’ Gate,” Part 4 (1981-01-24) [w. Stephen Gallagher]

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A quotation from Josh Billings

One haff the trubbles ov this life kan be traced to saying “Yes” too quick, and not saying “No” soon enough.
 
[One half the troubles of this life can be traced to saying “Yes” too quickly, and not saying “No” soon enough.]

Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1878-05 (1878 ed.)

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A quotation from Eric Hoffer

The Americans are poor haters in international affairs because of their innate feeling of superiority over all foreigners. An American’s hatred for a fellow American (for Hoover or Roosevelt) is far more virulent than any antipathy he can work up against foreigners. […] Should Americans begin to hate foreigners wholeheartedly, it will be an indication that they have lost confidence in their own way of life.

Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 14, § 73 (3.14.73) (1951)

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A quotation from Gracian

The pillow is a silent Sibyl, and to sleep upon an enterprise avails more than to be sleepless under it.
 
[Es la almohada Sibila muda, y el dormir sobre los puntos vale más que el desvelarse debajo de ellos.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601–1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 151 (1647) [tr. Fischer (1937)]

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A quotation from Felix Frankfurter

If nowhere else, in the relation between Church and State, “good fences make good neighbors.”

Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) American jurist, teacher; US Supreme Court Justice (1939–62)
McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 232 (1948)
[concurring]

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A quotation from Douglas Adams

Generally, old media don’t die. They just have to grow old gracefully. Guess what, we still have stone masons. They haven’t been the primary purveyors of the written word for a while now of course, but they still have a role because you wouldn’t want a TV screen on your headstone.

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Broadcast (2010-10-11), Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Future, ep. 2, “Publishing,” BBC Radio 4

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A quotation from E. B. White

In a free country it is the duty of writers to pay no attention to duty. Only under a dictatorship is literature expected to exhibit an harmonious design or an inspirational tone.

E. B. White (1899–1985) American author, critic, humorist [Elwyn Brooks White]
Essay (1939-01), “One Man’s Meat,” Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 178

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A quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt

It is, I am afraid, true that frequently various religious groups endeavor to exert pressures and control over different legislative and educational fields. It is the job of all of us to be alert for such infringement of our prerogatives and prevent any such attempts from being successful. Like all our freedoms, this freedom from religious-group pressure must be constantly defended.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, activist; First Lady of the US (1933–45)
Memoir (1961), The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt, Part 4, ch. 43 “Unfinished Business”

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A quotation (probably not) from Abraham Lincoln

I never encourage deceit, and falsehood, especially if you have got a bad memory, is the worst enemy a fellow can have. The fact is, truth is your truest friend, no matter what the circumstances are.

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861–65)
Letter (1842-02-22) to George E. Pickett (forgery)

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A quotation from Jean Kerr

The most important thing about me is that I am a Catholic. It’s a superstructure within which you can work, like a sonnet. A good director tells the actors where to move exactly; then they’re free to act. I’m grateful for that discipline, and I’ve never had a crisis of conscience.

Jean Kerr (1922–2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Quoted in (1961-04-14) “Show Business: BROADWAY,” Time Magazine

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A quotation from Propertius

I am scaling a great height, but hope of glory gives me strength: a crown plucked from an easy summit brings no pleasure.
 
[Magnum iter ascendo; sed dat mihi gloria vires;
non iuvat e facili lecta corona iugo.]

Propertius (50–16 BC) Roman elegiac poet [Sextus Propertius]
Elegies, Book 4, Elegy 10, l. 3ff (4.10.3–4) [tr. Goold (Loeb) (1990)]

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A quotation from Shakespeare

VIOLA: I hate ingratitude more in a man
   Than lying, vainness, babbling drunkenness,
   Or any taint of vice whose strong corruption
   Inhabits our frail blood.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 3, sc. 4, l. 372ff (3.4.372–375) (1601)

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A quotation from Octavia Butler

All that you touch
You Change
 
All that you Change
Changes you
 
The only lasting truth
Is Change
 
God
Is Change

Octavia Butler (1947–2006) American writer
Parable of the Sower, ch. 1, epigraph (1993)

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A quotation from Orwell

The child thinks of growing old as an almost obscene calamity, which for some mysterious reason will never happen to itself. All who have passed the age of thirty five are joyless grotesques, endlessly fussing about things of no importance and staying alive without, so far as the child can see, having anything to live for. Only child life is real life.

George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1948-06), “‘Such, Such Were the Joys …’,” Partisan Review (1952-09)

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A quotation from Horace

Let the man who has acquired Enough not ask for MORE.
A house and acreage, a pile of bronze and gold coins,
Have never been able to lower the sick man’s fever
Or drive out his worries. The proprietor must be well
If he plans to enjoy the good things he’s gathered together.
 
[Quod satis est cui contingit, nihil amplius optet.
Non domus et fundus, non aeris acervus et auri
Aegroto doniini deduxit corpore febres,
on animo curas; valeat possessor oportet,
Si conpertatis rebus bene cogitat uti.]

Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 2 “To Lollius,” l. 46ff (1.2.46-50) (14 BC) [tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]

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A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson

I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both; and I believe they both get paid in the end; but the fools first.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Novel (1886), Kidnapped, ch. 14 “The Islet”

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A quotation from Adlai Stevenson

Participating in government in a democracy does not mean merely casting a ballot on election day. It means much more than that. It means an attitude, a moral view, and a willingness to assume a day-to-day responsibility. How many good citizens do you know who constantly deplore waste, inefficiency, and corruption in government, and who also go out and ring doorbells for candidates they believe in? Not very many. Far more say, “Politics is dirty” — and that is about their only protest about the quality of government.

Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
Speech (1954-03-22), “The Educated Citizen,” Senior Class Banquet, Dillon Gymnasium, Princeton University

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A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

When we take into consideration the fact that a belief in the Trinity is absolutely essential to salvation, how unfortunate it was for the world that this doctrine was not established until the year 1274. Think of the millions that dropped into hell while these questions were being discussed.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1881-05-01) “The Great Infidels,” Booth’s Theater, New York

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A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Sorrow is a kind of rust of the soul, which every new idea contributes in its passage to scour away. It is the putrefaction of stagnant life, and is remedied by exercise and motion.

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1750-08-28), The Rambler, No. 47

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A quotation from La Rochefoucauld

Why is our memory good enough to recall to the last detail things that have happened to us, yet not good enough to recall how often we have told them to the same person?
 
[Pourquoi faut-il que nous ayons assez de mémoire pour retenir jusqu’aux moindres particularités de ce qui nous est arrivé, et que nous n’en ayons pas assez pour nous souvenir combien de fois nous les avons contées à une même personne?]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶313 (1665-1678) [tr. Kronenberger (1959)]

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