My Favorite Sayings, Quotes, and Thoughts
Last updated 5 October 2019 The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in Government. Thomas Jefferson It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt. Dr. Wayne S. Amato Everything in this world, including money, operates not on reality - but the perception of reality. Cosmo, Sneakers Each day is better than the next. (Think about what this really means!) Dom Wooginowski, There's Something About Mary Hope is a good thing. Perhaps the best of things and a good thing never dies. Andy Dufrasne, Shawshank Redemption Red, I do believe you're talking out of your a**. Floyd, Shawshank Redemption Tomorrow is promised to no one. Luther Whitney, Absolute Power Everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn't end. Doug, Cocktail Live while you live!!! Every man dies, not every man really lives! William Wallace, Braveheart None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. Goethe Beware what you think because your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your character, and your character becomes your destiny! There's no normal life, Wyatt. There's just life. Doc Holliday, Tombstone Never chase women or buses, you'll always get left behind. Marlboro Man War is a continuation of politics by other means. Von Clausewitz There is no knowledge that is not power. DOS Computers manufactured by companies such as IBM, Compaq, Tandy, and millions of others are by far the most popular, with about 70 million machines in use worldwide. Macintosh fans, on the other hand, may note that cockroaches are far more numerous than humans, and that numbers alone do not denote a higher life form. New York Times, November 26, 1991 The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. Verbal Kint, The Usual Suspects The only stupid question is the one that is never asked! The only differences between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom is that we have a superior intellect and we are not afraid of the vacuum cleaner! Lady: Sir, if you were my husband I would poison your drink! Sir: Madam, if your were my wife I would drink it! Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle? Why is the word abbreviation so long? First rule of leadership: Everything is your fault. Hopper, A Bug's Life Study time equals money! Stephen C. Amato Everything you do in your life you do for two reasons: to gain pleasure and to avoid pain!" Prof. Zoheri Don't worry about that which you cannot control! Every little thing she does is magic, everything thing she does just turns me on...I resolve to call her up a thousand times a day and ask her if she'll marry me in some old fashioned way." Police, "Every Little Thing She Does" I love the delicate shadow of she wanting me to be. Luck is where opportunity and preparation meet. The difference between a good haircut and a bad one is one week. Stephen C. Amato Promise yourself success at the beginning of each day, and you will be surprised how often things will turn out that way. You'd be surprised how uncommon common sense really is Alan T. Amato If it's stupid but it works, it isn't stupid. Murphy's Laws of Combat Only a fool is sure of anything, a wise man keeps on guessing. We are solitary beings, trapped in our bodies, chained by our inability to communicate our emotions, our feelings, our deepest thoughts to one another. We can never really connect with other beings, and for this reason, we will always be alone." Ian P. Duffy Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santayana You'd better tuck that (lip) in, gonna get that caught on a tripwire. Lt. Dan, Forrest Gump You got to put the past behind you before you can move on. Forrest Gump There's many a slip between a cup and a lip. Billy the Kid, Young Guns The hand you hold is the hand that holds you down. Everclear Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; Humor to console him for what he is. Francis Bacon He who fails to plan, plans to fail. Anonymous Reputations are like glass, once they are cracked they're impossible to repair. Chance favors the prepared mind. May the best of your past be the worst of your future. Success is determined by how hard you are determined to succeed. Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons. Bertrand Russell I can't go back to yesterday, because I was a different person then. Lewis Carroll [Through the Looking Glass] (1832-1898) You can lead a computer to the Superhighway but you can't make it think. Des Waller And dreams in their development have breath, And tears and torture and a touch of joy. Lord Byron As a day well spent brings blessed sleep, so a life well lived brings a blessed death. Leonardo Da Vinci If quitters never win, and winners never quit, what fool came up with, "Quit while you're ahead"? Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be extremely hard and strong. Zen proverb Mike, you get turned down more than a bed at a hotel. Jim Donato to a miscellaneous Mike 10/20/98 Give me a place to stand, and I will move the Earth. Archimedes To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I confess, absurd in the highest degree. Charles Darwin If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants. Issac Newton I think there's a world market for about five computers. Thomas Watson, Founder of IBM ...man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but usually manages to pick himself up, walk over or around it, and carry on. Winston S. Churchill Time discovers truth. Seneca For glory gives herself only to those who have always dreamed of her. Charles de Gaulle Je*u*, you were gonna kill that guy. Of course, I'm a terminator. John Connor, T2 Men will wrangle for religion, write for it, fight for it, die for it, anything but live for it. Charles Caleb Cotton Follow your dreams, for as you do you will become. When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you. Friedrich Nietzsche Now let's try something I like to call the right way. Fred Z. Randall, Rocket Man Reasonable people adapt to the world. Unreasonable people expect the world to adapt to them. Therefore, unreasonable people rule the world. George Bernard Shaw It is change, continuing change, inevitable change that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is but the world as it will be. Issac Asimov Victory smiles upon those who anticipate the changes in the character of war, not upon those who wait to adapt themselves