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)
J. W. Eagan on Books and Movies
“Never judge a book by its movie.” J. W. Eagan
George Bernard Shaw on Liberty
“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” George Bernard Shaw Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 – 1950)
Napoleon Bonaparte on History
“History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.” Napoleon Bonaparte
Robert Benchley on Humor
“Defining and analyzing humor is a pastime of humorless people.” Robert Benchley US actor, author, & humorist (1889 – 1945)
Thomas H. Huxley on Science
“The great tragedy of Science – the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.” Thomas H. Huxley English biologist (1825 – 1895)
John Barrymore on Dreams
“A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.” John Barrymore
Maya Angelou on Work
“Nothing will work unless you do.” Maya Angelou
Sun Tzu on War
“There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare.” Sun Tzu Chinese general & military strategist (~400 BC)
Henry J. Tillman’s Cynical Quote
“If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the precipitate.” Henry J. Tillman
Barry LePatner on Experience
“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.” Barry LePatner
Marquis de Vauvenargues on Education
“The things we know best are the things we haven’t been taught.” Marquis de Vauvenargues
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)
La Fontaine on Judging
“Beware so long as you live, of judging people by appearances.” La Fontaine
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)
Georges Clemenceau on Experience
“All that I know I learned after I was thirty.” Georges Clemenceau
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
Pablo Picasso on Imagination
“Everything you can imagine is real.” Pablo Picasso Spanish Cubist painter (1881 – 1973)
Nancy Astor on Money
“The only thing I like about rich people is their money.” Nancy Astor British politician (1879 – 1964)
George Orwell on Writing
“In certain kinds of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning.” George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language”, 1946 English essayist, novelist, & satirist (1903 – 1950)
Mark Twain on Temptation
“There are several good protections against temptations, but the surest is cowardice.” Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897) US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 – 1910)
Maya Angelou on Music
“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” Maya Angelou
John Calvin Coolidge on Honor
“No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.” John Calvin Coolidge
William Shakespeare on Honesty
“Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance.” William Shakespeare Greatest English dramatist & poet (1564 – 1616)
Victor Hugo on Education
“He who opens a school door, closes a prison.” Victor Hugo
Bernard Baruch on Politics
“Vote for the man who promises least; he’ll be the least disappointing.” Bernard Baruch
Gerard De Nerval on Nature
“Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.” Gerard De Nerval
Quentin Crisp Wisdom Quote
“Treat all disasters as if they were trivialities but never treat a triviality as if it were a disaster.” Quentin Crisp
Bertrand Russell on Love and Happiness
“Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.” Bertrand Russell, Conquest of Happiness (1930) ch. 12 British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 – 1970)
Robert Heinlein on Progress
“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.” Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love US science fiction author (1907 – 1988)
William Feather on Business
“A budget tells us what we can’t afford, but it doesn’t keep us from buying it.” William Feather
Anatole France on Work
“Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.” Anatole France, The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard French novelist (1844 – 1924)
Robert Bakker on Taxes
“I want to find a voracious, small-minded predator and name it after the IRS.” Robert Bakker, paleontologist
Arnold Schwarzenegger on Movies
“I have a love interest in every one of my films – a gun” Arnold Schwarzenegger
John Sladek on the Future
“The future, according to some scientists, will be exactly like the past, only far more expensive.” John Sladek
George Bernard Shaw on Politics
“Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.” George Bernard Shaw Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 – 1950)
Pablo Picasso on Art
“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.” Pablo Picasso Spanish Cubist painter (1881 – 1973)
William James on Life
“The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.” William James US Pragmatist philosopher & psychologist (1842 – 1910)
Mark Twain on Procrastination
“Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” Mark Twain US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 – 1910)
Irving Kristol on Equality
“Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions – it only guarantees equality of opportunity.” Irving Kristol
Stephen Jay Gould on Science
“The most important scientific revolutions all include, as their only common feature, the dethronement of human arrogance from one pedestal after another of previous convictions about our centrality in the cosmos.” Stephen Jay Gould US author, naturalist, paleontologist, & popularizer of science (1941 – 2002)
Aristotle on Politics
“Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.” Aristotle
Maria Robinson on Success
“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Maria Robinson
Jules Renard on Literature
“Literature is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none.” Jules Renard (1864 – 1910)
Bertrand Russell on Politics
“There is no nonsense so arrant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action.” Bertrand Russell British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 – 1970)
Steve Jobs on Innovation
“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.” Steve Jobs
Heywood Broun on Atheism
“Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist that there is no God.” Heywood Broun US journalist (1888 – 1939)
William Feather on Society
“One of the indictments of civilizations is that happiness and intelligence are so rarely found in the same person.” William Feather (1908 – 1976)
Bertrand Russell on Mathematics
“Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty – a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture.” Bertrand Russell British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 – 1970)
J. Paul Getty on Money
“If you can count your money, you don’t have a billion dollars.” J. Paul Getty
George Bernard Shaw on Experience
“We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience.” George Bernard Shaw
Mark Twain on Humanity
“The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.” Mark Twain, What Is Man? (1906) US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 – 1910)
Robert Louis Stevenson on Life
“Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.” Robert Louis Stevenson Scottish author (1850 – 1894)
John F. Kennedy on Power
“The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.” John F. Kennedy
Dwight D. Eisenhower on Society
“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.” Dwight D. Eisenhower Inaugural Address, January 20, 1953 34th president of US 1953-1961 (1890 – 1969)
William Shakespeare on Nature
“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” William Shakespeare
Epicurus on Death
“It is possible to provide security against other ills, but as far as death is concerned, we men live in a city without walls.” Epicurus
Edward Gibbon on History
“History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.” Edward Gibbon English historian of Rome (1737 – 1794)
Cullen Hightower on Mistakes
“Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life. Laughing at someone else’s can shorten it.” Cullen Hightower
Lucius Annaeus Seneca on Wisdom
“No man was ever wise by chance.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca
