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)
Oscar Wilde on Knowledge
“There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating: people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.” Oscar Wilde Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 – 1900)
Albert Camus on Experience
“You cannot acquire experience by making experiments. You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.” Albert Camus French existentialist author & philosopher (1913 – 1960)
P. J. O’Rourke on Politics and Luck
“A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them.” P. J. O’Rourke US humorist & political commentator (1947-2022)
Amanda Cross on Quotations
“The point of quotations is that one can use another’s words to be insulting.” Amanda Cross US mystery novelist (1926 – 2003)
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 – )
Stanley Kubrick on Movies
“A film is – or should be – more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what’s behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.” Stanley Kubrick
Leonard Bernstein on Inspiration
“Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time… The wait is simply too long.” Leonard Bernstein US composer & conductor (1918 – 1990)
Confucius on Change
“Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.” Confucius
Robert Frost on Life
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” Robert Frost US poet (1874 – 1963)
George Santayana on History
“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana
Annie Dillard on Life
“There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by.” Annie Dillard, The Writing Life
T. S. Eliot on Humanity
“Humankind cannot stand very much reality.” T. S. Eliot British (US-born) critic, dramatist & poet (1888 – 1965)
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
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
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)
Horace on Poetry
“No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers.” Horace
Albert Einstein on Computers
“Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination.” Albert Einstein
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)
John F. Kennedy on Politics
“Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.” John F. Kennedy
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)
Socrates on Wisdom
“If a man would move the world, he must first move himself.” Socrates
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)
Frank Zappa on the Mind
“A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.” Frank Zappa
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
W. H. Auden on Poetry
“A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.” W. H. Auden
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)