after the change occurs. Cuilio Donhet War to the hilt between communism and capitalism is inevitable. Today, of course, we are not strong enough to attack. Our time will come in thirty or forty years. To win, we shall need the element of surprise. The Western World will have to be put to sleep. So we shall begin by launching the most spectacular peace movement on record. There shall be electrifying overtures and unheard of concessions. The capitalist countries, stupid and decadent, will rejoice to cooperate to their own destruction. They will leap at another chance to be friends. As soon as their guard is down, we will smash them with one clenched fist. Dmitrii Z. Manuil'ski Speech given to the Lenin School of Political Warfare I'm not lost (while driving) as long as I have gas. Charlie Boone There's plenty of time between midnight and six o'clock to get your work done. Wayne S. Amato Being in a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad. George Orwell, "1984" Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him. Ralph Waldo Emerson That's because they think silence and integrity are the same thing. Ed Exley, L.A. Confidential The difference between insanity and genius is measured only by success. Elliot Carver, Tomorrow Never Dies We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle The easiest way to predict the future is to invent it. The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time by the blood of patriots and tyrannts. Thomas Jefferson I don't like to fly. Then what are you doing here? I don't like to lose either. John McClane, Die Hard 2 Don't be afraid of tomorrow. God is already there. Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious. Oscar Wilde The key is to 'structure the truth to your advantage.' TSgt David Anthony, 1206 training What we do in life echoes in eternity. Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator Revenge is a dish best served cold. Prior planning prevents piss poor performance. The details of my life are quite inconsequential Oh no please. Let's hear about your childhood. Very well where do i begin? my father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a 15-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy, the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical, summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring, we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds. Pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first scribe. At the age of 14, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum. It's breathtaking. I suggest you try it. Dr. Evil, Austin Powers What goes around comes around. I do not regret the things I've done but the things I did not do. Lucas, Empire Records Truly, for some men nothing is written unless they write it. Sherif Ali, Lawrence of Arabia All great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. Albert Einstein Your focus determines your reality. Qui-gon Gin, Star Wars Episode I A true friend stabs you in the front. Oscar Wilde We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are. Max Depree The Fidelity Bank and Trust is a tough creditor. You make a deposit somewhere else and they close your account, forever all right? Arnie, The Family Man, talking to Jack about cheating on his wife Time is Too slow for those who want, Too swift for those who fear, Too long for those who grieve, Too short for those who rejoice, But for those who love, Time is not. Henry Van Dyke Many a truth is said in jest. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." Robert Frost War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which to fight, nothing which is more important that his own personal safety is a miserable creature and will never be free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. John Stuart Mill I'm married, bad sex comes with the territory. Stacey Halbrook How am I supposed to heal if I can't feel time. Leonard, Memento If everything's under control, your're going too slow. Mario Andretti Anyone can become angrythat is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way; that is not easy. Aristotle Being a woman is a chronic disorder. An unnamed doctor to Lt Boone. You cannot get ahead while you are getting even. Dick Armey Whatever you do, do it with all your might. Work at it, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can be done just as well as now. P.T. Barnum When one door closees, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. Alexander Graham Bell Anything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile...initially scared me to death. Betty Bender Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought. Henri Bergson Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils. Hector Berlioz There has been in recent years excessive emphasis on a citizen's rights and inadequate stress put upon his duties and responsibilities. Paxton Blair The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. Kenneth Blanchard There are two kinds of truths; small truth and great truth. You can recognize a small truth because its opposite is a falsehood. The opposite of a great truth is another great truth. Niels Bohr If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. Derek Bok History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon. Napoleon Bonaparte Good government generally begins in the family, and if the moral character of a people once degenerate, their political character must soon follow. Elias Boudinot Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner. General Omar Bradley To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, and call whatever you hit the target. Ashleigh Brilliant Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for power equal to your tasks. Phillips Brooks Act as if it were impossible to fail. Dorothea Broude When you are angry or frustrated what comes out? Whatever it is, it's a good indication of what you're made of. H. Jackson, Jr. Brown Be smarter than other people, just don't tell them so. H. Jackson, Jr. Brown You either make dust of eat dust. H. Jackson, Jr. Brown Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars. Les Brown The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you. William Jennings Bryan Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. William Jennings Bryan The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible, and achieve it, generation after generation. Pearl