Josh Billings on Life
“Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.” Josh Billings
Charles Caleb Colton Cynical Quote
“If you would be known, and not know, vegetate in a village; If you would know, and not be known, live in a city.” Charles Caleb Colton (1780 – 1832)
Dave Barry on Sports
“Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face.” Dave Barry
Ernest Rutherford on Science
“All science is either physics or stamp collecting.” Ernest Rutherford, in J. B. Birks “Rutherford at Manchester” (1962) British chemist & physicist (1871 – 1937)
Eugene McCarthy on Bureaucracy
“The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is inefficiency. An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty.” Eugene McCarthy, Time magazine, Feb. 12, 1979 US politician (1916 – 2005)
Bill Gates on Success
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” Bill Gates
Peter Drucker on Management
“So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.” Peter Drucker American (Austrian-born) management writer (1909 – 2005)
Carl Sandburg on Time
“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” Carl Sandburg
Samuel Johnson on Literature
“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.” Samuel Johnson English author, critic, & lexicographer (1709 – 1784)
Charles de Gaulle on Patriotism
“Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.” Charles de Gaulle
Joseph Conrad on Work
“I don’t like work… but I like what is in work—the chance to find yourself.” Joseph Conrad
Lyndon B. Johnson on Politics
“If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read ‘President Can’t Swim’.” Lyndon B. Johnson 36th president of US (1908 – 1973)
George Bernard Shaw on Education
“A fool’s brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.” George Bernard Shaw Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 – 1950)
Ausonius on Forgiveness
“Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself.” Ausonius
Peter Ustinov on Humor
“Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.” Peter Ustinov English actor & author (1921 – 2004)
Antoine de Saint-Exupery on Children
“Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery, “The Little Prince”, 1943 French writer (1900 – 1944)
Antoine de Saint-Exupery on Life
“Life has meaning only if one barters it day by day for something other than itself.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Edward Teller on Science
“A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective.” Edward Teller US (Hungarian-born) physicist (1908 – 2003)
Ogden Nash on Dogs
“A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.” Ogden Nash US humorist & poet (1902 – 1971)
Ian Fleming on Time
“I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.” Ian Fleming British novelist (1908 – 1964)
Sun Tzu on Opportunities
“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” Sun Tzu Chinese general & military strategist (~400 BC)
Lillian Hellman on Cynicism
“Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.” Lillian Hellman, The Little Foxes, 1939 US dramatist (1905 – 1984)
Victor Hugo on Love
“To love another person is to see the face of God.” Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
James Russell Lowell on Art and Creativity
“Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found.” James Russell Lowell US diplomat, essayist, & poet (1819 – 1891)
George Harrison on Direction
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” George Harrison, “Any Road”, Brainwashed, 2002 English singer & songwriter (1943 – 2001)
Napoleon Bonaparte on History
“History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.” Napoleon Bonaparte
Doug Larson on Language
“If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.” Doug Larson
J. W. Eagan on Books and Movies
“Never judge a book by its movie.” J. W. Eagan
Sir Richard Steele on Reading
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” Sir Richard Steele
Victor Hugo on Thought
“A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor.” Victor Hugo French dramatist, novelist, & poet (1802 – 1885)
Elbert Hubbard on Experience
“Progress comes from the intelligent use of experience.” Elbert Hubbard
Maya Angelou on Work
“Nothing will work unless you do.” Maya Angelou
Charles Caleb Colton on Hate
“We hate some persons because we do not know them; and we will not know them because we hate them.” Charles Caleb Colton (1780 – 1832)
Edith Wharton on Happiness
“If only we’d stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.” Edith Wharton US novelist (1862 – 1937)
Indira Gandhi on Forgiveness
“Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.” Indira Gandhi
Nancy Astor on Change
“The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything – or nothing.” Nancy Astor British politician (1879 – 1964)
Robert Benchley on Humor
“Defining and analyzing humor is a pastime of humorless people.” Robert Benchley US actor, author, & humorist (1889 – 1945)
Nancy Astor on Success
“The penalty for success is to be bored by the people who used to snub you.” Nancy Astor British politician (1879 – 1964)
Barry LePatner on Experience
“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.” Barry LePatner
George Bernard Shaw on England and America
“England and America are two countries separated by a common language.” George Bernard Shaw Irish dramatist (1856 – 1950)
Emily Matthews on Christmas
“From home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another the warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other.” Emily Matthews
George Bernard Shaw on Liberty
“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” George Bernard Shaw Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 – 1950)
Francois de La Rochefoucauld Cynical Quote
“We always like those who admire us; we do not always like those whom we admire.” Francois de La Rochefoucauld French author & moralist (1613 – 1680)
Marquis de Vauvenargues on Education
“The things we know best are the things we haven’t been taught.” Marquis de Vauvenargues
John Barrymore on Dreams
“A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.” John Barrymore
Dorothy Day on Love and Community
“We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.” Dorothy Day
John Ruskin Wisdom Quote
“What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do.” John Ruskin English critic, essayist, & reformer (1819 – 1900)
Elbert Hubbard on Vacations
“No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one.” Elbert Hubbard US author (1856 – 1915)
Sun Tzu on War
“There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare.” Sun Tzu Chinese general & military strategist (~400 BC)
Christopher Morley on Imagination
“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.” Christopher Morley US author & journalist (1890 – 1957)