Friedrich Nietzsche on Memory
“The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time.” Friedrich Nietzsche German philosopher (1844 – 1900)
George Bernard Shaw on Reading
“Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman. Believing what he read made him mad.” George Bernard Shaw Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 – 1950)
Stephen Hawking on Computers
“I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We’ve created life in our own image.” Stephen Hawking
Fred Hoyle Cynical Quote
“There is a coherent plan in the universe, though I don’t know what it’s a plan for.” Fred Hoyle English astronomer, mathematician, & popularizer of science (1915 – 2001)
Tom Stoppard on Democracy
“It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the counting.” Tom Stoppard, Jumpers (1972) act 1 British dramatist & screenwriter (1937 – )
Mohandas Gandhi on Anger
“Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep.” Mohandas Gandhi
George Santayana on History
“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana
Arthur C. Clarke on Technology
“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” Arthur C. Clarke, “Technology and the Future” (Clarke’s second law) English physicist & science fiction author (1917 – 2008)
Dave Barry on Sports
“Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face.” Dave Barry
Frank Zappa on the Mind
“A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.” Frank Zappa
Confucius on Change
“Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.” Confucius
Mark Twain’s Cynical Quote
“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” Mark Twain US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 – 1910)
Ogden Nash on Dogs
“A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.” Ogden Nash US humorist & poet (1902 – 1971)
Sir William Preece on the Telephone
“The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.” Sir William Preece Chief engineer of the British Post Office, 1876
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)
Salvador Dali on Art
“Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad.” Salvador Dali
John F. Kennedy on Politics
“Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.” John F. Kennedy
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)
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)
Socrates on Wisdom
“If a man would move the world, he must first move himself.” Socrates
Samuel Johnson on Literature
“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.” Samuel Johnson English author, critic, & lexicographer (1709 – 1784)
Horace on Poetry
“No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers.” Horace
George C. Marshall on Peace
“If man does find the solution for world peace it will be the most revolutionary reversal of his record we have ever known.” George C. Marshall US general (1880 – 1959)
Lillian Hellman on Cynicism
“Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.” Lillian Hellman, The Little Foxes, 1939 US dramatist (1905 – 1984)
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)
W. H. Auden on Poetry
“A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.” W. H. Auden
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)
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
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)
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)
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
Ausonius on Forgiveness
“Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself.” Ausonius
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)
Joseph Conrad on Work
“I don’t like work… but I like what is in work—the chance to find yourself.” Joseph Conrad
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)
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)
Doug Larson on Language
“If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.” Doug Larson
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
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)
Indira Gandhi on Forgiveness
“Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.” Indira Gandhi
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)
Victor Hugo on Love
“To love another person is to see the face of God.” Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
J. W. Eagan on Books and Movies
“Never judge a book by its movie.” J. W. Eagan
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)
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
Maya Angelou on Work
“Nothing will work unless you do.” Maya Angelou
Robert Benchley on Humor
“Defining and analyzing humor is a pastime of humorless people.” Robert Benchley US actor, author, & humorist (1889 – 1945)
Sun Tzu on War
“There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare.” Sun Tzu Chinese general & military strategist (~400 BC)
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)