S. Buck I mean to live my life an obedient man, but obedient to God, subservient to the wisdom of my ancestors; never to the authority of political truths arrived at yesterday at the voting booth. William F., Jr. Buckley There is an inverse relationship between reliance on the state and self-reliance. William F., Jr. Buckley You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it. Charles Buxton Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves. Lord Byron It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies. Arthur Calwell I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive. Joseph Campbell It takes 20 years to make an overnight success. Eddie Cantor You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone. Al Capone A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go but ought to be. Rosalynn Carter The basic difference between an ordinary person and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary person takes everything as a blessing or a curse. Carlos Castaneda It is better to wear out than to rust out. Richard Chamberland Prefer a loss to a dishonest gain; the one brings pain at the moment, the other for all time. Chilton The need to be right all the time is the biggest bar to new ideas. It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong than to be always right by having no ideas at all. Edward de Bono When a thing has been said and said well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it. Anatole France It is what you learn after you know it all that counts. John Wooden It is amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit. John Wooden The thing you really believe in always happens.. and the belief in a thing makes it happen. Frank Lloyd Wright You can't be a Real Country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Frank Zappa The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the full light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny ... It is the light that guides your path. Heraclitus Greek poet philosopher I wish the ring had never come to me...I wish none of this had happened. So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring Only the dead have seen the end of war. Plato Men are ruled by toys. Napoleon Bonaparte It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness. Leo Tolstoy I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it. Jonathan Winters At 18 our convictions are hills from which we look; at 45 they are caves in which we hide. F. Scott Fitzgerald The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. Samuel Johnson If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders. Hal Abelson, MIT professor Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction. Antoine de Saint-Exupery You can't buy love, but you can pay heavily for it. Henry Youngman Rules are made for people who aren't willing to make up their own. Chuck Yeager It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow fond of it. Robert E. Lee If you are going through hell, keep going. Winston Churchill We're lost but we're making good time. Yogi Berra When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal. Richard Nixon Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own. Nelson Algren If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. Thomas Edison Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. Howell Forgy, at Pearl Harbor Every woman should marry – and no man. Benjamin Disraeli There is a theory that states that if anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. Luciano Pavarotti Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Frank Zappa Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung. Voltaire If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm. Vince Lombardi I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. Confucius Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth. Pablo Picasso Love and do what you will. St. Augustine Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city. George Burns Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. Benjamin Franklin Maybe this world is another planet's hell. Aldous Huxley Your ignorance cramps my conversation. Anthony Hope Of course [God] will forgive me. It's his business. Heinrich Heine, on his deathbed You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body. C.S. Lewis Oh, god**mn it, we forgot the silent prayer. Dwight D. Eisenhower Love is a severe mental disorder. Plato Money will not make you happy, and happy will not make you money. Groucho Marx Red meat is not bad for you. Now blue-green meat, that's bad for you. Tommy Smothers In the fight between you and the world, back the world. Franz Kafka If you want to test a man's character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln There are not enough Indians in the world to defeat the Seventh Cavalry. Gen. George A. Custer My wife has a slight impediment in her speech. Every now and then she stops to breathe. Jimmy Durante Everything flows and nothing stays. Heraclitus Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec There are two things no man will admit he cannot do well - drive and make love. Stirling Moss The road to truth is long, and lined the entire way with annoying bastards. Alexander Jablokov God gave man both a pe*is and a brain, but unfortunately not enough blood supply to run both at the same time. Robin Williams, on Clinton/Lewinsky Dyin' is a pain in the ass. Frank Sinatra I will be sof brief, I have already finished. Salvador Dali, in world's shortest speech Knowledge speaks but wisdom listens. Jimi Hendrix Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens. Michael Caine No sane man will dance. Cicero I always turn to the sports page first. They record people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failure. Chief Justice Earl Warren Happiness make up for in height for what is lacks in length. Robert Frost If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates. Jay Leno This the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper. T.S. Eliot Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Mao Tse Tung The ballot is stronger than the bullet. Abraham Lincoln Once integrity is lost, the rest is a piece of cake. Larry Hagman, as J.R. Ewing It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense. Mark Twain Love conquers all. Virgil I've had 18 straight whiskeys. I think that's the record. Poet Dylan Thomas, just before