A quotation from Chuck Palahniuk

The murderer, the victim, the witness, each of us thinks our role is the lead.

Chuck Palahniuk (b. 1962) American novelist and freelance journalist
Invisible Monsters, ch. 1 (1999)

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A quotation from Josh Billings

Lazyness iz a good deal like money, — the more a man haz ov it the more he seems tew want.
 
[Laziness is a good deal like money — the more a man has of it, the more he seems to want.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1871-08 (1871 ed.)

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A quotation from Ben Franklin

He that resolves to mend hereafter, resolves not to mend now.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1745 ed.)

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A quotation from Christopher Marlowe

FAUSTUS: Si peccasse negamus, fallimur, et nulla est in nobis veritas;
   “If we say that we have no sin,
   We deceive ourselves, and there’s no truth in us.”
   Why, then, belike we must sin,
   And so consequently die.
   Ay, we must die an everlasting death.

Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 1, sc. 1 (sc. 1), l. 70ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)

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A quotation from Madeleine L'Engle

Writing fiction is definitely a universe disturber, and for the writer, first of all. My books push me and prod me and make me ask questions I might otherwise avoid. I start a book, having lived with the characters for several years, during the writing of other books, and I have a pretty good idea of where the story is going and what I hope it’s going to say. And then, once I get deep into the writing, unexpected things begin to happen, things which make me question, and which sometimes really shake my universe.

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

   “Life,” he said, “is like a grapefruit.”
   “Er, how so?”
   “Well, it’s sort of orangey-yellow and dimpled on the outside, wet and squidgy in the middle. It’s got pips inside, too. Oh, and some people have half a one for breakfast.”

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide No. 4, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, ch. 23 (1984)

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A quotation from James Thurber

The past is an old armchair in the attic, the present an ominous ticking sound, and the future is anybody’s guess.

James Thurber (1894-1961) American humorist, cartoonist, writer
Letter (1961-07-05) to Marianna Brown

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A quotation from James Howell

He that wrestleth with a turd shall be beshitt fall he over or under.

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 Bill Watterson

CALVIN: There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1988-08-28)

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A quotation from Ambrose Bierce

BALOGNA-SAUSAGE, n. A dead dog that is better than a living lion, but not to eat.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Bologna-sausage,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1881-05-14)

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A quotation from Hannah Arendt

Nothing we use or hear or touch can be expressed in words that equal what is given by the senses.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Life of the Mind, Vol. 1 “Thinking,” Introduction (1977)

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A quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt

I doubt that anyone does not really believe in God. People may think they don’t have any belief, but you will usually find that somewhere down in a human being’s soul there is a belief in something beyond himself. In any case, I would not judge a man’s character by his belief or unbelief. I would judge his character by his deeds; and no matter what he said about his beliefs, his behavior would soon show whether he was a man of good character or bad.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1956-08), “If You Ask Me,” McCall’s Magazine, Vol. 83

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A quotation from John Adams

As to the history of the Revolution, my Ideas may be peculiar, perhaps Singular. What do we mean by the Revolution? The War? That was no part of the Revolution; it was only an Effect and Consequence of it. The Revolution was in the Minds of the People, and this was effected, from 1760 to 1775, in the course of fifteen Years, before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1815-08-24) to Thomas Jefferson

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A quotation from Henry Commager

If we establish a standard of safe thinking, we will end up with no thinking at all. That is the only “safe” way, and that is, needless to say, the most precarious, dangerous, of all ways.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1949-11-05), “What Ideas Are Safe?” Saturday Review

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A quotation from Montesquieu

When virtue is banished, ambition invades the hearts of those who are disposed to receive it, and avarice possesses the whole community.
 
[Lorsque cette vertu cesse, l’ambition entre dans les cœurs qui peuvent la recevoir, & l’avarice entre dans tous.]

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 3, ch. 3 (3.3) (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]

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A quotation from Hyman Rickover

Nature is not as forgiving as Christ.

Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) Polish-American naval engineer, admiral [b. Chaim Gdala Rykower]
(Attributed)

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A quotation from Jean Kerr

Dearer to me than the evening star
A Packard car
A Hershey bar
Or a bride in her rich adorning
Dearer than any of these by far
Is to lie in bed in the morning.

Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Essay (1957), “Introduction,” Please Don’t Eat the Daisies

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A quotation from Wendell Berry

The rule, acknowledged or not, seems to be that if we have great power we must use it. We would use a steam shovel to pick up a dime. We have experts who can prove there is no other way to do it.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1968), “The Loss of the Future,” Religious Humanism Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 47

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A quotation from Addison

Whatever passion enters into a sentence or decision, so far will there be in it a tincture of injustice.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1713-07-04), The Guardian, No. 99

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A quotation from James Shirley

The glories of our blood and state
   Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against fate;
   Death lays his icy hand on kings:
         Scepter and crown
         Must tumble down,
And, in the dust, be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

James Shirley (1596–1666) English poet, playwright
Contention of Ajax and Ulysses for Achilles’s Armour, sc. 3, st. 1 (1659)

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A quotation from Shakespeare

BASSANIO: In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt
   But, being seasoned with a gracious voice,
   Obscures the show of evil?

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Merchant of Venice, Act 3, sc. 2, l. 77ff (3.2.77-79) (1597)

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A quotation from La Rochefoucauld

We are stubborn because we are narrow-minded; it is hard to believe what is beyond the scope of our vision.
 
[La petitesse de l’esprit fait l’opiniâtreté, et nous ne croyons pas aisément ce qui est au delà de ce que nous voyons.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶265 (1665-1678) [tr. Heard (1917), ¶273]

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A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Among the calamities of war, may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates, and credulity encourages.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1758-11-11), The Idler, No. 30

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A quotation from Adlai Stevenson

We must never delude ourselves into thinking that physical power is a substitute for moral power, which is the true sign of national greatness.

Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-09-18), “The Atomic Future,” Bushnell Memorial Auditorium, Hartford, Connecticut

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A quotation from Mark Twain

[S]he brought some of those apples. I was obliged to eat them, I was so hungry. It was against my principles, but I find that principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Story (1893), “Extracts from Adam’s Diary,” The Niagara Book

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A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson

To give the public what they do not want, and yet expect to be supported: we have there a strange pretension, and yet not uncommon, above all with painters. The first duty in this world is for a man to pay his way; when that is quite accomplished, he may plunge into what eccentricity he likes; but emphatically not till then.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1888-09), “A Letter to a Young Gentleman Who Proposes to Embrace the Career of Art,” Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 3

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A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt

Our worst revolutionaries today are those reactionaries who do not see and will not admit that there is any need for change.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Autobiography, ch. 13 “Social and Industrial Justice” (1913)

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A quotation from Doctor Who

   JO: I don’t believe it! It’s bigger inside than out!
   THE DOCTOR: Yes. That’s because the TARDIS is dimensionally transcendental.
   JO: What does that mean?
   THE DOCTOR: It means that it’s bigger inside than out.

Doctor Who (1963-1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
08×04 “Colony in Space,” Part 1 (1971-04-10) [w. Malcolm Hulke]

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A quotation from Eric Hoffer

Suffering cleanses only when it is free of resentment. Wholehearted contempt for our tormentors safeguards our soul from the mutilations of bitterness and hatred.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 263 (1955)

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