QUOTATIONS FROM FAMOUS PEOPLE *********************** Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1995) With all of our differences, whenever we are confronted with a threat to our security we are not then Republicans or Democrats but Americans; we are not then fifty states but the United States. Julius Caesar (100BC-44BC) Veni, Vidi, Vici. (I came. I saw. I conquered.) Alberta Lee Cox It s not enough to be good if you have the ability to be better. Franois de la Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) Those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Well done is better than well said. Millard Fuller It s what you do with your life that counts. Thor Heyerdahl (-2002) I haven't survived by good luck, but rather by the absence of bad luck. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) If a man is called a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and Earth will pause to say, Here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well. George Smith Patton (1885-1945) Always do more than is required of you. Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain (1835-1910) The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him. The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself. All progress depends on the unreasonable man. John Wooden (1910- ) Don t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) Be the change you want to see in this world. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) Change is the law. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. Margaret Mead (1901-1978) Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Gail Sheehy If we don t change, we don t grow. If we don t grow, we are not really living. anonymous What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. H. Jackson Brown, Jr. Character is what we do when we think no one is looking. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Abigail Van Buren The best index to a person s character is how he treats people who can t do him any good, and how he treats people who can t fight back. German proverb Chartiy sees the need, not the cause. Naomi Judd If you want a helping hand, first look to the end of your own arm. Robert Frost (1874-1963) Two paths diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) Lady Astor to Churchill: Winston, if you were my husband I would flavour your coffee with poison. Churchill's comeback: Madam, if I were your husband, I should drink it. Bessie Braddock to Churchill: Winston, you're drunk! Churchill's comeback: Bessie, you're ugly, and tomorrow morning I shall be sober. Lt. Colonel Claus Phillip Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (1907-1944), who attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler Better I be a traitor to my country than a traitor to my conscience. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) If a man hasn t discovered something he will die for, he isn t fit to live. Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die. Muhammad Ali (1942- ) He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life. Joseph Bryant (Thayendanegea of the Mohawk Tribe) No person among us deserves any other reward for performing a brave and worthy action, but the consciousness of having served his nation. Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) The truest act of courage is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally non-violent struggle for justice. Edward Estlin Cummings (1894-1962) It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. Quintus Horatius Flaccus, aka Horace (65 B.C.- 8 B.C.) Even as we speak, time flies. Seize the day (carpe diem), and believe as little as possible in tomorrow. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world - or to make it the last. Robert Francis Kennedy (1925-1968) There is a Chinese curse which says may he live in interesting times. Like it or not, we live in interesting times. Groucho Marx (1895-1977) I had a wonderful time, but this wasn't it. Hugh Mulligan What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1831) Nothing is worth more than this day. Woody Allen (1935-) I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910-1995) If we didn t die, we wouldn t appreciate life as we do. Leonardo da Vinci As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death. David - Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Ian L. Fleming (1908-1964) I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) In the long-run, we are all dead. Native American proverb When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in a manner so that when you die the world cries and you rejoice. Scottish proverb Be happy while you re living, for you're a long time dead. Josef Stalin (1879-1953) One death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic. Voltaire (1694-1778) - On his deathbed, after a priest asked that he renounce Satan. Now, now my good man. This is no time for making enemies. John Adams ( -1824) There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. Winston Churchill Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others. Walt Disney (1901-1966) If you can dream it, you can do it. All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Some men see things as they are and ask why? Others dream things that never were and ask why not? Francis Bacon (1561-1626) Knowledge is power. Chinese Proverbs Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself. I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain (1835-1910) The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. John Dewey Education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform. Will Durant Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. Epictetus (50-130) Only the educated are free. Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (1919-1990) Education s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Genius without education is like silver in the mine. Gail Godwin Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) Education is the art of making man ethical. Marie von Ebner Eschenbach In youth we learn; in age we understand. Sarah Lee (c1986- ) (a student in my 9th grade World History class, 1998-99) Good thinking habits + good study skills = good grades and good college = good future Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990 ) Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. anonymous A man can fail many times, but he isn t a failure until he begins to blame others. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) Never interrupt your emeny when he is making a mistake. Bill Cosby (1937- ) I don t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. Franois de la Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) If we had no faults of our own, we would not take so much pleasure in noticing those of others. Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) It is much easier to be critical than to be correct. Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. Milton Friedman (1912- ) If you make a mistake and refuse to admit it, you hurt yourself twice: once, when you make the mistake; a second time, when you refuse to learn from your mistake. Robert Francis Kennedy (1925-1968) Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. John Wesley Powell (1834-1902) The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something. Beverly Sills (1929- ) You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don t try. Nadine Stair If I had to live my life over again, I'd dare to make more mistakes next time. Turkish proverb No matter how far you have gone on a wrong road, turn back. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Experience is the name that everyone gives to their mistakes. Bud Wilkinson The man who tried his best and fails is superior to the man who never tried. Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959) A doctor can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines. Samuel Butler You can do very little with faith alone, but you can do nothing without it. William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) 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. Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) When fate hands us a lemon, let s try to make lemonade. Franois de la Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) Our repentance is not so much regret for the ill we have done as fear of the ill that may happen to us in consequence. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them more. A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies. Anonymous American slave (pre-1864) O, that I were free! I will run away: I had as well be killed running as die standing. Anonymous freed black man in the pre-Civil War United States (pre-1864) No day ever dawns for the slave, nor is it looked for. For the slave it is all night -- all night, forever. Elmer Davis This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) Freedom is indivisible...When one man is enslaved, all are not free. Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855) People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid. Charles Schultz (1922-2000) If all my friends were to jump off a bridge, I wouldn't jump with them. I'd be at the bottom to catch them. anonymous You can judge a person's worth by the company he keeps. Albert Camus (1913-1960) Don t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don t walk behind me, I may not lead. Walk beside me and just be my friend. Charles Caleb Colton True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost. The Dalai Lama of Tibet (1935- ) Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day. Robert Louis Stevenson A friend is a present you give yourself. Woodrow Wilson Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) The only way to have a friend is to be one. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever. Cato the Elder (234-149 B.C.), aka Marcus Porcius Cato After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one. Edmund Burke (1729-1797) The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) Goodness defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Mae West (1892-1980) When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before. Neil Armstrong (20 July 1969 - revised 20 July 1999) That s one small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) - 13 May 1940, speech made to the House of Commons I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) - 18 June 1940, following the capitulation of France to Nazi Germany Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, this was their finest hour. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) - 20 August 1940 speech in the House of Commons, during the Battle of Britain Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) - 1942 speech to Parliament. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender! Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) Victory at all costs; victory in spite of all terror; victory however long and hard the road may be. William Jefferson Clinton (1946- ) The real differences around the world today are not between Jews and Arabs; Protestants and Catholics; Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. The real differences are between those who embrace peace and those who would destroy it. Between those who look to the future and those who cling to the past. Between those who open their arms and those who are determined to clench their fists. The Constitution of the United States of America, 1787 We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Frank R. Crosswaith - African-American labor leader addressing a rally in 1942. Someday the flag for which my son is about to die in Europe may wave freely over his race and his class and his children. Nathan Hale (-1776) - Last words before being hanged by the British as a spy. I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country. Patrick Henry (1736-1799) Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?...I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) - from The Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) - Inaguration speech given 20 January 1961. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) - Inaguration speech given 20 January 1961. Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) - speaking in West Berlin, 1963. Ich bin ein Berliner! ( I am a jelly donut! ) John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) We choose to go to the moon; not because it is easy, but because it is hard. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) - on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, 28 August 1963 When we let freedom ring...when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children: black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), Memphis, Tennessee, 3 April 1968 (The evening prior to his assassination.) Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) - 1858 A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this Government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) - 19 Nov 1863, The Gettysburg Address Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1995) With all of our differences, whenever we are confronted with a threat to our security we are not then Republicans or Democrats but Americans; we are not then fifty states but the United States. J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) (Citing from the Hindu text The Bhaghavad-Gita, after witnessing the testing of the world s first atomic bomb. I am become death, shatterer of worlds. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) - During the Great Depression of the 1930s. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) - Dec 8, 1941, following Japan s attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy. The United States of America, was suddenly and deliberately attacked, by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. Dean Rusk In 1966, when French President Charles de Gaulle ordered all American troops off French soil, then U.S. Secretary of State Rusk quickly replied: Would that include the ones buried in the military cemeteries, General? Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie (1892-1975), speaking to the League of Nations following the invasion of Ethiopia by Mussolini's fascist Italy. It is us today. It will be you tomorrow. Antonin Artaud (1896-1948), writing about Vincent Van Gogh There is in every madman a misunderstood genius whose idea, shining in his head, frightened people, and for whom delirium was the only solution to the strangulation that life had prepared for him. Charles A. Beard One of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our fathers used in the great struggle for Independence. John Jay Chapman There was never a moment, during the earliest years of our national history, when the slavery issue was not a sleeping serpent. That issue lay coiled up under the table during the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. It was, owing to the cotton gin, more than half awake at the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803...Thereafter, slavery was on everyone's mind, though not always on his tongue. When the US government protested to the Japanese government concerning Japan's military actions in China during the 1930s, the Japanese foreign minister responded as follows: Japan is expanding, and what expanding country has not been trying to its neighbors. Ask the American Indian or the Mexican how excruciatingly trying the young United States used to be. Marton Niemoller (1892-1984), German Lutheran pastor speaking about the Holocaust In Germany, they first came for the communists, and I didn t speak up because I wasn t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn t speak up because I wasn t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn t speak up because I wasn t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn t speak up because I wasn t a Catholic. Then they came for me - and by that time there was nobody left to speak up. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) When I was a child, my mother said to me, If you become a soldier you ll be a general. If you become a monk you ll end up as the Pope. Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso. Tatanka Yotanka (Sitting Bull) (1831-1890) When I was a boy, the Lakota owned the world. The sun rose and set on their land. They sent ten thousand men to battle. Where are the warriors today? Who slew them? Where are our lands? Who owns them? What white man can say I ever stole his land or a penny of his money? Yet they say I am a thief. What white woman, however lonely, was ever captive or insulted by me? Yet they say I am a bad Indian. What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and let me unfed? Who has ever seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken? Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am a Lakota? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my country? Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) History is written by the victors. History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. Will Durant (1885-1981) One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say. Abba Eban (1915- ) History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. Henry Ford (1863-1947) History is more or less bunk. Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) We learn from history that man can never learn anything from history. The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom. Robert Heinlein (1907-1988) A generation which ignores history has no past and no future. Aldous Huxley That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history. Thomas Jefferson History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is. Ted Koppel (1940 - ) History is a tool used by politicians to justify their intentions. Leonard Louis Levinson History is the short trudge from Adam to Atom. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) We cannot escape history. George Santayana (1863-1952) Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. J. W. Schopf For four-fifths of our history, our planet was populated by pondscum. Klemens von Metternich (1773-1859) The men who make history have not time to write it. Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) I am a passenger on the spaceship Earth. Socrates (c.469-399 BC) The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. Publilius Syrus He who has lost honor can lose nothing more. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1831) In all things it is better to hope than to despair. Jean Kerr Hope is the feeling you have that the feeling you have isn't permanent. A contestant in the 1994 Miss USA contest Question: If you could live forever, would you and why? Answer: I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever. Dan Quayle, former vice-president of the United States It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it. I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. Lord Thomas Dewar Minds are like parachutes; they work best when open. Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so. George Moore (1852-1933) After all, there is but one race - humanity. St. Augustine in The Confessions Because my will was perverse it changed to lust, and lust yielded to become habit, and habit unresisted became necessity. Thus, I came to understand how the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) I claim to be no more than an average man with below average capabilities. Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) There was one who thought himself above me, and he was above me until he had that thought. Golda Meir (1898-1978) Don't be humble. You're not that great. Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) If I have seen farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants. Harry S Truman (1884-1972) It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. John Wooden (1910- ) Talent is God given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be grateful. Conceit is self-given; be careful. Jack Handy (Saturday Night Live) Before criticizing someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Then, when you do criticize them, you will be a mile away and have their shoes. During the Middle Ages, probably one of the biggest mistakes was not putting on your armor because you were just going around the corner. I hope that after I die, people will say of me: "That guy sure owed me a lot of money." Broken promises don't upset me. I just think, why did they believe me? Will Rogers (1879-1935) Everything is funny, as long as it is happening to somebody else. Jerry Seinfeld (1954- ) It s amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world everyday always just exactly fits the newspaper. Robin Williams - commenting on the Clinton/Lewinsky affair God gave men both a penis and a brain, but unfortunately not enough blood supply to run both at the same time. Steven Wright Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. You can't have everything; where would you put it? Clarence Seward Darrow (1857-1938) I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of. Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge. Emma Goldman (1869-1940) The most violent element in society is ignorance. Alec Guiness in Star Wars Who s more foolish? The fool, or the one who follows him? Doug Larson Some of the world s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time. But you cannot fool all the people all the time. Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) The graveyards are full of indispensable men. Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important. anonymous The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. Confucius (551-479 BC) To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions. Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. We don t know a millionth of one percent about anything. Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. Henry Ford (1863-1947) Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it. Baltasar Gracian A wise man gets more from his enemies than a fool from his friends. Werner Karl Heisenberg (1901-1976) Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think. Jimi Hendrix Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens. Victor Hugo (1802-1885) There is one thing stronger than all the armies of the world, and that is an idea whose time has come. Irish proverb Everyone is wise, until he speaks. Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, aka Juvenal (c.60-130) Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another. Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) If you can talk brilliantly about a problem, it can create the consoling illusion that it has been mastered. "The Lost Girl in the Midnight Sun" by The Lilac Time I understand that we can't hide, and try to hide that we don't understand. George Orwell (1903-1950) One defeats a fanatic precisely by not being a fanatic oneself, but on the contrary by using one's intelligence. Linus Carl Pauling (1901-1994) The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. "Something to Believe In" by Poison Sometimes I wish to God I didn't know now the things I didn't know then. It's the END of the WORLD as WE KNOW it… …and I feel fine. - Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) The question is no longer between violence and non-violence; it is between non-violence and non-existence. Martin Luther (1483-1546) Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. Charles Monroe Schultz (1922-2000) Don t worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia. U2 (Bono) from the song Sunday Bloody Sunday I can t believe the news today. I can t close my eyes and make it go away. How long? How long must we sing this song? Etienne de Grellet I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. Dean Acheson (1893-1971) & Proverbs 28:1 The guilty (wicked) flee when no man pursuith. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 bc.) The more laws, the less justice. anonymous A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn t like the tune. Byrd Baggett Good leaders are like baseball umpires; they go practically unnoticed when doing their jobs right. Harry S Truman (1884-1972) All the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway. Aesop Please all, and you will please none. anonymous A fellow who does things that count, doesn t usually stop to count them. Saint Augustine (354-430) Give me chastity and continence, but not yet. Richard Bach Here s the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you re alive, it isn t. Erma Bombeck (1927- ) Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died. Matthew Broderick (1962- ) in Ferris Bueller s Day Off Life moves pretty fast. If you don t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it. Winston Churchill (1874-1965) If you re going through hell, keep going. Maureen Dowd The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for. Bob Dylan, aka Robert Allen Zimmerman (1941- ) The times they are a-changin . Eccleasties 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die. A time to sow, and a time to reap. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to love, and a time to hate. A time for war, and a time for peace. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing. Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. Mick Jagger (1943- ) (The Rolling Stones) You can t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need. John Lennon (1940-1980) Life is what happens while you are making other plans. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592) The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them. Jim Morrison of The Doors (from "Waiting for the Sun") This is the strangest life I've ever known. James Nagle (1908-1997) If it s such a great deal, why do they want to let YOU in on it? William Osler (1849-1919 ) We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from it. Francois Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) - when asked how he made his beautiful statues. I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don t need. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) It is the greatest of all advantages to enjoy no advantage at all. 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 faraway. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain (1835-1910) Work like you don t need the money. Dance like no one is watching. Love like you ve never been hurt. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1831) Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. Mae West (1892-1980) Too much of a good thing can be wonderful. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves. Robin Williams (1951- ), as Mork Fly and be free! H. Jackson Brown, Jr. Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye. Neil Diamond - from Forever in Blue Jeans Money talks. But it can't sing and dance, and it can't walk. As long as I can have you here with me, I'd much rather be forever in blue jeans. Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. Andre Gide (1869-1951) It is better to be hated for what you are then to be loved for something you are not. Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) If you hate a person, you hate something in them that is part of yourself. What isn t part of ourselves doesn t disturb us. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools. Stephen Morrissey (The Smiths) (c1960- ) It s so easy to laugh, it s so easy to hate. It takes strength to be gentle and kind. Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1995) Always remember that others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself. Alexander Pope (1688-1744) Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Winnie the Pooh If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you. Yoda Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering... Thomas Szasz Some people say they haven't yet found themselves. But the self is not something one finds; it is something one creates. e e cummings (1894-1962) I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart. J. Paul Getty (1892-1976) If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars. Berthold Auerbach (1812-1882) Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. Victor Hugo (1802-1885) Music expresses that which cannot be said, and on which it is impossible to be silent. Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977) A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. Francois Marie Arouet, aka Voltaire (1694-1778 ) Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung. Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) When one door closes, another door opens. But we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which opened for us. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. Emiliano Zapata (c1879-1919) It is better to die on your feet, than to live on your knees. Jesse Louis Jackson (1941- ) Never look down on anybody unless you re helping him up. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1831) Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be. anonymous You can t change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future. anonymous The past is history. The future is a mystery. And today is a gift. That's why we call it the present. Mary Kay Blakely One life stamps and influences another, which in turn stamps and influences another, on and on, until the soul of human experience breathes on in generations we'll never even meet. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) I can t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then. Winston Churchill If the past sits in judgment on the present, the future will be lost. Paul Harvey In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these. Horace Drop the question what tomorrow may bring, and count for profit every day that fate allows you. Eugene O'Neill There is no present or future, only the past, happening over and over again. George Orwell (1903-1950), from his book 1984, written in 1949 Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) The wise man must remember that while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future. Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) There is only one time that is important - NOW! It is the most important time because it is the only time we have any power over. Van Halen (Sammy Hagar), from the song "Right now!" Right now! It's your tomorrow! Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) No man is rich enough to buy back his past. George Frederick Will (1941- ) The future has a way of arriving unannounced. John Wooden You can't have one foot in yesterday or one foot in tomorrow; you have to keep both feet in today and that's how you get to tomorrow. Confucius (551-479 BC) It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop. Japanese proverb Fall seven times; stand up eight. Vince Lombardi (1913-1970) It s not whether you get knocked down. It s whether you get up again. Mother Teresa God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) What does not destroy me makes me stronger. Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1995) A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. Yoda (A long time ago...) Do, or do not. There is no try. Ambrose Bierce (1842-c1914) All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusions is called a philosopher. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) I think, therefore I am. Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) I am too much a skeptic to deny the possibility of anything. Aristotle Man is by nature a political animal; it is his nature to live in a state. Hillary Clinton, First Lady of the US, commenting on the release of subpoenaed documents I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president! Frederick II the Great, King of Prussia I begin by taking. I shall find scholars later to demonstrate my perfect right. G. H. Hardy It is not worth an intelligent man s time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do that. Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf In political matters, feeling often decides more correctly than reason. James Frederick Oberacker (1969- ) If you have the right to vote but don't exercise it, don't complain about society's ills. They're not your problem - they're your fault! George Stephanopolous - Clinton aide speaking on Larry King Live The President has kept all of the promises he intended to keep. Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) In America, anybody can be president. That's one of the risks you take. Mary Jean Lily Tomlin (1939- ) Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them. Mao Tse-Tung (1893-1976) Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. Lord Acton Power tends to corrupt; and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Aesop Any excuse will serve a tyrant. African proverb - used by Theodore Roosevelt Speak softly and carry a big stick. Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) It is safer to be feared than loved. Alfred Adler (1870-1937) It is easier to fight for one s principles than to live up to them. Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality. Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969), First inaugural address on 20 Jan 1953 A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Act so that your principles of action might safely be made a law for the whole world. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today. Galileo Galilei 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. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) - in a letter to John Adams dated 11 April 1823 The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as the father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce (c1840-1904) We do not want churches because they will teach us to quarrel about God, as the Catholics and Protestants do. Karl Marx Religion is the opiate of the masses. Voltaire No culture has a monopoly on beauty, just as no religion has a monopoly on truth. Chinese proverb If thine enemy wrong thee, buy each of his children a drum. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) The revolution is over! I am the revolution! Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. John Lennon and Paul McCartney (The Beatles) You say you want a revolution? Well, we all want to change the world. Mrs. Sergei Misislavski - following the Democratic Socialist revolution of Alexander Kerensky, the first of two Russian revolutions in 1917. Over? Oh no, it can't be over. Not enough blood has been shed. anonymous Gravity. It isn t just a good idea - it s the law. Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not Eureka! I found it!, but, That s funny.... Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits that favor that theory. Hellen Adams Keller (1880-1968) No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit. Jacob Levin It s a rash man who reaches a conclusion before he gets to it. Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess. Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi (1893 - ) Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1831) Every solution of a problem is a new problem. Steven Wright Black holes are where God divided by zero. Henry Brooks Adams (1838-1918) No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean. For words are slippery and thought is viscous. Edmund Burke (1729-1797) To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting. Chinese proverb Those who do not read are no better off than those who cannot. