The Stiltner Family Genealogy

Quotations from Many Sources

Here is an extensive collection of quotations about a wide variety of subjects from various and sundry sources. Authorship and accuracy has not been verified. If there are any incorrect or inappropriate citations, please notify us via the reader respons form.

Quotations are roughly in order of (presumed) author. Select a letter from the following table to go to the section with author names beginning with that letter.

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

"For many years I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a sham, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.": John Adams

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

"It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to appear foolish.": AEschylus

"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.": Woody Allen

"An error is more dangerous in proportion to the degree of truth it contains.": Henri F. Amiel

Happiness, as the ultimate goal,
is always just around the corner, . . .
in a circular room.: Anonymous

Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.
Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.: Anonymous

"Mistakes are seldom serious unless repeated.": Anonymous

"The man who wants his dreams to come true must wake up.": Anonymous

"Teach a man to fish, and you'll feed him for a day.
Teach him to surf the web, and he won't bother you for months": Author unknown

"Some men are just as sure of the truth of their opinions as are others of what they know.": Aristotle

" Can we count on conventional science always choosing the incorrect alternative between two possibilities?
I would vote yes, because the important problems usually require a change in paradigm, which is forbidden in conventional science.": Halton Arp

"Life is pleasant. Death is Peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.": Isaac Asimov

"Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world.": Isaac Asimov

"Almost all of our relationships begin and most of them continue as forms of mutual exploitation, a mental or physical barter, to be terminated when one or both of the parties run out of goods.": W. H. Auden

"Miracles happen, not in opposition to Nature, but in opposition to what we know of Nature.": St. Augustine

"It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire, and many things to fear.": Francis Bacon

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.": Francis Bacon

"if we begin with certainties, we shall end in doubts;
but if we begin with doubts, and are patient with them, we shall end in certainties.": Francis Bacon

"Since the days of Revelation, in fact, the four corrupting errors have been made over and over again.
Worst of all, a concealment of ignorance by a false show of knowledge for no better reason than pride.: Roger Bacon

"No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent.": Walter Bagehot

"What the world really needs is more love and less paperwork.": Pearl Bailey

"Genetic storage is a nuance of evolution too often ignored.": Robert T. Bakker

"The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions which have been hidden by the answers.": James Baldwin

"If I had my life to live again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner.": Tallulah Bankhead

"My heart is pure as the driven slush.": Tallulah Bankhead

"The desire to tell the truth is only one condition for being an intellectual.
The other is courage to carry out rational inquiry.": Paul Baron

"Every day is a journey, and the journey is home.": Matsuo Basha

All the lessons of history in four sentences -
"Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad with power.
The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small.
The bee fertilizes the flower it robs.
When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.": Charles A. Beard

"Boundary, n. In political geography, an imaginary line between two nations, separating the imaginary rights of one from the imaginary rights of another.": Ambrose Bierce

"Cabbage - a vegetable about as large and wise as a man's head.": Ambrose Bierce

"Man - an animal [whose] ... chief occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which, however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole habitable earth and Canada.": Ambrose Bierce

"Patience, n. A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.": Ambrose Bierce

"All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher.": Ambrose Bierce

"Education, n. That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.": Ambrose Bierce

"Brain, n. An apparatus with which we think we think.": Ambrose Bierce

"Statistics - the means by which we can all arrive at the same guess.": Martin Bird

"It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.": Arthur Bloch

"An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.": Niels Bohr

"The opposite of a profound truth is also profound.": Niels Bohr

"To die for a religion is easier than to live it absolutely.": Jorge Louis Borges

"The physics of one era is the metaphysics of the next.": Max Born

"You have to know how to accept rejection, and how to reject acceptance.": Ray Bradbury

"A heretic is a fellow who disagrees with you regarding something neither of you knows anything about,: William Cooper Brann

"My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right.": Ashleigh Brilliant

"I either want less corruption, or more chance to participate in it.": Ashleigh Brilliant

"Numerous politicians have seized absolute power and muzzled the press. Never in history has the press seized absolute power and muzzled the politicians.": David Brinkley

"Lead me not into temptation; I can find the way myself.": Rita Mae Brown

"It is a sad thing when men have neither the wit to speak well, nor the judgement to hold their tongues.": Jean de la Bruyère

"One mark of a second-rate mind is to be always telling stories.": Jean de La Bruyère

"Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think.": Jean de la Bruyère

"An atheist is a man with no invisible means of support.": John Buchan

"All things are possible until they are proved impossible - and even the impossible may only be so as of now.": Pearl S. Buck

"The dead cannot cry out for justice; it a the duty of the living to do so for them.": Lois McMaster Bujold

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.": Edmund Burke

"To treat your facts with imagination is one thing, but to imagine your facts is another.": John Burroughs

"Language is a virus from outer space.": William S. Burroughs

"All animals except man know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it. ": Samuel Butler

"All progress is based in part upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income. ": Samuel Butler

"There is nothing so imprudent or so improvident as an over-prudence of over-providence.": Samuel Butler

"Great actions are not always true sons of great and mighty resolutions.": Samuel Butler

"It isn't power that corrupts, but immunity.": John W. Campbell

"Mother Nature is a Blabbermouth!"

John W. Campbell

"Some people see the glass as half full. Others see it as half-empty. I see it as too big."

George Carlin

"I loved a people who have always made me welcome to the best they had -
Who were honest without laws, who had no jails (and no poorhouses),
Who worship God without a Bible,
Who have never raised a hand against me or stole my property, where there is no law to punish either,
Who never fought a battle with the white man except on their own ground.
And OH! How I love a people who don't live for the love of money.": George Catlin, Circa 1830

"If a man did not, from time to time, sovereignly close his eyes, he would finally be unable to see anything worth looking at.": René Char

"Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.": Winston Churchill

"Americans can be counted upon to do the right thing -- after trying everything else.": Winston Churchill

"Democracy is the worst form of government there is ... except for all the rest.": Winston Churchill

"We must beware of needless innovations, especially when guided by logic.": Winston Churchill

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.": Winston Churchill

"I have always thought that a politician is to be judged by animosities he excites among his opponents.": Winston Churchill

"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.": Winston Churchill

"Never attribute to malevolence that which is merely due to incompetence.": Arthur C. Clarke

"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right.
But when he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong," Clarke's First Law: Arthur C. Clarke

"The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.", Clarke's Second Law: Arthur C. Clarke

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.", Clarke's Third Law: Arthur C. Clarke

"To know me is to know pain as well as pleasure, ecstasy as well as despair, to be blessed and damned in the same fire.": Michael Ciccilione

"Ich kenne keine Grenzen ausser der zwischen Himmel und Erde!"
["I know of no boundary between Heaven and Earth."]: Anacharsis Clootz 1755-1794; Redner des Menschengeschlechts

"The mind is like a TV set - when it goes blank, it is best to turn off the sound.": Communications

"Those who follow different roads cannot take counsel in each other.": Confucious

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots.
So far, the Universe is winning.": Rich Cook

"To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three men, two of whom are absent.": Robert Copeland

"Do you ever just want to get down on your knees and thank God that you know me and have access to my dementia?": George Costanza

"They also say that every time a star blinks, it makes a difference to each of us, so powerful are the laws of cause and effect... it may make a difference to you.": Will Cuppy

"'Never make a pet of a bear,' a zoo keeper once told me, with what struck me as needless alarm.
I make wrong choices from time to time, but I have never even come close to making a pet of a bear.": Will Cuppy

"Armadillos make affectionate pets, if you need affection that much.": Will Cuppy

"Long, long ago when Ursa Major was named, bears probably looked a lot more like dippers than they do today.": Will Cuppy

"Any content-based regulation of the Internet, no matter how benign the purpose, could burn the global village to roast the pig.": Judge Stewart Dalzell

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.": Charles Darwin

"I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate.": Richard Dawkins

"All of us could take a lesson from the weather; it pays no attention to criticism.": North DeKalb

"The universe is like a safe to which there is a combination. But the combination is locked up inside the safe.": Peter De Vries

"Je pense; donc je suis.": Descartes

"I get email, therefore I MUST exist.": Descartes (modified)

"In America, sex is an obsession. In other parts of the world, it is a fact.": Marliene Dietrich

Dirac to Robert Oppenheimer about poetry:
"I understand that you are writing poetry as well as working in physics. I do not see how you can do both.
In science one tries to say something that no one knew before in a way that everyone can understand. Whereas in poetry ...": Dirac

"What we anticipate seldom happens; what we least expected generally happens.": Benjamin Disraeli

"Children have a lot more to worry about from the parents who raised them than from the books they read": E. L. Doctorow

