A quotation from Terry Pratchett

Not for the first time she reflected that there were many drawbacks to being a swordswoman, not least of which was that men didn’t take you seriously until you’d actually killed them, by which time it didn’t really matter anyway.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 2, The Light Fantastic (1986)

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A quotation from Adlai Stevenson

True patriotism, it seems to me, is based on tolerance and a large measure of humility.

Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-08-27), “The Nature of Patriotism,” American Legion Convention, Madison Square Garden, New York City

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A quotation from C. C. Colton

The greatest friend of truth is Time, her greatest enemy is Prejudice, and her constant companion is Humility.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 158 (1820)

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A quotation from Samuel Johnson

But there is a higher order of men so inspired with ardour, and so fortified with resolution, that the world passes before them without influence or regard: these ought to consider themselves as appointed the guardians of mankind: they are placed in an evil world, to exhibit publick examples of good life; and may be said, when they withdraw to solitude, to desert the station which Providence assigned them.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126

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A quotation from George Orwell

Why is the goose-step not used in England? There are, heaven knows, plenty of army officers who would be only too glad to introduce some such thing. It is not used because the people in the street would laugh. Beyond a certain point, military display is only possible in countries where the common people dare not laugh at the army.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1941-02-19), “The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius,” Part 1 “England Your England,” sec. 2, The Searchlight Books [ed. Fyvel and Orwell]

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A quotation from Anaïs Nin

Love never dies of a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source, it dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illnesses and wounds, it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings, but never of natural death.

Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) Catalan-Cuban-French author, diarist
The Four-Chambered Heart (1959)

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A quotation from Christopher Marlowe

FAUSTUS: Where are you damn’d?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: In hell.
FAUSTUS: How comes it, then, that thou art out of hell?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it
   Think’st thou that I, who saw the face of God,
   And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
   Am not tormented with ten thousand hells,
   In being depriv’d of everlasting bliss?

Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 1, sc. 3 (sc. 3), l. 317ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)

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A quotation from Arthur Conan Doyle

It was easier to know it than to explain why I know it. If you were asked to prove that two and two made four, you might find some difficulty, and yet you are quite sure of the fact.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 3 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)

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A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt

We must keep ever in mind that a republic such as ours can exist only by virtue of the orderly liberty which comes through the equal domination of the law over all men alike, and through its administration in such resolute and fearless fashion as shall teach all that no man is above it and no man below it.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech (1903-09-07), “The Square Deal,” Labor Day, New York State Agricultural Association, New York State Fair, Syracuse

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A quotation from Thomas Carlyle

In the meanest mortal there lies something nobler. The poor swearing soldier, hired to be shot, has his “honor of a soldier,” different from drill-regulations and the shilling a day. It is not to taste sweet things, but to do noble and true things, and vindicate himself under God’s Heaven as a god-made Man, that the poorest son of Adam dimly longs. Show him the way of doing that, the dullest day-drudge kindles into a hero. They wrong man greatly who say he is to be seduced by ease.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-08), “The Hero as Prophet,” Home House, Portman Square, London

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A quotation from Eric Hoffer

To spell out the obvious is often to call it into question.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 220 (1955)

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A quotation from Josh Billings

Love iz sed tew be blind, but i kno lots ov phellows in love, who kan see twice az mutch in their sweethearts as i kan.
 
[Love is said to be blind, but I know lots of fellows in love who can see twice as much in their sweethearts as I can.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1870-12 (1870 ed.)

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A quotation from Ben Franklin

If you’d be belov’d, make yourself amiable.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1744 ed.)

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A quotation from Eugene Debs

Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization. Progress is born of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation.

Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926) American union leader, activist, socialist, politician
Speech (1908-05-23), “The Issue,” Girard, Kansas

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A quotation from Robert Holmes

   ROMANA: You mean you didn’t believe his story?
   THE DOCTOR: No.
   ROMANA: But he had such an honest face.
   THE DOCTOR: Romana, you can’t be a successful crook with a dishonest face, can you?

