Source: Les Misérables
Source: Initiation, The Perfecting of Man (1923)
“All human wisdom is summed up in two words; wait and hope.”
“The work of a director can be summed up in two very simple words. Why and How.”
[Brook, Peter, On Directing, 1999, Faber and Faber ltd, London, England, English, 0-571-19149-5, ix (Foreword)]
“The history of failure in war can almost be summed up in two words: 'Too late.'”
Too late in comprehending the deadly purpose of a potential enemy; too late in realizing the mortal danger; too late in preparedness; too late in uniting all possible forces for resistance, too late in standing with one's friends. Victory in war results from no mysterious alchemy or wizardry but depends entirely upon the concentration of superior force at the critical points of combat.
Statement MacArthur made in 1940, as quoted by James B. Reston in Prelude to Victory (1942), p. 64
1940s
“If I could sum it up in 50 words, I wouldn't have needed to write a whole novel about it.”
“Good in Crisis; Sucks at Normal.’ That about sums up my whole life, doesn’t it?”
Source: UnSouled
“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life — It goes on.”
As quoted in The Harper Book of Quotations (1993) edited by Robert I. Fitzhenry, p. 261
General sources
Variant: In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.
1900s, The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses (1900), National Duties
Context: In private life there are few beings more obnoxious than the man who is always loudly boasting; and if the boaster is not prepared to back up his words his position becomes absolutely contemptible. So it is with the nation. It is both foolish and undignified to indulge in undue self-glorification, and, above all, in loose-tongued denunciation of other peoples. Whenever on any point we come in contact with a foreign power, I hope that we shall always strive to speak courteously and respectfully of that foreign power.
Audio lectures, Hybridization and the Law (n. d.)