"The Right to be Alone is Indeed the Beginning of all Freedoms.": William O. Douglas

"Trust everyone, but cut the cards.": Finley Peter Dunne

"Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.": Thomas Edison

"The right to search for truth implies also a duty.": Albert Einstein

"The world is not dangerous because of those who would do harm, but because of those who look at it without doing anything.": Albert Einstein

"I maintain that the cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research.": Albert Einstein

"The significant problems we face today can not be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.": Albert Einstein

"If one studies too zealously, he risks losing his pants.": Albert Einstein

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.": Albert Einstein

"As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.": Albert Einstein

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.": Albert Einstein

"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.": Albert Einstein

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.": Albert Einstein

"Strange that science, which in the old days seemed harmless, should have evolved into a nightmare that causes everyone to tremble.": Albert Einstein

"Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.": Albert Einstein

"If 'A' equals success, then the formula is 'A = X + Y + Z'.
'X' is work,
'Y' is play,
'Z' is keep your mouth shut.": Albert Einstein

"No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right.;
a single experiment can prove me wrong."

Albert Einstein

"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.": Albert Einstein

"Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.": Albert Einstein

"In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.": Albert Einstein

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.": Albert Einstein

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.": Albert Einstein

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent.
It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.": Albert Einstein

"Der Herr Gott ist raffiniert, aber boshaft ist Er nicht."
["God is cunning, but malicious He is not."]: Albert Einstein

"Gott werft nicht!"
["God does not throw dice!"]: Albert Einstein

"Einbildungkraft ist mehr wichtig als Wissenschaft. "
["Imagination is more important than knowledge."]: Albert Einstein

"Das Ewig Geheimnis der Welt ist die Fassungskraft."
["The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."]: Albert Einstein

"For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; and for everything you gain, you lose something else."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and Stupidity."

Harlan Ellison

"The man who can make hard things easy is the educator.": Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Nothing, not love, not greed, not passion or hatred, is stronger than a writer's need to change another writer's copy.": Arthur Evans

"He who hesitates - may know something the rest of you don't.": Mark Evans

"The stamping out of the artist is one of the blind goals of every civilization. When a civilization so standardized that the individual can no longer make an imprint on it, then that civilization is dying. The 'mass mind' has taken over and another set of national glories is heading for history's scrap heap.: Ellie Fauré

"I was born not knowing and have only a little time to change that here and now.": Richard Feynman

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest to fool.": Richard Feynman

"Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns;
so each piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry.": Richard Feynman

"Remember that everything is interesting;
if you look deeply enough.": Richard Feynman

"I believe that a scientist looking at a nonscientific problem is just as dumb as the next guy.": Richard Feynman

"Airplanes are interesting topics, but of no military value.": Maréchal Ferdinand Foch, 1911

"Everybody who argues against judging by appearances bases his argument upon other appearances.": Charles Fort

"If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.": Anatole France

"An education means being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't know.": Anatole France

"Let your dreams bind your work to your play.": Bob Franke

"To some lawyers. all facts are created equal.": Justice Felix Frankfurter

"Three men can keep a secret - if two of them are dead.": Benjamin Franklin

"There can't be good living where there is not good drinking.": Benjamin Franklin

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.": Benjamin Franklin

"A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved.
It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.": Benjamin Franklin

"What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult.": Sigmund Freud

"Forgive me my nonsense, as I also forgive the nonsense of those who think they talk sense.": Robert Frost

"An old custom without truth is but an old error.": Thomas Fuller

"Under capitalism, man exploits man.
Under Communism, it's just the opposite.": J. K. Galbraith

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the reasoning of a single individual.": Galileo Galilei

"There are two kinds of people - those who do the work and those who take the credit.
Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there.": Indira Gandhi

"Space will not be opened by always leaving it to another generation.": William A. Gaubatz

"A man's faith are of his time; his virtues are his own.": Goethe

"Man lernt nichts kennen als was man liebt."
["One learns nothing in depth unless he loves it."]: Goethe

"Scholarly knowledge is greatly retarded by our preoccupation with what is not worth knowing and what is unknowable": Goethe

"Whatever you cannot understand, you cannot possess.": Goethe

"The shudder of awe is humanity's highest faculty, even though this world is forever altering its values.": Goethe

"Mediocrity has no greater consolation than in the thought that genius is not immortal.": Goethe

"Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Begin it now.": Goethe

"All professional men are handicapped by not being allowed to ignore things which are useless.": Goethe

"If something really belongs to you, you cannot lose it even if you throw it away.": Goethe

"A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.": Goethe

"Chastity is the most unnatural of all the sexual perversions.": Remy de Gourmont

"Doing Science is very different from doing the arts.
Science is difficult. You need mathematics and statistics, which is dull like learning a language.
The difference is that with a human language, each word you learn you can use. In science you can work away for months and nothing happens.
The arts intrinsically appeals to the human should but a lot of science doesn't, and a lot of science is incredibly boring to do.": Richard Gregory

"90 percent of all politics is deciding who to blame.": Meg Greenfield

"Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn.": Lewis Grizzard

"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.": Forrest Gump

"The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, but it is stranger than we can imagine.": J. B. S. Haldane

"History - nothing else than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.": Hegel

"Also fragen wir best�nding, Bis man uns mit einer Handvoll Erde endlich stopft die M�uler, Aber ist das eine Antwort?"
["Thus we ask what is constant, from one we have a handful earth that finally stops the painter, but is that the answer?"]: Heine

"Those whom agree with us may not be right, but we admire their astuteness.": Cullen Hightower

"You don't have to be in love to dance.": Jim Hightower

"What luck for rulers that men do not think.": Adolf Hitler

"Wise living consists, perhaps less in acquiring good habits than in acquiring as few as possible.": Eric Hoffer

"It is easier to love humanity than one's neighbor.": Eric Hoffer

"The only prize much cared for by the powerful is power.
The prize of the general is not a bigger tent, but command.": Oliver Wendell Holmes

"A bank is a place that will lend you money
if you can prove you don't need it.": Bob Hope

"There is a coherent plan in the universe;
I don't know what it is a plan for.": Fred Hoyle

"Only Fools are Positive.": Moe Howard

"The right to be heard does not include the right to be taken seriously.": Hubert Humphrey

"It takes a clever man to turn cynic and a wise man to be clever enough not to.": Fannie Hurst

"Facts do not cease because they are ignored.": Aldous Huxley

"The world is neither wise nor just, but it makes up for its folly and injustice by being damnably sentimental.": T. H. Huxley

"In scientific work, those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely get as far as fact.": T. H. Huxley

"Science is organized common sense where many a beautiful theory was killed by an ugly fact.": T. H. Huxley

"There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving - and that is yourself.": T. H. Huxley

"'We need more study' is the grandfather of all arguments for taking no action.": Peter Infante

"Joy is the proof of the presence of God.": de Jardin

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.": William James

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be ...
If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.": Thomas Jefferson

"The closed mind, if closed long enough, can be opened by nothing short of dynamite.": Gerald Johnson

"If two men agree on everything, you may be sure one of them is doing the thinking.": Lyndon Johnson

"The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.": Samuel Johnson

"It is a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water.": Franklin P. Jones

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"
["Who will guard the guards themselves?"]: Decimus Juvenalis

"The capacity to blunder is the real marvel of DNA, without which we would still be anaerobic bacteria...or Weldon Benzinger.": Obi Wan Kenobi

"Radio has no future.

Heavier than air flying machines are impossible.

X-rays will probe to be a hoax."

Lord Kelvin/William Thompson, 1899

"When the mind leaves the realm of quantity, it wanders in darkness and doubt."

Johann Kepler

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.: Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Man's inhumanity to man is not only perpetrated by the vitriolic actions of those who are bad.
It is also perpetrated by the vitiating inaction of those who are good.": Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I have a dream that some day, my children will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.": Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Even though the arc of the moral Universe is long, it bends toward justice.": Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.": Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it to themselves.": Joseph Lane Kirkland

"There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full. ": Henry Kissinger

"University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.": Henry Kissinger

"The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterward.": Arthur Koestler

"Politicians are the same all over the world. They promise to build bridges where there are no rivers!": Nikita Krushchev

"Sat cito si sat bene."
["It is done quickly enough if it is done well."]: Latin proverb

"The Chinese have taken everything; why should I give them my mind?": Dalai Lama

"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination...": John Lennon

"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, but he is no longer the only one to do so.": Aldo Leopold

"Facts are stubborn things.": Alain Rene Lesage

"If you want truly to understand something, try to change it.": Kurt Lewin

"Statistics are like a bikini.
What they reveal is suggestive, what they conceal is vital.": Aaron Levinstein