his death What God hath joined together no man ever shall put asunder. God will take care of that. George Bernard Shaw Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. Albert Einstein The saddest thing in life is wasted talent. Robert Deniro, A Bronx Tale Many a truth is said in jest. The busiest people I have known in my life always have time enough to do everything. Those who do nothing are always tired and pay no attention to the little amount of work they are required to do. They complain constantly that the day is too short. The truth is, they are afraid to fight the good fight. The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho Because time isn't something that always proceeds at the same pace. It is we who determine how quickly time passes. The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho Teaching is only demonstrating that it is possible. Learning is making it possible for yourself. The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho What do you need a fake id for? So I can vote. Brian, The Breakfast Club Always emotion is the future. Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back All things being equal the simplest explanation tends to be the right one. Occam's Razor It does not do to dwell on dreams Harry, and forget to live. Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone No man can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true. Nathaniel Hawthorne Aerodynamics is for those who cannot manufacture good engines. Enzo Ferrari You don't know about real loss, 'cause that only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself. Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting Our limited perspective, our hopes and fears become our measure of life, and when circumstances don't fit our ideas, they become our difficulties. Ben Franklin Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last istake. Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956) Don't be so humble - you are not that great. Golda Meir (1898-1978) to a visiting diplomat His ignorance is encyclopedic Abba Eban (1915-) People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid. Soren Aabye Kierkegaard Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. Albert Einstein A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. Sir Winston Churchill I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. Galileo Galilei Give me a museum and I'll fill it. Pablo Picasso I'll moider da bum. Heavyweight boxer Tony Galento, when asked what he thought of William Shakespeare In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is. Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have. Thomas Jefferson Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right. Henry Ford Don't stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed. George Burns A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems. Paul Erdos The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad. Salvador Dali Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws. Plato Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. Napoleon Bonaparte I think 'Hail to the Chief' has a nice ring to it. John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) when asked what is his favorite song Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells Talent does what it can; genius does what it must. Edward George Bulwer-Lytton The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an eggs-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed' Unknown I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters. Frank Lloyd Wright I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. Ian L. Fleming When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world. George Washington Carver How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself. Anais Nin I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. Thomas Alva Edison Maybe this world is another planet's Hell. Aldous Huxley Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact. George Eliot Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. Sherlock Holmes Black holes are where God divided by zero. Steven Wright It's kind of fun to do the impossible. Walt Disney We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time. Vince Lombardi The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true. James Branch Cabell All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher. Ambrose Bierce You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it. Gilbert Keith Chesterton An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered. Gilbert Keith Chesterton I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth. Umberto Eco Be nice to people on your way up because you meet them on your way down. Jimmy Durante A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. Dwight D. Eisenhower The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. Albert Einstein Basically, I no longer work for anything but the sensation I have while working. Albert Giacometti (sculptor) I am supposed to credit Prof. Gabriel Robins of the University of Virginia for me taking many of these quotes from his webpage that he has copyrighted. So here it is, along with a quote from me on the fact that he has copyrighted his webpage of quotes, “Bogus!”. That should satisfy the lawyers if he decides to sick them on me for any reason. All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer Many a man's reputation would not know his character if they met on the street. Elbert Hubbard There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. Frank Zappa Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. Antoine de Saint Exupery Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome. Isaac Asimov If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. Carl Sagan It is much more comfortable to be mad and know it, than to be sane and have one's doubts. G. B. Burgin Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. Auric Goldfinger, in "Goldfinger" To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance Oscar Wilde Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens. Jimi Hendrix A clever man commits no minor blunders. Goethe A witty saying proves nothing. Voltaire Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. Will Durant I have often regretted my speech, never my silence. Xenocrates If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough. Mario