A quotation from Douglas Adams

It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide No. 2, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, ch. 19 (1980)


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A quotation from Elizabeth Cady Stanton

I have no sympathy with the old idea that children owe such immense gratitude to their parents that they can never fulfill their obligations to them. I think the obligation is all on the other side.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) American social activist, abolitionist, woman's suffragist
Journal (1880-11-12)


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A quotation from Bertrand Russell

In our own day […] there has been too much of a tendency towards authority, and too little care for the preservation of initiative. Men in control of vast organisations have tended to be too abstract in their outlook, to forget what actual human beings are like, and to try to fit men to systems rather than systems to men.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Lecture (1949-01-30), “Individual and Social Ethics,” Reith Lecture, “Authority and the Individual” No. 6, BBC Radio


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A quotation from Molly Ivins

Me, I think government is a tool, like a hammer. You can use a hammer to build with or you can use a hammer to destroy with. Whether government is good or bad depends on what you use it for and how well you use it. On the whole, it’s a poor idea to put people in charge of government who don’t believe in using it.

Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (1992-03-01), “Good morning, Fort Worth! Glad to be here,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram


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A quotation from James Howell

Little difference twixt a feast and a belly-ful.

James Howell (c. 1594–1666) Welsh historian and writer
Paroimiographia [Παροιμιογραφία]: Proverbs, or, Old Sayed Sawes & Adages, “English Proverbs” (1659)
[compiler]


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A quotation from Ambrose Bierce

COVET, v.i. To desire that which the owner wickedly withholds.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Covet,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1881-10-07)


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A quotation from Hannah Arendt

The only man for whom Hitler had “unqualified respect” was “Stalin the genius,” and while in the case of Stalin and the Russian regime we do not have (and presumably never will have) the rich documentary material that is available for Germany, we nevertheless know since Khrushchev’s speech before the Twentieth Party Congress that Stalin trusted only one man and that was Hitler.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 10 “A Classless Society,” sec. 1 (1951)


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A quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt

Have you ever said to yourself, “If only I were a man”? Or are you quite content with being a woman?
 
No, I have never wanted to be a man. I have often wanted to be more effective as a woman, but I have never felt that trousers would do the trick!

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1941-10), “If You Ask Me,” Ladies’ Home Journal, Vol. 58


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A quotation from Jean Kerr

I’m tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That’s deep enough. What do you want, an adorable pancreas? Personally, I find that it’s work, work, work just trying to keep this top half inch in shape.

Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Essay (1960-11), “Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, I Don’t Want to Hear One Word Out of You,” Ladies' Home Journal, Vol. 77, No. 4


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A quotation from Richard Steele

It’s a particular Observation I have always made, That of all Mortals, a Critick is the silliest; for by inuring himself to examine all Things, whether they are of Consequence or not, he never looks upon any Thing but with a Design of passing Sentence upon it; by which Means, he is never a Companion, but always a Censor. This makes him earnest upon Trifles; and dispute on the most indifferent Occasions with vehemence.

Richard Steele (1672-1729) Anglo-Irish writer, journalist, playwright, politician
Essay (1709-07-14), The Tatler, No. 29


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A quotation from Tolstoy

Memento mori — remember death! These are important words. If we kept in mind that we will soon inevitably die, our lives would be completely different. If a person knows that he will die in a half hour, he certainly will not bother doing trivial, stupid, or, especially, bad things during this half hour. Perhaps you have half a century before you die — what makes this any different from a half hour?

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Path of Life [Calendar of Wisdom; Круг чтения], ch. 21 “Living in the Present,” sec. 5.12 (1903-1911) [(tr. Cote (2002)]


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A quotation from Shakespeare

FRIAR LAWRENCE: These violent delights have violent ends
   And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
   Which, as they kiss, consume.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, sc. 6, l. 9ff (2.6.9-11) (1595)


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A quotation from Terry Pratchett

One of the hardest lessons of young Sam’s life had been finding out that the people in charge weren’t in charge. It had been finding out that governments were not, on the whole, staffed by people who had a grip, and that plans were what people made instead of thinking.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 29, Night Watch (2002)


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A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Merriment is always the effect of a sudden impression. The jest which is expected is already destroyed.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-05-26), The Idler, No. 58


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A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments — there are consequences.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Essay (1881-08) “The Christian Religion,” “Is All of the Bible Inspired?” ch. 2, North American Review, Vol. 133, No. 297


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A quotation from Adlai Stevenson

Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them.

Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-09-05), “Time for a Change –?” Colorado Volunteers for Stevenson Dinner, Denver, Colorado


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A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson

It is the business of this life to make excuses for others, but none for ourselves. We should be clearly persuaded of our own misconduct, for that is the part of knowledge in which we are most apt to be defective.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1880-01/02?), “Reflections and Remarks on Human Life,” § 1.1 “Justice and Justification”


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A quotation from Horace

To know all things is not permitted.
 
[Nec scire fas est omnia.]

Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Odes [Carmina], Book 4, # 4, l. 22 (4.4.22) (23 BC)

To know all things is not permitted. - Horace


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A quotation from Orwell

The primary aim of propaganda is, of course, to influence contemporary opinion, but those who rewrite history do probably believe with part of their minds that they are actually thrusting facts into the past. When one considers the elaborate forgeries that have been committed in order to show that Trotsky did not play a valuable part in the Russian civil war, it is difficult to feel that the people responsible are merely lying. More probably they feel that their own version was what happened in the sight of God, and that one is justified in rearranging the records accordingly.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)


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A quotation from Phyllis Wheatley

In every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance.

Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784) African-American poet, manumitted (1773) enslaved person [also "Phillis" and/or "Wheatly"]
Letter (1774-02-11) to Samson Occom


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A quotation from Kerry Greenwood

   “Very well, Uncle,” said Lin. “I bow to your wisdom.”
   “Good thing, too. What is the use of wisdom if it is not bowed to?”

Kerry Greenwood (b. 1954) Australian author and lawyer
Phryne Fisher No. 13, The Castlemaine Murders, ch. 8 (2003)


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A quotation from Arthur Conan Doyle

I cannot live without brain-work. What else is there to live for? Stand at the window here. Was ever such a dreary, dismal, unprofitable world? See how the yellow fog swirls down the street and drifts across the dun-coloured houses. What could be more hopelessly prosaic and material? What is the use of having powers, doctor, when one has no field upon which to exert them? Crime is commonplace, existence is commonplace, and no qualities save those which are commonplace have any function upon earth.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1890-02), “The Sign of the Four,” ch. 1 [Holmes], Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 45 (US) / 1 (UK)


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A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt

Americans learn only from catastrophes and not from experience.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Autobiography, ch. 7 “The War of America the Unready” (1913)


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A quotation from Doctor Who

   JAMIE: Oh, no, you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you?
   THE DOCTOR: That, I think, Jamie, depends upon what you think I am thinking!

Doctor Who (1963-1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
06×01 “The Dominators,” Part 1 (1968-08-10) [w. Mervyn Haisman, Henry Lincoln]


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A quotation from Josh Billings

He who suspekts everyboddy, should be watched by everyboddy.
 
[He who suspects everybody should be watched by everybody.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1874-11 (1874 ed.)


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A quotation from Cicero

MARCUS: For such is the work of philosophy. It cures souls, draws off vain anxieties, confers freedom from desires, drives away fears.
 
[Nam efficit hoc philosophia: medetur animis, inanes sollicitudines detrahit, cupiditatibus liberat, pellit timores.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 2, ch. 4 (2.4) / sec. 11 (2.11) (45 BC) [tr. Peabody (1886)]


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A quotation from Ben Franklin

A Mob’s a Monster; Heads enough, but no Brains.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1747 ed.)


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A quotation from Franklin D. Roosevelt

Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Speech (1940-10-13), “The Mobilization for Human Needs” (radio broadcast)


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A quotation from Gracian

One half of the world laughs at the other, and fools are they all.
 
[La mitad del mundo se está riendo de la otra mitad, con necedad de todos.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 101 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]


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A quotation from Madeleine L'Engle

How dreary to spend your time counting dirty words, but not reading the book. And how revealing of the person who is counting. We do find what we look for.

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC


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A quotation from Douglas Adams

A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide No. 5, Mostly Harmless, ch. 12 (1992)

A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. - Douglas Adams


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A quotation from Steven Levitt

No one is more susceptible to an experts fearmongering than a parent. Fear is in fact a major component of the act of parenting. A parent, after all, is the steward of another creature’s life, a creature who in the beginning is more helpless than the newborn of nearly any other species. This leads a lot of parents to spend a lot of their parenting energy simply being scared.

Steven Levitt (b. 1967) American economist and author
Freakonomics, ch. 5 “What Makes A Perfect Parent?” (2005) [with Stephen Dubner]


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A quotation from James Howell

If the Sky fall we shall have Larks.

James Howell (c. 1594–1666) Welsh historian and writer
Paroimiographia [Παροιμιογραφία]: Proverbs, or, Old Sayed Sawes & Adages, “English Proverbs” (1659)
[compiler]


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