"A river has no politics.": David E. Lillienthal

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.": Abraham Lincon

"When I hear about anyone arguing for slavery, I feel an impulse to see it tried on him personally.": Abraham Lincon

"Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic, for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.": Robert Lindner

"Certainly the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you; if you don't bet, you can't win.": Lazarus Long

"If you don't like yourself, you can't like other people.": Lazarus Long

"No state has an inherent right to survive through conscript troops and in the long run state ever has.
Roman matrons used to say to their sons: 'Come back with your shield, or on it.'
Later on, this custom declined. So did Rome.: Lazarus Long

"Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves.
Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.": Lazarus Long

"One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.": Lazarus Long

"Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other 'sins' are invented nonsense.
(Hurting yourself is not sinful - just stupid.)": Lazarus Long

"A generation which ignores history has no past - and no future.": Lazarus Long

"You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once.": Lazarus Long

"A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic behavior.: Lazarus Long

"You live and learn. Or you don't live very long.": Lazarus Long

"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.": Lazarus Long

"The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science requires reasoning, while those other subjects merely require scholarship.": Lazarus Long

"Minimize your therbligs until it becomes automatic; this doubles your effective lifetime - and thereby gives time to enjoy butterflies and kittens and rainbows.": Lazarus Long

"Never try to outstubborn a cat.": Lazarus Long

"Tilting at windmills hurts you more than the windmills.": Lazarus Long

"Don't try to have the last word. You might get it.": Lazarus Long

"Mistakes are the price we pay for a full life.": Sophia Loren

"Money can't buy happiness, but it can make you awfully comfortable while you're being miserable.": Claire Boothe Luce

"It is more difficult to rise above the occasion than to stand above the conflict.": Antonio Machado

"Men are slow witted and give themselves easily so to to the desires of the moment that he who will deceive will always find a willing victim.": Niccolo Machiavelli, 1513

"And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order to things.
Because the inventor has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new...thus it happens that whenever those who are hostile have the opportunity to attack they do it as partisans, whilst the others defend lukewarmly.....": Niccolo Machiavelli, 1513

"Every age has its particular folly; some scheme, project, or phantasy into which it plunges, spurred on by the love of gain, the necessity of excitement, or the mere force of imitation.": Charles Mackay

"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only true guardian of liberty.": James Madison

"History will judge neo-Darwinism a minor twentieth-century religious sect within the sprawling religious persuasion of Anglo-Saxon biology": Lynn Marguilis

"It is hard to tell which is worst: the wide diffusion of things that are not true, or the suppression of things that are true.": Harriet Martineau

"Philosophy is to the real world as masturbation is to sex.": Karl Marx

"Everytime we liberate a woman, we liberate a man.": Margaret Mead

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.": Margaret Mead

"One of the great virtues of our democratic system is that only one of the candidates gets elected.": Bernard Meltzer

"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.": H. L. Mencken

"Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of the Jackals by the Jackasses.": H. L. Mencken

"For every human problem, there is always a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong.": H. L. Mencken

"War will disappear, like the dinosaur, when changes in world conditions have destroyed its survival value.": Robert A. Millikan

"Le scandale du mond est ce qui fait l'offense,
Est ce n'est pas pécher que pécher en silence."
["Public scandal is the one that causes offense,
those who sin in silence have not sinned at all."]: Moliére

"The plural of spouse is spice.": Christopher Morley

"My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed.": Christopher Morley

"Our age knows nothing but reaction, and leaps from one extreme to another: Reinhold Niebuhr

"Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.": Reinhold Niebuhr

"One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.": Nietzsche

"So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace.": Barack Obama, President of the United States

"Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter.": Satchel Paige

"She runs the gamut of emotions: from A to B.": Dorothy Parker (speaking of Katherine Hepburn)

"Brevity is the soul of lingerie.": Dorothy Parker

"It is not only old and early impressions that deceive us; the charms of novelty have the same power.": Blaise Pascal

"There are plenty of maxims in the world; all that remains is to apply them.": Blaise Pascal

"Je crois que je ne vais jamais voir...
Un animal aussi beau qu'un chat.": John Payson

"Believe you are defeated, believe it long enough and it is likely to become fact.": Norman Vincent Peale

