Sunday, July 05, 2009

A Few Words

It's been awhile, and the quotations that I like to collect have been, you know, collecting. Here's a bunch of them. Many of them--although, this time, not all of them--are from the always-interesting newsletter A Word a Day:

Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, everyday, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity. — Christopher Morley

Faith which does not doubt is dead faith. -Miguel de Unamuno, philosopher and writer (1864-1936)

To profess to be doing God's will is a form of megalomania. - Joseph Prescott, aphorist (1913-2001)

Only the madman is absolutely sure. - Robert Anton Wilson, novelist (1932-2007)

The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience. - Eleanor Roosevelt, US diplomat & reformer
(1884 - 1962)


You can't help someone get up a hill without getting closer to the top yourself. - H. Norman Schwarzkopf (1934 - )

In all recorded history there has not been one economist who has had to worry about where the next meal would come from. - Peter Drucker (1909-2005)

Each morning puts a man on trial and each evening passes judgment. - Roy L. Smith

Whatever a man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer reduces itself to this: Great God, grant that twice two be not four. - Ivan Turgenev, novelist and playwright (1818-1883)

It is not how old you are, but how you are old. - Jules Renard, writer (1864-1910)

It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of the truth. - John Locke, philosopher (1632-1704)

It seems like the less a statesman amounts to the more he adores the flag. - Kin Hubbard, humorist (1868-1930)

Our heads are round so that thoughts can change direction. - Francis Picabia, painter and poet (1879-1953)

I believe I have no prejudices whatsoever. All I need to know is that a man is a member of the human race. That's bad enough for me. - Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)

Knowing what / Thou knowest not / Is in a sense / Omniscience. - Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. - Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President (1809-1865)

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. - Eleanor Roosevelt, diplomat and author (1884-1962)

Myth: we have to save the earth. Frankly, the earth doesn't need to be saved. Nature doesn't give a hoot if human beings are here or not. The planet has survived cataclysmic and catastrophic changes for millions upon millions of years. Over that time, it is widely believed, 99 percent of all species have come and gone while the planet has remained. Saving the environment is really about saving our environment - making it safe for ourselves, our children, and the world as we know it. If more people saw the issue as one of saving themselves, we would probably see increased motivation and commitment to actually do so. - Robert M. Lilienfeld, management consultant and author (b. 1953) and William L. Rathje, archaeologist and author (b. 1945)