A quotation from Bertrand Russell

All our affections are at the mercy of death, which may strike down those whom we love at any moment. It is therefore necessary that our lives should not have that narrow intensity which puts the whole meaning and purpose of our life at the mercy of accident. For all these reasons the man who pursues happiness wisely will aim at the possession of a number of subsidiary interests in addition to those central ones upon which his life is built.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 15 “Impersonal Interests” (1930)


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A quotation from Thomas Fuller

A Coward’s fear can make a Coward valiant.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 58 (1732)


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A quotation from Molly Ivins

Experience has taught me that things are likely to get worse, so these will eventually turn out to be the Good Old Days, and think what a fool you’ll feel like later if you don’t enjoy them now.

Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Bill of Wrongs, Introduction (2007) [with Lou Dubose]


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A quotation from A. A. Milne

“How long does getting thin take?” Pooh asked anxiously.

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
Winnie-the-Pooh, ch. 2 “Pooh Goes Visiting” (1926)

“How long does getting thin take?” Pooh asked anxiously.


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A quotation from Hannah Arendt

The aim of totalitarian education has never been to instill convictions but to destroy the capacity to form any.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
The Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 13 “Ideology and Terror” (1951)


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A quotation from Alexis de Tocqueville

As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?
 
[À mesure qu’on creuse plus avant dans le caractère national des Américains, on voit qu’ils n’ont cherché la valeur de toutes les choses de ce monde que dans la réponse à cette seule question : combien cela rapporte-t-il d’argent?]

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French writer, diplomat, politician
Letter (1831-06-09) to Ernest de Chabrol [tr. Toupin/Boesche (1985)]


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A quotation from John Adams

The Spirit of Commerce, Madam, which even insinuates itself into Families, and influences holy Matrimony, and thereby corrupts the Morals of Families as well as destroys their Happiness, it is much to be feared is incompatible with that purity of Heart, and Greatness of soul which is necessary for an happy Republic.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter (1776-04-16) to Mercy Otis Warren


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A quotation from Henry Commager

Change does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1961-04-30), “We Have Changed — and Must,” The New York Times Magazine


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A quotation from Hyman Rickover

The first step toward accomplishing anything is to have a goal. Goals are set by people and not by organizations. At some point, sooner or later, organizations lend their names to a project, but the concept and the initial work is always started by an individual.

Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) American naval engineer, submariner, US Navy Admiral
Speech (1954-03-16), “Administering a Large Military Development Project,” US Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California


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A quotation from Victor Hugo

Progress is the stride of God.

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
(Attributed)


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A quotation from Jean Kerr

   JEFF: Man is the only animal that learns by being hypocritical. He pretends to be polite and then, eventually, he becomes polite.

Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Finishing Touches, Act 1 (1973)


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A quotation from Wendell Berry

Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1988), “Economy and Pleasure,” What Are People For? (1990)


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A quotation from Joseph Addison

Cunning is only the mimic of discretion, and may pass upon weak men in the same manner as vivacity is often mistaken for wit, and gravity for wisdom.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1711-11-17), The Spectator, No. 225


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A quotation from Shakespeare

KING: What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
QUEEN: Mad as the sea and wind when both contend
   Which is the mightier.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Hamlet, Act 4, sc. 1, l. 6ff (4.1.6-8) (c. 1600)


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A quotation from Peter Ustinov

And I have always said that I have much more faith in an agnostic or an atheist who helps an old lady across the road than the man who is racing to church and pretends not to see her.

Peter Ustinov (1921-2004) English actor, author, director
Interview (1995-06-22) by Warren Allen Smith, Free Inquiry Magazine


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A quotation from Adlai Stevenson

Men who have offered their lives for their country know that patriotism is not the fear of something; it is the love of something. Patriotism with us is not the hatred of Russia; it is the love of this Republic and of the ideal of liberty of man and mind in which it was born, and to which this Republic is dedicated.

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 La Rochefoucauld

Virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea.
 
[Les vertus se perdent dans l’intérêt, comme les fleuves se perdent dans la mer.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶171 (1665-1678) [tr. Whichello (2016)]


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A quotation from Samuel Johnson

But though learning may be conferred by solitude, its application must be attained by general converse. He has learned to no purpose, that is not able to teach; and he will always teach unsuccessfully, who cannot recommend his sentiments by his diction or address.

