Clive Barnes on Television
“Television is the first truly democratic culture – the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want.” Clive Barnes
Mother Teresa on Peace
“Peace begins with a smile.” Mother Teresa
Pope John Paul II on War
“Humanity should question itself, once more, about the absurd and always unfair phenomenon of war, on whose stage of death and pain only remain standing the negotiating table that could and should have prevented it.” Pope John Paul II
Franklin P. Jones on Punctuality
“The trouble with being punctual is that nobody’s there to appreciate it.” Franklin P. Jones
Nikola Tesla on Science
“Today’s scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality.” Nikola Tesla, Modern Mechanics and Inventions, July, 1934 US (Serbian-born) electrical inventor (1857 – 1943)
Oscar Wilde Cynical Quote
“Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing.” Oscar Wilde Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 – 1900)
Marilyn Monroe on Hollywood
“Hollywood is a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.” Marilyn Monroe US actress (1926 – 1962)
Peter Ustinov on Science
“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 English actor & author (1921 – 2004)
Confucius on Wisdom
“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” Confucius
Dean Acheson on Change
“Always remember that the future comes one day at a time.” Dean Acheson
Ernest Benn on Politics
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.” Ernest Benn
Joseph Conrad on Evil
“The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.” Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes, 1911 English (Polish-born) novelist (1857 – 1924)
Ernest Hemingway on Character
“A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” Ernest Hemingway
William Blake on Forgiveness
“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.” William Blake English engraver, illustrator, & poet (1757 – 1827)
Alec Bourne on Education
“It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.” Alec Bourne
Steven Wright Cynical Quote
“What’s another word for Thesaurus?” Steven Wright US comedian and actor (1955 – )
Mark Twain on Life
“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” Mark Twain
Otto von Bismarck on Law
“Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.” Otto von Bismarck German Prussian politician (1815 – 1898)
Doug Larson on Children
“Few things are more satisfying than seeing your own children have teenagers of their own.” Doug Larson
Bertrand Russell on Injustice
“In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying.” Bertrand Russell British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 – 1970)
Albert Einstein on Humanity
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” Albert Einstein
John F. Kennedy on Liberty and Learning
“Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.” John F. Kennedy 35th president of US 1961-1963 (1917 – 1963)
Carl Sagan on Intelligence
“The fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.” Carl Sagan US astronomer & popularizer of astronomy (1934 – 1996)
Burt Munro on Dreams
“If you don’t follow through on your dreams, you might as well be a vegetable.” Burt Munro
Freeman Dyson on Technology
“Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life it is perhaps the greatest of God’s gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of arts and of sciences.” Freeman Dyson
William Shakespeare on Imagination
“The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact.” William Shakespeare
Charles de Gaulle on History
“I have tried to lift France out of the mud. But she will return to her errors and vomitings. I cannot prevent the French from being French.” Charles de Gaulle
Helen Keller on Knowledge
“Knowledge is happiness, because to have knowledge – broad, deep knowledge – is to know true ends from false, and lofty things from low. To know the thoughts and deeds that have marked man’s progress is to feel the great heartthrobs of humanity through the centuries; and if one does not feel in these pulsations a heavenward striving, one must indeed be deaf to the harmonies of life.” Helen Keller
Marie Curie on Understanding
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” Marie Skłodowska-Curie Polish chemist & physicist (1867 – 1934)
Groucho Marx on Books
“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” Groucho Marx US comedian with Marx Brothers (1890 – 1977)
Charles de Gaulle on Politics
“In politics it is necessary either to betray one’s country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate.” Charles de Gaulle
Will Durant on Education
“Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” Will Durant US historian (1885 – 1981)
George Burns on Politics
“Too bad the only people who know how to run the country are busy driving cabs and cutting hair.” George Burns US actor & comedian (1896 – 1996)
Wayne Gretzky on Hockey
“A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” Wayne Gretzky
Rita Rudner Funny Quote
“My husband gave me a necklace. It’s fake. I requested fake. Maybe I’m paranoid, but in this day and age, I don’t want something around my neck that’s worth more than my head.” Rita Rudner US comedian
Robertson Davies on Future
“The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealised past.” Robertson Davies, “A Voice from the Attic”, 1960
Robert G. Ingersoll on Happiness
“The way to be happy is to make someone happy.” Robert G. Ingersoll
Al Franken on Mistakes
“Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it’s a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from.” Al Franken, “Oh, the Things I Know”, 2002
Esther Dyson on Internet
“The Internet is like alcohol in some sense. It accentuates what you would do anyway. If you want to be a loner, you can be more alone. If you want to connect, it makes it easier to connect.” Esther Dyson, Interview in Time Magazine, October 2005
John Elliot on Dreams
“You will not do incredible things without an incredible dream.” John Elliot
Henry David Thoreau on Flying
“Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as the earth!” Henry David Thoreau US Transcendentalist author (1817 – 1862)
Frank Lloyd Wright on Technology
“If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.” Frank Lloyd Wright
Alice Roosevelt Longworth on Youth
“The secret of eternal youth is arrested development.” Alice Roosevelt Longworth US author & wit (1884 – 1980)
Sir Arthur Eddington on the Universe
“Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.” Sir Arthur Eddington English astronomer (1882 – 1944)
Paul Valery on Dreams
“The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.” Paul Valery
Oscar Wilde on Business
“My own business always bores me to death; I prefer other people’s.” Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan, 1892 Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 – 1900)
Salvador Dali on Sanity
“There is only one difference between a madman and me. I am not mad.” Salvador Dali Spanish Catalan Surrealist painter (1904 – 1989)
Gail Sheehy on Change and Life
“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” Gail Sheehy
Samuel Johnson on Knowledge
“Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it.” Samuel Johnson, quoted in Boswell’s Life of Johnson English author, critic, & lexicographer (1709 – 1784)
Carl Sagan on Imagination
“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.” Carl Sagan