Old Words for a New Year

By way of New Year’s greetings, here is another smattering of quotations that I collect here, there, and everywhere on the vast and boundless internet.

“Let this ending of a year, and the beginning of a new year be a time to consider what is really important in life.” —Jonathan Huie

“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.” —Charles Bukowski

“Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile.” —Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)

“Information is the currency of democracy.” —Thomas Jefferson

“Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge.” —Da Vinci

“Men shout to avoid listening to one another.” —Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936)

“Creationists make it sound like a ‘theory’ is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night.” —Isaac Asimov

“Religious freedom should work two ways: we should be free to practice the religion of our choice, but we must also be free from having someone else’s religion practiced on us.” —John Irving

“The history of intellectual progress is written in the lives of infidels.” —Robert Green Ingersoll

“It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.” —Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

“Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth — the tyranny of plutocracy.” Theodore Roosevelt

“Today the world changes so quickly that in growing up we take leave not just of youth but of the world we were young in” —Peter Medawar

“No one ever goes into battle thinking God is on the other side.” —Terry Goodkind

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” —Epicurus, philosopher (c. 341-270 BCE)

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.” —Marcus Aurelius, philosopher and writer (121-180)

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