
“I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.”
Lord Goring, Act I
An Ideal Husband (1895)
“I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.”
Rejoinder when told that he couldn't talk about physics, because "nobody [at this table] knows anything about it."
Part 5: "The World of One Physicist", "Alfred Nobel's Other Mistake", p. 310.
Quoted in Handbook of Economic Growth (2005) by Philippe Aghion and Steven N. Durlauf.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (1985)
1960s, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)
Context: I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind's problems. And I'm going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn't popular to talk about it in some circles today. I'm not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love, I'm talking about a strong, demanding love. And I have seen too much hate. I've seen too much hate on the faces of sheriffs in the South. I've seen hate on the faces of too many Klansmen and too many White Citizens Councilors in the South to want to hate myself, because every time I see it, I know that it does something to their faces and their personalities and I say to myself that hate is too great a burden to bear. I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love. And the beautiful thing is that we are moving against wrong when we do it, because John was right, God is love. He who hates does not know God, but he who has love has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.
“There was nothing to talk about anymore. The only thing to do was go.”
Source: On the Road
“"Alfonso Who? I only talk about people I know."”
Alfonso quem? So falo de quem eu conheco.
Source: Globo Esporte.
Context: Replying to journalists who had asked him what he thought about player Alfonso who had called him lazy.
“The only thing I can talk about is the cold because it is the only thing going on today.”
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934), A Cold Day
2010s, 2016, October, Second presidential debate (October 9, 2016)