Lysander Spooner (1808–1887) Anarchist, Entrepreneur, Abolitionist
Section III, p. 7
Natural Law; or The Science of Justice (1882), Chapter I. The Science of Justice.
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Paraphrased variant: Man can certainly flee from God... but he cannot escape him. He can certainly hate God and be hateful to God … but he cannot change into its opposite the eternal love of God which triumphs even in his hate.
Quoted in Simpson's Contemporary Quotations (1998) by James Beasley Simpson.
Church Dogmatics (1932–1968)
Context: Man can certainly keep on lying (and he does so); but he cannot make truth falsehood. He can certainly rebel (he does so); but he can accomplish nothing which abolishes the choice of God. He can certainly flee from God (he does so); but he cannot escape Him. He can certainly hate God and be hateful to God (he does and is so); but he cannot change into its opposite the eternal love of God which triumphs even in His hate. He can certainly give himself to isolation (he does so — he thinks, wills and behaves godlessly, and is godless); but even in his isolation he must demonstrate that which he wishes to controvert — the impossibility of playing the "individual" over against God. He may let go of God, but God does not let go of him.
Lysander Spooner (1808–1887) Anarchist, Entrepreneur, Abolitionist
Section III, p. 7
Natural Law; or The Science of Justice (1882), Chapter I. The Science of Justice.
“So long as he does both he can create: for he is making an outline and a shape.”
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist
Ch I: The Victorian Compromise and Its Enemies (p. 20)
The Victorian Age in Literature (1913)
Context: A man making the confession of any creed worth ten minutes' intelligent talk, is always a man who gains something and gives up something. So long as he does both he can create: for he is making an outline and a shape.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) German scientist, satirist
F 49
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook F (1776-1779)
“A pupil from whom nothing is ever demanded which he cannot do never does all he can.”
John Stuart Mill book Autobiography
Source: Autobiography (1873), Ch. 1: Childhood and Early Education (p. 32 http://archive.org/stream/autobiographymil00milluoft#page/32/mode/2up/search/%22a+pupil+from+whom+nothing+is+ever+demanded+which+he+cannot+do+never+does+all+he+can%22)
“A man does what he can; a woman does what a man cannot.”
Isabel Allende book Inés of My Soul
Source: Inés of My Soul
Clyfford Still (1904–1980) American artist
1960s
Source: 'A period of Exploration', McChesney, as quoted in The New York school – the painters & sculptors of the fifties, Irving Sandler, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1978, p 35
“Man is certainly crazy. He could not make a mite, and he makes gods by the dozen.”
Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman
L'homme est bien insensé. Il ne saurait forger un ciron, et forge des Dieux à douzaines.
Book II, Ch. 12
Essais (1595), Book II
Source: The Complete Essays
“Honestly, for an evil god of darkness, he certainly can be dull.”
Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer
Source: The Final Empire
“He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.”
George Bernard Shaw Man and Superman
Source: Man and Superman
“He can be a charming man, but he can be quite nasty too. Because this is what he does.”
Louis van Gaal (1951) Dutch footballer and manager
About Marco van Basten after the fall-out with Mark van Bommel