“There is always something particularly delightful about exceptions to a rule.”

“There is no exception to the rule that every rule has an exception.”

James Thurber (1894–1961) American cartoonist, author, journalist, playwright

“Creation always involves building upon something else. There is no art that doesn't reuse. And there will be less art if every reuse is taxed by the appropriator. Monopoly controls have been the exception in free societies; they have been the rule in closed societies.”

Lawrence Lessig (1961) American academic, political activist.

“The rule of law is not an exception to rule by fear; it is the fulfillment of rule by fear.”

Corey Robin (1967) American academic

“Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change.”

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) English novelist and poet

“Our desire to say more grows bigger and what to say about it, except that saying is not always about saying, growing is not always about growing.”

Dejan Stojanovic (1959) poet, writer, and businessman

“There is in this world no real delight (excepting those of sensuality), but exchange of ideas in conversation.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

“There's something oddly satisfying about coughing up a particularly big mouthful of phlegm. Could almost let you skip breakfast.”

Ben Croshaw (1983) English video game journalist

“Taking a thing apart is always faster than putting something together. This is true of everything except marriage.”

Joe Hill (1879–1915) Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World

“Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator