A quotation from Dryden

ÆGEON: Of no distemper, of no blast he died,
   But fell like autumn-fruit that mellowed long;
   Even wondered at, because he dropt no sooner.
   Fate seemed to wind him up for fourscore years;
   Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more:
   Till, like a clock worn out with eating time,
   The wheels of weary life at last stood still.

John Dryden (1631–1700) English poet, dramatist, critic
Œdipus, Act 4, sc. 1 (1679)


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A quotation from Twain

That is the way we are made: we don’t reason, where we feel; we just feel.

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Novel (1889), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Part 3 “The Tale of the Lost Land,” ch. 11 “The Yankee in Search of Adventures”

Mark Twain quote


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A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson

They were a rough lot indeed, as sailors mostly are: being men rooted out of all the kindly parts of life, and condemned to toss together on the rough seas, with masters no less cruel.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Novel (1886), Kidnapped, ch. 7 “I Go to Sea in the Brig Covenant of Dysart”


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A quotation from Horace

He who puts off the hour to begin living rightly
   Is like the yokel who stands at the stream with a sigh:
“I can’t get across. I’ll wait here till it runs dry.”
   Meanwhile, it flows, forever flows on and rolls by.
 
[Qui recte vivendi prorogat horam,
rusticus exspectat dum defluat amnis; at ille
labitur et labitur in omne volubilis aevum.]

Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 2 “To Lollius,” l. 41ff (1.2.41-42) (20 BC) [tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]


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A quotation from Peter Drucker

No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings.

Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-American business consultant
The Concept of the Corporation, Part 2, ch. 1 (1946)


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A quotation from George Orwell

At the time I could not see beyond the moral dilemma that is presented to the weak in a world governed by the strong: Break the rules or perish.

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 Thomas Carlyle

Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one rascal less in the world.

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


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A quotation from Cicero

MARCUS: Nor am I asham’d, as some others are, to confess I do not know, what I do not.
 
[Nec me pudet ut istos fateri nescire quod nesciam.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 1, ch. 25 (1.25) / sec. 60 (1.60) (45 BC) [tr. Wase (1643)]

Cicero quote


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A quotation from Doctor Who

   SKAGRA: “Take over the Universe.” (laughs) How childish. Who could possibly want to take over the Universe?
   THE DOCTOR: Exactly! That’s what I keep on trying to tell people. It’s a troublesome place, difficult to administer, and as a piece of real estate it’s worthless because by definition there’d be no one to sell it to.

Doctor Who (1963–1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
17×06* “Shada,” Part 5 (1980-02-16*) [w. Douglas Adams]


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A quotation from Eric Hoffer

Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us. There is a guilty conscience behind every brazen word and act and behind every manifestation of self-righteousness.

Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 14, § 69 (3.14.69) (1951)


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A quotation from Montaigne

And certainly a wise man never loses anything if he has himself.
 
[Certes l’homme d’entendement n’a rien perdu, s’il a soy-mesme.]

Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 38 (1.38)), “Of Solitude [De la solitude]” (1572) [tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]


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A quotation from Voltaire

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.
 
[Si Dieu n’existait pas, il faudrait l’inventer.]

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Poem (1769-03-12), “Epistle to the Author of ‘The Three Imposters [Trois Imposteurs],'” l. 22

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. - Voltaire


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A quotation from Douglas Adams

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experiences of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Last Chance to See, ch. 4 (1990) [with Mark Carwardine]

Douglas Adams quote


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A quotation from Bertrand Russell

Punctuality is a quality the need of which is bound up with social co-operation. It has nothing to do with the relation of the soul to God, or with mystic insight, or with any of the matters with which the more elevated and spiritual moralists are concerned. One would be surprised to find a saint getting drunk, but one would not be surprised to find him late for an engagement. And yet in the ordinary business of life punctuality is absolutely necessary.

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Education and the Social Order [Education and the Modern World], ch. 2 “The Negative Theory of Education” (1932)


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A quotation from Molly Ivins

I try to look at politics not as a spectrum that runs from right to left, but a scale that runs from top to bottom. Then the only political question is: Who’s it screw, and who’s doing the screwing?

Molly Ivins (1944–2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Interview (2006-10-09), “Who’s It Screw, and Who’s Doing the Screwing?” by Rosalind Alexander, Seattle Weekly


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A quotation from James Howell

When war begins Hell opens.
 
[Quando la guerra Comincia, s’apre l’inferno.]

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


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A quotation from Bill Watterson

   CALVIN: My powerful brain has come up with a topic for my paper.
   HOBBES: Great.
   CALVIN: I’ll write about the debate over tyrannosaurs. Were they fearsome predators or disgusting scavengers?
   HOBBES: Which side will you defend?
   CALVIN: Oh, I believe they were fearsome predators, definitely.
   HOBBES: How come?
   CALVIN: They’re so much cooler that way.

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1993-11-25)

Calvin and Hobbes (1993-11-25)


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A quotation from Ambrose Bierce

FAULT, n. One of my offenses, as distinguished from one of yours, the latter being crimes.

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) American writer and journalist
“Fault,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1884-08-02)


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A quotation from Hannah Arendt

Totalitarianism is never content to rule by external means, namely, through the state and a machinery of violence; thanks to its peculiar ideology and the role assigned to it in this apparatus of coercion, totalitarianism has discovered a means of dominating and terrorizing human beings from within.