Robert Holmes (1926-1986) British television screenwriter
Doctor Who (1963), 16×01 “The Ribos Operation,” Part 2 (1978-09-09)

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A quotation from John Adams

Virtue and Simplicity of Manners, are indispensably necessary in a Republic, among all orders and Degrees of Men. But there is So much Rascallity, so much Venality and Corruption, so much Avarice and Ambition, such a Rage for Profit and Commerce among all Ranks and Degrees of Men even in America, that I sometimes doubt whether there is public Virtue enough to support a Republic.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter (1776-01-08) to Mercy Otis Warren

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A quotation from Thoreau

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden; or, Life in the Woods, ch. 1 “Economy” (1854)

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A quotation from Franklin Roosevelt

We seek peace — enduring peace. More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginnings of all wars — yes, an end to this brutal, inhuman, and thoroughly impractical method of settling the differences between governments.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933-1945)
Speech (1945-04-13), Jefferson Day (undelivered)

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A quotation from Montaigne

Particularly dangerous are old men who retain the memory of past events, but do not remember how often they have repeated them. I have known some very amusing tales to become most tiresome when told by some gentlemen whose whole audience has been sated with them a hundred times.
 
[Sur tout les vieillards sont dangereux, à qui la souvenance des choses passees demeure, et ont perdu la souvenance de leurs redites. J’ay veu des recits bien plaisants, devenir tres-ennuyeux, en la bouche d’un Seigneur, chascun de l’assistance en ayant esté abbreuvé cent fois.]

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 9 (1.9), “Of Liars [Des Menteurs]” (1572) [tr. Cohen (1958)]

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A quotation from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always explaining things to them.
 
[Les grandes personnes ne comprennent jamais rien toutes seules, et c’est fatigant, pour les enfants, de toujours et toujours leur donner des explications.]

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) French writer, aviator
Le Petit Prince [The Little Prince], ch. 1 (1943) [tr. Wood (1945)]

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A quotation from Bertrand Russell

It is better to do nothing than to do harm. Half the useful work in the world consists of combating the harmful work.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 16 “Effort and Resignation” (1930)

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A quotation NOT from Ben Franklin

War is when the government tells you who the bad guy is. Revolution is when you decide that for yourself.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
(Spurious)

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A quotation from Thomas Fuller

A Fault, once denied, is twice committed.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 93 (1732)

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A quotation from Ben Franklin

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Letter (1755-11-11) to Royal Governor Robert Hunter Morris, from the Pennsylvania Assembly

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A quotation from Abraham Lincoln

I have now come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying, and for this reason: I can never be satisfied with any one who would be block-head enough to have me.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1838-04-01) to Mrs. Orville H. Browning

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A quotation from Ralph Waldo Emerson

God will not have his work made manifest by cowards.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2

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A quotation from Bill Watterson

CALVIN: I think nighttime is dark so you can imagine your fears with less distraction.

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1989-04-23)

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A quotation from Hannah Arendt

The price for absolute freedom from necessity is, in a sense, life itself, or rather the substitution of vicarious life for real life. […] The human condition is such that pain and effort are not just symptoms which can be removed without changing life itself; they are the modes in which life itself, together with the necessity to which it is bound, makes itself felt. For mortals, the “easy life of the gods” would be a lifeless life.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
The Human Condition, Part 3 “Labor,” ch. 16 (1958)

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A quotation from A. A. Milne

So wherever I am, there’s always Pooh,
There’s always Pooh and Me.
“What would I do?” I said to Pooh,
“If it wasn’t for you,” and Pooh said: “True,
It isn’t much fun for One, but Two
Can stick together,” says Pooh, says he.
“That’s how it is,” says Pooh.

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
Now We Are Six, “Us Two,” st. 5 (1927)

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A quotation from Fran Lebowitz

Being offended is a natural consequence of leaving the house.

Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950) American journalist, essayist
Interview (2021-02-17), BBC Newsnight

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