"Life is like riding a bicycle; you don't fall off unless you stop pedalling.": Claude Pepper

"Nothing changes until it becomes what it is.": Fritz Perls

"I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.": Emo Phillips

"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.": Pablo Picasso

"Whether he likes it or not, man is the instrument of nature; it forces him on its character and appearance.": Pablo Picasso

"They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.": Edgar Allen Poe

"The scientist does not study nature because it is useful. He studies it because he delights in it and he delights in it because it is beautiful.": Henri Poincaré

"To doubt everything and to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.": Henri Poincaré

"We make progress if, and only if, we are prepared to learn from our mistakes.": Karl R. Popper

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.": Marcel Proust

"If they can get you to ask the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.": Thomas Pynchon

"The finest of all human achievements - and the most difficult - is merely being reasonable.": Jane Bryant Quinn

" It is time for the human race to enter the solar system.": Dan Quayle

"The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default; by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles. ": Ann Rand

"In poetry one tries to say something which everyone knew before in a way which no one can understand.": I. I. Richards

"Give me six lines written by the most honorable of men and I will find in them an excuse to hang him.": Cardinal Richelieu

"War er nicht Held schon in dir, O Mutter, begann nicht dort schon, in dir, seine herrische Auswahl?"
["Was he not already a hero in your eyes, Mother? Didn't his imperious manner really begin there?"]: Carl Maria Rilke

"Human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another.": Tom Robbins

"Only nature is eternal, unless we destroy it.": James Robinson

"True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, nothing but what is necessary.": La Rochefaucauld

"We often pardon those who bore us, but never those whom we bore.": La Rochefaucauld

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.": Will Rogers

"Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement.": Will Rogers

"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.": Will Rogers

"The more you read about politics, the more you've got to admit that each party is worse than the other.": Will Rogers

"Never slap a man who is chewing tobacco.": Will Rogers

"Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.": Will Rogers

"Never miss a good chance to shut up.": Will Rogers

"Always drink upstream of the herd.": Will Rogers

"Lettin' the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin' it back in.": Will Rogers

"There are three kinds of men: one who learns by reading, a few who learn by observation, and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence to find out for themselves.": Will Rogers

"You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to give.": Eleanor Roosevelt

"Marrying a divorced man is ecologically responsible. In a world where there are more women than men, it pays to recycle.": Rita Rudner

"The hardest thing in life to learn is which bridge to cross and which to burn.": David Russell

"Every advance in civilization has been denounced as unnatural while it was recent.": Bertrand Russell

"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.": Bertrand Russell

"Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction.": Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"Failures are divided into two classes - those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought.": John Charles Salak

"I won't take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth.": Carl Sandburg

"All truths go through three stages:
First it is ridiculed.
Then it is violently opposed.
Finally, it is accepted as self-evident.": Schoepenhouer

"The Earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth... We did not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.": Chief Seattle, 1854

"The chief cause of problems is solutions.": Eric Sevareid

"There are only two ways of telling the complete truth - anonymously and posthumously.": Thomas Sewall

"England and America are two countries divided by a common language. ": George Bernard Shaw

"Patriotism is your conviction that your country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. ": George Bernard Shaw

"Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed by no better than we deserve.": George Bernard Shaw

"Let us live so that when we die even the undertaker will be sorry.": George Bernard Shaw

"The greatest problem with communication is the illusion that it happened at all.": George Bernard Shaw

"What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.": George Bernard Shaw

"Liberty means responsibility, that is why most men dread it.": George Bernard Shaw

"It is impossible that the Big Bang is wrong.": Joseph Silk

"It is the same if one contemplates one's own true nature or the Buddha.": Shen Hiu, ca 500 B.C.

"The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of out adversities.": Sophocles

"A single death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.": Josef Stalin

"To believe with certainty, we must first begin with doubting.": Stanislaw I of Poland

"If you make one decision from fear, you'll end up making a lot of decisions for the same reason.": Walt Stack

"Worry is a prayer for something you don't want.": Tom Stevens

"In the pursuit of happiness, every once in a while it is a good idea to be happy.": Tom Stevens

"Die Welt Ist ein Spass
Ich Lach' Mit und Gegen": E. Stiltner

"A man's judgement cannot be better than the information on which he has based it.": Arthur Hays Sulzberger

"Some people take more care to hide their wisdom than their folly.": Jonathan Swift