Andretti Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. Henry Ford I'll sleep when I'm dead. Warren Zevon There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread. Mahatma Gandhi Everyone is a genius at least once a year; a real genius has his original ideas closer together. Georg Lichtenberg Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. Henry David Thoreau While we are postponing, life speeds by. Seneca Luck is the residue of design. Branch Rickey - former owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so." Bertrand Russell Wit is educated insolence." Aristotle Egotist: a person more interested in himself than in me. Ambrose Bierce Wise men make proverbs, but fools repeat them. Samuel Palmer It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein The secret of success is to know something nobody else knows. Aristotle Onassis Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains. Sir Winston Churchill The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. The opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. Niels Bohr When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong. Buckminster Fuller In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite." Paul Dirac I would have made a good Pope. Richard M. Nixon Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin." John von Neumann One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important." Bertrand Russell A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation. H. H. Munro There are two ways of constructing a software design; one way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult. C. A. R. Hoare Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert Einstein I heard someone tried the monkeys-on-typewriters bit trying for the plays of W. Shakespeare, but all they got was the collected works of Francis Bacon." Bill Hirst Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do. Jean-Paul Sartre A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines. Frank Lloyd Wright A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies." Oscar Wilde Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. John F. Kennedy Everything has been figured out, except how to live. Jean-Paul Sartre Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech. Martin Fraquhar Tupper It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating. Oscar Wilde When ideas fail, words come in very handy. Goethe The nice thing about egotists is that they don't talk about other people. Lucille S. Harper You got to be careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there. Yogi Berra He who hesitates is a damned fool. Mae West Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater. Gail Godwin The graveyards are full of indispensable men. Charles de Gaulle You can pretend to be serious; you can't pretend to be witty. Sacha Guitry If women didn't exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning. Aristotle Onassis I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his. General George Patton There is no sincerer love than the love of food. George Bernard Shaw I don't even butter my bread; I consider that cooking. Katherine Cebrian I have an existential map; it has 'you are here' written all over it. Steven Wright Manuscript: something submitted in haste and returned at leisure Oliver Herford The covers of this book are too far apart. Ambrose Bierce Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. Flannery O'Connor Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end. Igor Stravinsky When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before. Mae West Hell is a half-filled auditorium. Robert Frost If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one? Abraham Lincoln Few things are harder to put up with than a good example. Mark Twain Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate. Thomas Jones You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone. Al Capone Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes. Henry David Thoreau It is time I stepped aside for a less experienced and less able man. Professor Scott Elledge on his retirement from Cornell Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work. Robert Orben The cynics are right nine times out of ten. Henry Louis Mencken Attention to health is life greatest hindrance. Plato Nothing is wrong with California that a rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure. Ross MacDonald Men have become the tools of their tools. Henry David Thoreau I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. Mark Twain It is now possible for a flight attendant to get a pilot pregnant. Richard J. Ferris, president of United Airlines I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. Woody Allen Men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all the other alternatives. Abba Eban To sit alone with my conscience will be judgment enough for me. Charles William Stubbs Always do right- this will gratify some and astonish the rest. Mark Twain Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from two, it's research. Wilson Mizner Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers. T. S. Eliot Being on the tightrope is living; everything else is waiting. Karl Wallenda Opportunities multiply as they are seized. Sun Tzu The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Alan Kay Hell is paved with good samaritans. William M. Holden Never mistake motion for action. Ernest Hemingway Well done is better than well said. Benjamin Franklin Heav'n hath no rage like love to hatred turn'd, Nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorn'd. William Congreve Learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21st century. Perelman The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready. Henry David Thoreau There is a country in Europe where multiple-choice tests are illegal. Sigfried Hulzer A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Sir Winston Churchill I think it would be a good idea. Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), when asked what he thought of Western civilization The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat! Will Rogers If Stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out? Will Rogers The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy." Von Clausewitz Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity. Irving Kristol There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home. Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977 The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C', the idea must be feasible. A Yale University management professor in response to student Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.) We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out. Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962 Everything that can be invented has been invented. Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899 Denial ain't just a river in Egypt. Mark Twain A pint of sweat, saves a gallon of blood. General George S. Patton After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one." Cato the Elder Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something. Last words of Pancho Villa The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins. Oliver Wendell Holmes The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense. Tom Clancy It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. Mark Twain Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame. Benjamin Franklin The President has kept all of the promises he intended to keep. Clinton aide George Stephanopolous speaking on Larry King Live We're going to turn this team around 360 degrees. Jason Kidd, upon his drafting to the Dallas Mavericks Half this game is ninety percent mental. Yogi Berra There's many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher. Flannery O'Connor I worship the quicksand he walks in. Art Buchwald A poem is never finished, only abandoned. Paul Valery We are not retreating - we are advancing in another Direction. General Douglas MacArthur "#3 pencils and quadrille pads. Seymoure Cray (1925-1996) when asked what CAD tools he used to design the Cray I supercomputer; he also recommended using the back side of the pages so that the lines were not so dominant I just bought a Mac to help me design the next Cray. Seymoure Cray (1925-1996) when was informed that Apple Inc. had recently bought a Cray supercomputer to help them design the next Mac I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need. Francois-Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), when asked how he managed to make his remarkable statues The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. Mark Twain The truth is more important than the facts. Frank Lloyd Wright Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. Wernher Von Braun There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. Albert Einstein Have no fear of perfection – you'll never reach it. Salvador Dali Inside of a ring or out, ain't nothing wrong with going down. It's staying down that's wrong. Muhammad Ali I was born and raised with crocodiles; they are a piece of cake. But kids are so ... unpredictable. Crododile Hunter Steve Irwin The day people stop bringing you their problems is the day you have topped leading them. Colin Powell Life is too short to drink the house wine. Helen Thomas It's easy to get a reputation for wisdom. It's only necessary to live long, speak little and do less. P.D. James Whenever you see darkness, there is extraordinary opportunity for the light to burn brighter. Bono If men can run the world, why can't they stop wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck? Linda Ellerbee What you see, but can't see over is as good as infinite. Thomas Carlyle Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security, will not have, nor do they desire, either one. Benjamin Franklin Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is to little. Epicurus You will soon break the bow if you keep it always stretched. Phaedrus Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not. Robert F. Kennedy Winning is a habit. unfortunately, so is losing. Vince Lombardi Most of us ask for advice when we know the answer but we want a different one. Ivern Ball Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. Soren Kirkegaard You've just one problem. You stand too close to the ball--after you've hit it. Sam Snead The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. Thomas Jefferson Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together. Vincent Van Gogh Life leaps like a geyser for those who drill through the rock of inertia. Alexis Carrel Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it. Thomas Fuller Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. Carl Sandburg The world is a dangerous place to live in, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who watch and let it happen. Albert Einstein Develop an infallible technique, then put yourself at the mercy of inspiration. Zen maxim Well ya see, Norm, it's like this. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers. Cliff Clavin of "Cheers" to Norm Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell. Anonymous There are more men than women in mental hospitals, which just goes to show who's driving who crazy. Peter Veale, musician If you want to test a man's character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln Actually, it only takes one drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can't remember if it's the 13th or the 14th. George Burns A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for. W.C. Fields You better live every day like it's your last because one day you're going to be right. Ray Charles The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like a condemned man who is proud of his cell. Simone Weil Good taste is the worst vice ever invented. Edith Sitwell Nobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy. Cynthia Nelms Life is easier to take than you'd think; all that is necessary is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensible, and bear the intolerable. Kathleen Norris They say that adultery is the main thing that can damage a marriage, but it's not. It's boredom. Barry Cryer Children must be taught how to think, not what to think. Margaret Mead Man's loneliness is but his fear of life. Eugene O'Neill Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling. Margaret Lee It is always brave to say what everyone thinks. George Duhamel People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them. Eric Hoffer Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. We live as we dream-alone Capt Marlow, Heart of Darkness The meek shall inherit the earth, but not its mineral rights. J. Paul Getty No man is so poor as to have nothing to give. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd. 'Eloisa to Abelard' by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die. It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Ulysses - Alfred Lord Tennyson So much there is to catch, And the years so short, That there is scarce time to snatch Pen, palette, or aught, And to seize some shape we can see, That others may keep Its moment of mystery, Then go to our sleep. Lord Dunsany Photograph not only what you see but also what you feel. Ansel Adams The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes. Marcel Proust There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs. Ansel Adams Hope is not a method LTC Crowder advised me on 12 Nov 04 What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.. Lily Tomlin Heaven and Hell Heaven is where the police are British, the chefs are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers Italian, and it's all organized by the Swiss. Hell is where the chefs are British, the mechanics French, the lovers Swiss, the police German, and it's all organized by the Italians. Author Unknown You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late. Ralph Waldo Emerson If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau Life is short. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. Robert Doisneau Our friends define us by what we have done; we define ourselves by what we are capable of. Never lie, steal, cheat or drink. But if you must lie, lie in the arms of the one you love. If you must steal, steal away from bad company. If you must cheat, cheat death. And if you must drink, drink in the moments that take your breath away. Alex Hitchens, Hitch To look at a thing is very different from seeing it. Oscar Wilde The best zoom lens is your legs. Ernst Haas One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind. Dorothea Lange You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. Jack London You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. Mark Twain We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspriation seldom generates action. Frank Tibolt A good photograph is knowing where to stand. Ansel Adams Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. Scott Adams To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. Joseph Chilton Pearce The great aim of education is not knowledge but action. Herbert Spencer Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. Henry David Thoreau In this age, which believes that there is a shortcut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest. Henry Miller Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein Human beings tend to attribute their own successes to personal intelligence, knowledge, and artistry but they explain away their failures as the results of situations beyond their control. Unknown When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. Thomas Jefferson It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad. James Madison Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up, it knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter if you are a lion or a gazelle, when the sun comes up you better start running. African proverb All art is autobiographical. Federico Fellini Being in a minority, even a minority of one, didn't make you made. There was truth and there was untruth. And if you clung to the truth, even against the whole world, you were not mad. Winston, 1984 Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its one sure defense. Mark Twain Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto. Thomas Jefferson Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. Mark Twain I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. Winston Churchill A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. George Bernard Shaw Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994) Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850) Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. Ronald Reagan (1986) I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. Will Rogers If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free. P.J. O'Rourke In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. Voltaire (1764) Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. Pericles (430 B.C) No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. Mark Twain (1866) Talk is cheap ... except when Congress does it. Unknown The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. Winston Churchill What this country needs is more unemployed politicians. Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995) A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. Thomas Jefferson You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams. Dr. Seuss If you don't do it this year, you'll just be one year older when you do. Warren Miller If something is not happening for you it doesn't mean it's never going to happen. It means you're not ready for it. Unknown A Man Is Not Old Until Regrets Take the Place of Dreams. John Barrymore It's the questions we can't answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he'll look for his own answers. Kvothe from Patrick Rothfuss - A Wise Man's Fear - MP3 20/36 1:01:10 If we look at photography as first a technical pursuit, then the starting point is the technique or the technology, with nothing to drive our decisions. If we begin, instead, with our intent for the photograph, the what follows is a pursuit of the aesthetic - the look. Technique and the tools of the trade are merely the means to get us there. David Duchemin - Vision Driven Photographer pg 10 Once more into the fray, Into the last good fight I'll ever know, Live and die on this day, Live and die on this day! The Grey - Liam Neeson Paper is poverty; it is the ghost of money and not money itself. Thomas Jefferson You can ignore reality but you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. Ayn Rand To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are. Bruce Lee Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. Maria Robinson Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. Maria Robinson You canÕt build a reputation on what youÕre going to do. Henry Ford Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. William Pitt the Younger The people with whom we are friends should never affect our morality; rather, our morality should affect with whom we are friends. An Echo of Things to Come by James Islington <top of page>