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters: one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity. John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking. A. J. Liebling (1904-1963) I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better. Heinrich Mann (1871-1950) A house without books is like a room without windows. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592) There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees. Baron de Montesquieu Author: a fool who, not content with having bored those who have lived with him, insists on tormenting generations to come. Mother Teresa (1910-1997) Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. Rumanian proverb Men are born with two eyes and one tongue in order that they may see twice as much as they say. Martin Farquhar Tupper Well timed silence hath more eloquence than speech. Jessamyn West A broken bone can heal, but the wound a word opens can fester forever. Gerald Barzan Taxation WITH representation ain't so hot either. Lord Thomas Dewar The only thing that hurts more than paying an income tax is not having to pay an income tax. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1831) Trust yourself, then you will know how to live. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) If you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce (c1840-1904) It does not require many words to speak the truth. John Keats (1795-1821) Beauty is truth, truth beauty; that is all ye know on Earth, and all ye need to know. Rosa Luxembourg If one desires to teach truth, it is his duty to teach it wholly or not at all. Harry S Truman (1884-1972) I never give them hell; I just tell them the truth and they think it is hell. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) The pure and simple truth is rarely pure, and never simple. Omar Nelson Bradley (1893-1981) In war there is no second place for the runner-up. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight -- it s the size of the fight in the dog. Julia Ward Howe, The Battle Hymn of the Republic Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored, He has loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword His truth is marching on. Isiah 2:4 They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war ever more. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. Robert Edward Lee (1807-1870) It is well that war is so terrible, or we should get too fond of it. Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction. Wilfred Owen (18??-1918) Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge, Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind. Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime,-- Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams before my helpless sight He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin, If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs Bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-- My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. George Smith Patton (1885-1945) No one ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country. Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) Someday they ll give a war and nobody will come. George Washington (1732-1799) To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace. Yogi Berra (1925- ) It ain t over till it s over Vince Lombardi (1913-1970) Winning isn t everything, but making the effort to win is. Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956) Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake. Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) I would rather fail in a cause that someday will triumph, than to win in a cause that I know will someday fail. Harriet Woods You can be a victor without having victims. anonymous The two hardest things to handle in life are failure and success. Conrad Burns In life you are given two ends; one to think with and the other to sit on. Your success in life depends on which end you use most. Heads you win, tails you lose. Stephen R. Covey Doing more things faster is no substitute for doing the right things. Jimmy Durante Be nice to people on your way up because you meet them on your way down. Robert Allen Zimmerman, aka Bob Dylan (1941- ) A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night, and in between does what he wants to do. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) I m a great believer in luck; and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. Notre Dame Football Poster First we'll be best; then we'll be first. Aristotle Onassis (1906-1975) The secret of success is to know something nobody else knows. Robert Orben Everyday I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain (1835-1910) All you need in life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure. Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856-1915) Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which one has overcome. Katherine Whitehorn Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it. Emile Zola (1840-1902 The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work. anonymous There are three kinds of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened. Louis Armstrong (1900-1971) What a wonderful world. James Branch Cabell The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible. Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) Maybe this world is another planet s hell. John Locke (1632-1704) The only defense against the world is a thorough knowledge of it. J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true. Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. Chief Seattle All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the children of the Earth. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) from The Merchant of Venice I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano, - a stage where every man must play a part. Socrates (469-399 BC) I am a citizen of the world. The Trash Can Sinatras, from the Song Twisted and Bent Let s sing a lament. The world isn t round it s twisted and bent. Don't WORRY, be HAPPY - Bobby McFerrin Joseph Addison The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain (1835-1910) Grief can take care of itself; but to get the full value of joy, you must have somebody to share it with. Sheryl Crow If it makes you happy, it can t be that bad. Tibetan proverb If the problem can be solved, there is no use worrying about it. If it can t be solved, worrying will do no good. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go. anonymous The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible, and achieve it, generation after generation. Margaret Mead (1901-1978) I was wise enough to never grow up, while fooling most people into believing I had. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) I am not young enough to know everything. Marguerite Yourcenar All happiness is innocence.