"Research is to see what everybody else has seen and to think what nobody else has thought.": Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

"The benefits bestowed on us are welcome as long as we believe they can be repaid.
Once that time has passed, gratitude is replaced by hate.: Tacitus

"Who can protest and does not, is an accomplice in the act.: Talmud

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.": Hunter S. Thompson

"There is more religion in Man's science than there is science in their religion.": Henry David Thoreau

"Any fool can make a rule, and every fool will mind it.": Henry David Thoreau

"Nature abhors smugness.": Kelvin Throop

"If citizenship had to be earned, a lot of people would be in big trouble.": Kelvin Throop

"'Realistic' (adj., pertaining to budget items) -
1 (as used by management) No more than we want to spend.
2 (as used by rank-and-file workers) No less than we'll have to spend. ": Kelvin Throop

"Remember, it's uphill all the way; and when you get to the top, it is still uphill.": Kelvin Throop

"UNFAIR COMPETITION: Any competition with a perceived chance of cutting into my market share.": Kelvin Throop

"Let a smile be your umbrella if you want, but it is better to come in out of the rain.": Kelvin Throop

"The early bird gets the worm. Where does that leave the early worm? ": Kelvin Throop

"All men should strive to learn, before they die, what they are running from, to, and why.": James Thurber

"So much has been written about everything that you can't find out anything about it.": James Thurber

"You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backward.": James Thurber

"Chu ma nyok na dang; Sem ma ch�na dé."
["If you don't stir the water, it will clear by itself."]: Tibetan saying

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.": Tolstoy

"It is terrible to watch a man who has the incomprehensible in his grasp, does not know what to do with it, and sits playing with a toy called God.": Tolstoy

"If you can't convince them, confuse them.": Truman's Law

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living.
The world owes you nothing.
It was here first.": Mark Twain

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.": Mark Twain

"Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.": Mark Twain

"The rule is perfect: In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.": Mark Twain

"Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid.": Mark Twain

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.": Mark Twain

"The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.": Mark Twain

"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.": Mark Twain

"Of the delights of this world, man cares most for sexual intercourse, yet he has left it out of his heaven.": Mark Twain

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.": Mark Twain

"The things most people want to know are usually none of their business.": Mark Twain

"Never let your schooling interfere with your education.": Mark Twain

"A banker: the person who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining and wants it back the minute it rains.": Mark Twain

"Necessity is the mother of taking chances.": Mark Twain

"The United States has the best Congress money can buy.": Mark Twain

"No one's life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.": Mark Twain

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.": Mark Twain

"A lie can travel half way around the world before the truth has time to put its shoes on.": Mark Twain

"You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.": Mark Twain

"A man never reaches that dizzy height of wisdom that he can no longer be led by the nose".: Mark Twain

"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.".: Mark Twain

"If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can't be done": Peter Ustinov

"'L'Homme pense; donc je suis,' dit l'Univers"

["'The man thinks; therefore I exist,' said the Universe."]

Paul Valéry

"Le sens commun n'est pas si commun."
["Common sense is not so common."]: Voltaire

"Le mieux est l'enemi du bien."
["The better is the enemy of the good."]: Voltaire

"Men argue; Nature acts.": Voltaire

"God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.": Voltaire

"The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.": Voltaire

"Another flaw in human character is that everybody wants to build, and nobody wants to do maintenance.": Kurt Vonnegut

"It is the final proof of God's omnipotence that he need not exist in order to save us.": Peter deVries

"Egotist: A person more interested in himself than in me.": Dan Weiss

"I used to be snow white... but I drifted.": Mae West

"Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.": Mae West

"Good sex is like good bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you better have a good hand.": Mae West

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.": Mae West

"The only justification in the use of force is to reduce the amount of force necessary to be used.": Alfred North Whitehead

"The art of progress is to inspire order amid change and to preserve change amid order.": Alfred North Whitehead

"It takes a very unusual mind to make an analysis of the obvious. ": Alfred North Whitehead

"What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.": Oscar Wilde

"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.": Oscar Wilde

"There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.": Steven Wright

"People would rather live with a problem they cannot solve than accept a solution they cannot understand.": Woolsey and Swanson

"When I read about the evils of drinking, I stopped reading.": Henny Youngman

The fact is, most scientists are technicians... because their noses are often buried in the bark of a particular tree, it is difficult to speak meaningfully to them of forests.": Gary Zukav

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