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 (probably not) from Eleanor Roosevelt

He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
(Misattributed)


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A quotation from John Lescroart

The essence of fascism is to make laws forbidding everything and then enforce them selectively against your enemies.

John Lescroart (b. 1948) American novelist
A Plague of Secrets, Part 1 (2009)


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A quotation from John Adams

The only thing most people do better than anyone else is read their own handwriting.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
(Attributed)


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A quotation from Einstein

Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here, involuntarily and uninvited, for a short stay, without knowing the why and the wherefore. In our daily lives we feel only that man is here for the sake of others, for those whom we love and for many other beings whose fate is connected with our own.
 
[Seltsam erscheint unsere Lage auf dieser Erde. Jeder von uns erscheint da unfreiwillig und ungebeten zu kurzem Aufenthalt, ohne zu wissen, warum und wozu. Im täglichen Leben fühlen wir nur, dass der Mensch um anderer willen da ist, solcher, die wir lieben, und zahlreicher anderer, ihm Schicksalsverbundener Wesen.]

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-American physicist
Essay (1932-09), “My Credo [Mein Glaubensbekenntnis]”


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A quotation from Montesquieu

What orators lack in depth, they give you in length.
 
[Ce qui manque aux orateurs en profondeur, ils vous le donnent en longueur.]

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689–1755) French political philosopher
Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 828 / 1086 (1720-1755) [tr. Clark (2012)]


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A quotation from Henry Commager

The effort to equate loyalty with conformity is misguided because it assumes that there is a fixed content to loyalty and that this can be determined and defined. But loyalty is a principle, and eludes definition except in its own terms. It is devotion to the best interests of the commonwealth, and may require hostility to the particular policies which the government pursues, the particular practices which the economy undertakes, the particular institutions which society maintains.

Henry Steele Commager (1902–1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1947-09), “Who Is Loyal to America?” sec. 2, Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 195, No. 1168


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A quotation from Carl Sagan

Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value they may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder.

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American scientist and writer
The Demon-Haunted World, ch. 10 “The Dragon in My Garage” (1995)


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A quotation from Victor Hugo

He had slipped, climbed, rolled, searched, walked, persevered, that is all. Such is the secret of all triumphs.
 
[Il avait glissé, grimpé, roulé, cherché, marché, persévéré, voilà tout. Secret de tous les triomphes.]

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French writer, journalist, human rights activist, politician
The Man Who Laughs [L’Homme qui rit; The Laughing Man; By Order of the King], Part 1, Book 3, ch. 1 (1.3.1) (1869) [tr. Unknown, Authorized (1871)]

Victor Hugo quote


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A quotation from Jean Kerr

OSCAR: I hate a friendly divorce. A lawyer is never entirely comfortable with a friendly divorce, any more than a good mortician wants to finish his job and then have the patient sit up on the table.

Jean Kerr (1922–2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Mary, Mary, Act 1 (1961)


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A quotation from Richard Steele

Though it is by the benefit of nature that length of time thus blots out the violence of afflictions; yet with tempers too much given to pleasure, it is almost necessary to revive the old places of grief in our memory, and ponder step by step on past life, to lead the mind into that sobriety of thought which poises the heart, and makes it beat with due time, without being quickened with desire, or retarded with despair, from its proper and equal motion.

Richard Steele (1672–1729) Anglo-Irish writer, journalist, playwright, politician
Essay (1710-06-06), “On the Death of Friends,” The Tatler, No. 181


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A quotation from Propertius

All things in the world are not suited to all men alike, nor is any prize secured by a chariot no better than its rivals.
 
[Omnia non pariter rerum sunt omnibus apta,
Palma nec ex aequo ducitur ulla iugo.]

Propertius (50–16 BC) Roman elegiac poet [Sextus Propertius]
Elegies, Book 4, Elegy 9, l. 7ff (4.9.7–9) [tr. Goold (Loeb) (1990)]


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A quotation from Shakespeare

FABIAN If this were played upon a stage now, I could
   condemn it as an improbable fiction.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 3, sc. 4, l. 136ff (3.4.136-137) (1601)


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A quotation from Samuel Johnson

The vanity of being known to be trusted with a secret, is generally one of the chief motives to disclose it; for however absurd it may be thought to boast an honour by an act which shows that it was conferred without merit, yet most men seem rather inclined to confess the want of virtue than of importance, and more1 show their influence, though at the expense of their probity, than glide through lift with no other pleasure than the private consciousness of fidelity; which, while it is preserved, must be without praise, except from the single person who tries and knows it.

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1750-05-01), The Rambler, No. 13


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A quotation from Ingersoll

Strange! that a world cursed by God, filled with temptations and thick with fiends, should be the only place where hope exists, the only place where man can repent, the only place where reform is possible! Strange! that heaven, filled with angels and presided over by God, is the only place where reformation is utterly impossible! Yet these are the teachings of all the believers in the eternity of punishment.

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


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A quotation from Adlai Stevenson

Ignorance is stubborn and prejudice dies hard.

Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
Speech (1963-10-01), “Statement on the Draft Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,” Committee III, United Nations, New York City


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