THE DULLARD’S ENVY OF BRILLIANT MEN IS ALWAYS ASSUAGED BY THE SUSPICION THAT THEY WILL COME TO A BAD END.$Max Beerbohm, “Zuleika Dobson”
JOURNALISTS SAY A THING THAT THEY KNOW ISN’T TRUE, IN THE HOPE THAT IF THEY KEEP ON SAYING IT LONG ENOUGH IT WILL BE TRUE.$Arnold Bennett, “The Title”
PROSE IS WHEN ALL THE LINES EXCEPT THE LAST GO ON TO THE END. POETRY IS WHEN SOME OF THEM FALL SHORT OF IT.$Jeremy Bentham, quoted by M. St.J. Packe in “Life of John Stuart Mill”
THE WORLD CONTINUES TO OFFER GLITTERING PRIZES TO THOSE WHO HAVE STOUT HEARTS AND SHARP SWORDS.$Earl of Birkenhead (F. E. Smith), Rectorial Address at Glasgow University, November 1923
IF THE FOOL WOULD PERSIST IN HIS FOLLY HE WOULD BECOME WISE.$William Blake, “Proverbs of Hell”
IF THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION WERE CLEANSED, EVERYTHING WOULD APPEAR AS IT IS, INFINITE.$William Blake, “A Memorable Fancy”
IN THE MIDST OF ADVERSITY, THE WORST MISFORTUNE OF ALL IS TO HAVE ONCE BEEN HAPPY.$Boethius, “The Consolation of Philosophy”
THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS IS TO ADMIRE WITHOUT DESIRING. AND THAT IS NOT HAPPINESS.$F. H. Bradley, “Aphorisms”
THE HUMBLEST CITIZEN OF ALL THE LAND, WHEN CLAD IN THE ARMOR OF A RIGHTEOUS CAUSE, IS STRONGER THAN ALL THE HOSTS OF ERROR.$William Jennings Bryan, National Democratic Convention, Chicago, 1896
THERE IS NO MAN SO FRIENDLESS BUT WHAT HE CAN FIND A FRIEND SINCERE ENOUGH TO TELL HIM DISAGREEABLE TRUTHS.$Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Baron Lytton, “What Will He Do With It?”
IN THE LAST ANALYSIS, ABILITY IS COMMONLY FOUND TO CONSIST MAINLY IN A HIGH DEGREE OF SOLEMNITY.$Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”
NATURAL ABILITY WITHOUT EDUCATION HAS MORE OFTEN ATTAINED TO GLORY AND VIRTUE THAN EDUCATION WITHOUT NATURAL ABILITY.$Cicero, “Pro Archia Poeta”
THE WINDS AND WAVES ARE ALWAYS ON THE SIDE OF THE ABLEST NAVIGATORS.$Edward Gibbon, “The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire”
INTELLIGENCE IS QUICKNESS TO APPREHEND, AS DISTINCT FROM ABILITY, WHICH IS CAPACITY TO ACT WISELY ON THE THING APPREHENDED.$Alfred North Whitehead, “Dialogues”
ABSENCE IS TO LOVE WHAT WIND IS TO A FIRE; IT PUTS OUT THE LITTLE, IT KINDLES THE GREAT.$Roger de Bussy-Rabutin, “Histoire amoureuse des Gaules”
THE ABSURD HAS MEANING ONLY IN SO FAR AS IT IS NOT AGREED TO.$Albert Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus”
LIFE IS FULL OF INFINITE ABSURDITIES, WHICH, STRANGELY ENOUGH, DO NOT EVEN NEED TO APPEAR PLAUSIBLE, SINCE THEY ARE TRUE.$Luigi Pirandello, “Six Characters in Search of an Author”
ONE NEVER NOTICES WHAT HAS BEEN DONE; ONE CAN ONLY SEE WHAT REMAINS TO BE DONE.$Marie Curie, letter, 1849
WE JUDGE OURSELVES BY WHAT WE FEEL CAPABLE OF DOING, WHILE OTHERS JUDGE US BY WHAT WE HAVE ALREADY DONE.$Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Kavanagh”
TO DO ALL THAT ONE IS ABLE TO DO, IS TO BE A MAN; TO DO ALL THAT ONE WOULD LIKE TO DO, IS TO BE A GOD.$Napolean I, attributed
TO ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS WE MUST LIVE AS THOUGH WE WERE NEVER GOING TO DIE.$Marquis de Vauvenargues, “Reflections and Maxims”
IN ORDER TO ACT YOU MUST BE SOMEWHAT INSANE. A REASONABLY SENSIBLE MAN IS SATISFIED WITH THINKING.$Georges Clemenceau, quoted in “Clemenceau, The Events of His Life as Told by Himself to His Former Secretary, Jean Martet”
WE NEVER DO ANYTHING WELL UNTIL WE CEASE TO THINK ABOUT THE MANNER OF DOING IT.$William Hazlitt, “Sketches and Essays”
I HAVE ALWAYS THOUGHT THE ACTIONS OF MEN THE BEST INTERPRETERS OF THEIR THOUGHTS.$John Locke, “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”