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


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A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to joy, and makes right royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are gods.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1884-01-20), “Orthodoxy,” Tabor Opera House, Denver, Colorado

Love is the magician, the enchanter ... - Ingersoll


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A quotation (not) from Mark Twain

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
(Misattributed)


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A quotation from C. C. Colton

The intoxication of anger, like that of the grape, shows us to others, but hides us from ourselves; and we injure our own cause, in the opinion of the world, when we too passionately and eagerly defend it […] Neither will all men be disposed to view our quarrels precisely in the same light that we do; and a man’s blindness to his own defects will ever increase, in proportion as he is angry with others, or pleased with himself.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 240 (1820)

The intoxication of anger, like that of the grape, shows us to others, but hides us from ourselves. -- C C Colton


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A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson

Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1877-07), “An Apology for Idlers,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 36


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A quotation from Horace

When thy next neighbours house is all on fire,
’Tis thy concern to make his flames expire;
For fire will gather strength if let alone,
And with thy neighbours house burn down thine owne.
 
[Nam tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet.
Et neglecta solent incendia sumere vires.]

Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 18 “To Lollius,” l. 84ff (1.18.84-85) (20 BC) [tr. A. B.; ed. Brome (1666)]


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A quotation from Abraham Lincoln

No law is stronger than is the public sentiment where it is to be enforced.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1859-12-22) to John J. Crittenden


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A quotation from A. P. Herbert

I might be swimming in a crystal pool
   I might be wooing some delicious dame
I might be drinking something long and cool
   I can’t imagine why I play this game.

A. P. Herbert (1890-1971) English humorist, novelist, playwright, politician [Alan Patrick Herbert; pseud. Albert Haddock]
“Ninth Wicket,” st. 1, l. 13ff, Mild and Bitter (1935)


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A quotation from Kit Marlowe

FAUSTUS: I see there’s virtue in my heavenly words:
   Who would not be proficient in this art?
   How pliant is this Mephistophilis,
   Full of obedience and humility!
   Such is the force of magic and my spells:
   No, Faustus, thou art conjuror laureat,
   That canst command great Mephistophilis:
   Quin regis Mephistophilis fratris imagine.

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. 270ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)


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A quotation from Thomas Carlyle

In that strange island Iceland, — burst up, the geologists say, by fire from the bottom of the sea; a wild land of barrenness and lava; swallowed many months of every year in black tempests, yet with a wild gleaming beauty in summertime; towering up there, stern and grim, in the North Ocean with its snow jokuls, roaring geysers, sulphur-pools and horrid volcanic chasms, like the waste chaotic battle-field of Frost and Fire; — where of all places we least looked for Literature or written memorials, the record of these things was written down.

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


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A quotation from Eric Hoffer

To know a person’s religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 215 (1955)


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A quotation from Josh Billings

The time tew be karefullest iz when we hav a hand full ov trumps.
 
[The time to be carefullest is when we have a hand full of trumps.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1870-06 (1870 ed.)


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A quotation from Cicero

We are all motivated by a keen desire for praise, and the better a man is, the more he is inspired by glory.
 
[Trahimur omnes studio laudis et optimus quisque maxime gloria ducitur.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Pro Archia Poeta [For Archia the Poet], ch. 11 / sec. 26 (62 BC) [tr. Guinach (1962)]


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A quotation from Ben Franklin

Sloth (like Rust) consumes faster than Labour wears: the used Key is always bright.

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


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A quotation from Heinlein

Bugs, Mr. Rico! Zillions of ’em!

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Starship Troopers, ch. 13 [Hughes] (1959)


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in reply to WIST Quotations

I remember this quote being a running gag at the WorldCon panel promoting the movie.

It was still in production, and they had a sign up sheet to be an extra in the audience for the sports ball scene they were shooting the following week at Cal State Long Beach.

I read the book between the con and the shoot (mostly - I think I actually brought it with me to finish during downtime) and really found myself wondering what the heck they were doing!

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A quotation from Desmond Tutu

Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.

Desmond Tutu (1931-2021) South African cleric, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Nobel Laureate
(Attributed)

Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. - Desmond Tutu


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A quotation from Franklin Roosevelt

To accomplish almost anything worthwhile, it is necessary to compromise between the ideal and the practical.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933-1945)
Quoted in Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen, “How the President Works,” Harper’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 173 (1936-06)


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