“You have to have a dream so you can get up in the morning.”
Billy Wilder (1906–2002) American filmmaker
Martin Svoboda
Verified author @quick, member from April 4, 2011
“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”
Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996) Russian and American poet and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate
Misattributed
“Life—the way it really is—is a battle not between good and bad, but between bad and worse”
Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996) Russian and American poet and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate
“Most people die at 25 and aren’t buried until they’re 75.”
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …
“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.”
Emile Zola (1840–1902) French writer (1840-1902)
As quoted in Wisdom for the Soul : Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing (2006) by Larry Chang , p. 55.
“Thinking is difficult, that’s why most people judge.”
C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology
George Bernard Shaw Man and Superman
#124
1900s, Maxims for Revolutionists (1903)
Source: Man and Superman
“Are you running out of breath? Go faster!”
Emil Zátopek (1922–2000) Czech Olympic long-distance runner
Life credo
“When I understand myself, I understand you, and out of that understanding comes love.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) Indian spiritual philosopher
Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiLR4sCgvnc
Context: But now, let’s give each other a chance.
It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric.
To lower the temperature.
To see each other again.
To listen to each other again.
To make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy.
We are not enemies. We are Americans.
“Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English writer
Variant: It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality
Source: The Death of the Moth and Other Essays
“It's not an old movie if you haven't seen it.”
Lauren Bacall (1924–2014) American actress, model
On TCM with Robert Osborne
Private Screenings interview (2005)
“Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Letter to his son Eduard (5 February 1930), as quoted in Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), p. 367
1930s
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
As quoted in Journal of France and Germany (1942–1944) by Gilbert Fowler White, in excerpt published in Living with Nature's Extremes: The Life of Gilbert Fowler White (2006) by Robert E. Hinshaw, p. 62. From the context http://books.google.com/books?id=_2qfZRp9SeEC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA62#v=onepage&q&f=false it seems that White did not specify whether he had heard Einstein himself say this or whether he was repeating a quote that had been passed along by someone else, so without a primary source the validity of this quote should be considered questionable.<br>Some have argued that elsewhere Einstein defined a "miracle" as a type of event he did not believe was possible—Einstein on Religion by Max Jammer (1999) quotes on p. 89 from a 1931 conversation Einstein had with David Reichinstein, where Reichinstein brought up philosopher Arthur Liebert's argument that the indeterminism of quantum mechanics might allow for the possibility of miracles, and Einstein replied that Liebert's argument dealt "with a domain in which lawful rationality [determinism] does not exist. A 'miracle,' however, is an exception from lawfulness; hence, there where lawfulness does not exist, also its exception, i.e., a miracle, cannot exist." ("Dort, wo eine Gesetzmässigkeit nicht vorhanden ist, kann auch ihre Ausnahme, d.h. ein Wunder, nicht existieren." D. Reichenstein, Die Religion der Gebildeten (1941), p. 21). However, it is clear from the context that Einstein was stating only that miracles cannot exist in a domain (quantum mechanics) where lawful rationality does not exist. He did not claim that miracles could never exist in any domain. Indeed, Einstein clearly believed, as seen in many quotations above, that the universe was comprehensible and rational, but he also described this characteristic of the universe as a "miracle". In another example, he is quoted as claiming belief in a God, "Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world." <br class="br">As quoted in From Yale to Jail: The Life Story of a Moral Dissenter (1993) by David T. Dellinger, p. 418 <br class="br">Disputed <br class="br">Variant: 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. <br class="br">Variant: 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.
“Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.”
Zhuangzi (-369–-286 BC) classic Chinese philosopher
Variant: "Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to."
Context: A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find someone who's forgotten words so I can have a word with him?...