EVERY MAN FEELS INSTINCTIVELY THAT ALL THE BEAUTIFUL SENTIMENTS IN THE WORLD WEIGH LESS THAN A SINGLE LOVELY ACTION.$James Russell Lowell, “Among My Books”
AT SIXTEEN, THE ADOLESCENT KNOWS ABOUT SUFFERING BECAUSE HE HIMSELF HAS SUFFERED, BUT HE BARELY KNOWS THAT OTHER BEINGS ALSO SUFFER.$Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Émile”
THE TRUE ADVENTURER GOES FORTH AIMLESS AND UNCALCULATING TO MEET AND GREET UNKNOWN FATE.$O. Henry, “The Green Door”
MOST OF OUR MISFORTUNES ARE MORE SUPPORTABLE THAN THE COMMENTS OF OUR FRIENDS UPON THEM.$Charles Caleb Colton, “Lacon”
MISHAPS ARE LIKE KNIVES, THAT EITHER SERVE US OR CUT US, AS WE GRASP THEM BY THE BLADE OR THE HANDLE.$James Russell Lowell, “Fireside Travels”
ADVICE IS SELDOM WANTED; AND THOSE WHO WANT IT THE MOST ALWAYS LIKE IT THE LEAST.$Lord Chesterfield, “Letters to His Son”
THE ADVICE OF THE ELDERS TO YOUNG MEN IS VERY APT TO BE AS UNREAL AS A LIST OF THE HUNDRED BEST BOOKS.$Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., speech, 1897
AGE IS STRICTLY A CASE OF MIND OVER MATTER. IF YOU DON’T MIND, IT DOESN’T MATTER.$Jack Benny, quoted in the “New York Times”
WHENEVER A MAN’S FRIENDS BEGIN TO COMPLIMENT HIM ABOUT LOOKING YOUNG, HE MAY BE SURE THAT THEY THINK HE IS GROWING OLD.$Washington Irving, “Bracebridge Hall”
THE DENUNCIATION OF THE YOUNG IS A NECESSARY PART OF THE HYGIENE OF OLDER PEOPLE, AND GREATLY ASSISTS THE CIRCULATION OF THEIR BLOOD.$Logan Pearsall Smith, “Afterthoughts”
WHEN I PLAY WITH MY CAT, WHO KNOWS WHETHER SHE ISN’T AMUSING HERSELF WITH ME MORE THAN I AM WITH HER?$Michel de Montaigne, “Essays”
SCIENCE MAY HAVE FOUND A CURE FOR MOST EVILS; BUT IT HAS FOUND NO REMEDY FOR THE WORST OF THEM ALL -- THE APATHY OF HUMAN BEINGS.$Helen Keller, “My Religion”
THE WORST SIN TOWARDS OUR FELLOW CREATURES IS NOT TO HATE THEM, BUT TO BE INDIFFERENT TO THEM; THAT’S THE ESSENCE OF INHUMANITY.$George Bernard Shaw, “The Devil’s Disciple”
IT IS ONLY SHALLOW PEOPLE WHO DO NOT JUDGE BY APPEARANCES. THE TRUE MYSTERY OF THE WORLD IS THE VISIBLE, NOT THE INVISIBLE.$Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
THE PHYSICIAN CAN BURY HIS MISTAKES, BUT THE ARCHITECT CAN ONLY ADVISE HIS CLIENTS TO PLANT VINES.$Frank Lloyd Wright, quoted in “New York Times Magazine”
WHEN MEN UNDERSTAND WHAT EACH OTHER MEAN, THEY SEE, FOR THE MOST PART, THAT CONTROVERSY IS EITHER SUPERFLUOUS OR HOPELESS.$John Cardinal Newman, sermon, 1893
THE MOST SAVAGE CONTROVERSIES ARE THOSE ABOUT MATTERS AS TO WHICH THERE IS NO GOOD EVIDENCE EITHER WAY.$Bertrand Russell, “Unpopular Essays”
PAINTING IS THE ART OF PROTECTING FLAT SURFACES FROM THE WEATHER AND EXPOSING THEM TO THE CRITIC.$
Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”
ART IS THE UNCEASING EFFORT TO COMPETE WITH THE BEAUTY OF FLOWERS -- AND NEVER SUCCEEDING.$Marc Chagall, attributed
WE ALL KNOW THAT ART IS NOT TRUTH. ART IS A LIE THAT MAKES US REALIZE TRUTH, AT LEAST THE TRUTH THAT IS GIVEN US TO UNDERSTAND.$Pablo Picasso, quoted by Dore Ashton in “Picasso on Art”
BEAUTY IS ALL VERY WELL AT FIRST SIGHT, BUT WHO EVER LOOKS AT IT WHEN IT HAS BEEN IN THE HOUSE THREE DAYS?$George Bernard Shaw, “Man and Superman”
THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD HAS TWO EDGES, ONE OF LAUGHTER, ONE OF ANGUISH, CUTTING THE HEART ASUNDER.$Virginia Woolf, “A Room of One’s Own”
IT IS THE COMMON WONDER OF ALL MEN, HOW AMONG SO MANY MILLIONS OF FACES, THERE SHOULD BE NONE ALIKE.$Thomas Browne, “Religio Medici”
A MAN FINDS ROOM IN THE FEW SQUARE INCHES OF HIS FACE FOR THE TRAITS OF ALL HIS ANCESTORS; FOR THE EXPRESSION OF ALL HIS HISTORY, AND HIS WANTS.$Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Conduct of Life”
SOME BOOKS ARE TO BE TASTED, OTHERS TO BE SWALLOWED, AND SOME FEW TO BE CHEWED AND DIGESTED.$Francis Bacon, “Essays”
