“The important thing is to be nothing.”
Bram van Velde (1895–1981) Dutch painter
1960's, Conversations with Samuel Beckett and Bram van Velde' (1965 - 1969)
Quotes For Men page 2
Albert Pike book Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
Source: Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), Ch. XXII : Grand Master Architect, p. 194
Context: To the gentle, many will be gentle; to the kind, many will be kind. A good man will find that there is goodness in the world; an honest man will find that there is honesty in the world; and a man of principle will find principle and integrity in the hearts of others.
There are no blessings which the mind may not convert into the bitterest of evils; and no trials which it may not transform into the noblest and divinest blessings. There are no temptations from which assailed virtue may not gain strength, instead of falling before them, vanquished and subdued.
“It's not how hard you hit. It's how hard you get hit…and keep moving forward.”
Randy Pausch book The Last Lecture
The Last Lecture (2008)
“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.”
Ann Landers (1918–2002) American advice columnist
“Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor.”
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) American poet, critic, editor, and diplomat
“Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
“Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.”
Daniel Webster (1782–1852) Leading American senator and statesman. January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852. Served as the Secretary of Sta…
Speech at Plymouth, Massachusetts (22 December 1820)
“The opportunity of your life, it's you.”
Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer
Original: (it) L'occasione della tua vita, sei tu.
Source: prevale.net
“A great man is always willing to be little.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Compensation
Context: Our strength grows out of our weakness. The indignation which arms itself with secret forces does not awaken until we are pricked and stung and sorely assailed. A great man is always willing to be little. Whilst he sits on the cushion of advantages, he goes to sleep. When he is pushed, tormented, defeated, he has a chance to learn something; he has been put on his wits, on his manhood; he has gained facts; learns his ignorance; is cured of the insanity of conceit; has got moderation and real skill. The wise man throws himself on the side of his assailants. It is more his interest than it is theirs to find his weak point. The wound cicatrizes and falls off from him like a dead skin, and when they would triumph, lo! he has passed on invulnerable. Blame is safer than praise. I hate to be defended in a newspaper. As long as all that is said is said against me, I feel a certain assurance of success. But as soon as honeyed words of praise are spoken for me, I feel as one that lies unprotected before his enemies. In general, every evil to which we do not succumb is a benefactor.
“Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.”
Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) English historian and Member of Parliament
Sam Keen (1931) author, professor, and philosopher
Source: Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man
“The man with no imagination has no wings.”
Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist
“No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
Martin Luther King, Jr. book Strength to Love
Strength to Love, p. 25
1960s, Strength to Love (1963)
Context: The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others.
“Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter
“A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright
“Men are punished by their sins, not for them.”
Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul
Variant: We are punished by our sins not for them.
Source: Love, Life and Work
Source: The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (1927), p. 12
in The Note Book, Kessinger Publishing (reprint 1998)
Context: If you err it is not for me to punish you. We are punished by our sins not for them.
John F. Kennedy book Profiles in Courage
1964 Memorial Edition, p. 266 http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations/Profiles-in-Courage-quotations.aspx <br class="br">Variant: A man does what he must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures — and that is the basis of all human morality. <br class="br">Source: Pre-1960, Profiles in Courage (1956) <br class="br">Context: The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy. A man does what he must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and pressures — and that is the basis of all human morality. In whatever area in life one may meet the challenges of courage, whatever may be the sacrifices he faces if he follows his conscience — the loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow men — each man must decide for himself the course he will follow. The stories of past courage can define that ingredient — they can teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul. <br class="br">Context: For without belittling the courage with which men have died, we should not forget those acts of courage with which men — such as the subjects of this book — have lived. The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy. A man does what he must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and pressures — and that is the basis of all human morality. In whatever area in life one may meet the challenges of courage, whatever may be the sacrifices he faces if he follows his conscience — the loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow men — each man must decide for himself the course he will follow. The stories of past courage can define that ingredient — they can teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul.
“Men are like steel — when they lose their temper, they lose their worth.”
Chuck Norris (1940) American martial artist and actor
Though often attributed to Norris, this seems to have appeared as an anonymous proverb at least as early as 1961, in an edition of The Physical Educator
Misattributed
“The successful man will profit from his mistakes and
try again in a different way.”
Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer
“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”
David Brinkley (1920–2003) American journalist
“A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.”
Variant: A man who is not a father to his children can never be a real man
Source: The Godfather
“If the world were a logical place, men would ride side saddle.”
Rita Mae Brown (1944) Novelist, poet, screenwriter, activist
Sudden Death (1983)
Variant: "If the World Made Sense, Men Would Ride Sidesaddle" was the title of a 1993 one-man comedy by Ed Navis, performed at Wings Theatre, New York.
Variant: If the world were a logical place, then men would ride side-saddle.
“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”
Kathleen Norris (1880–1966) American writer
“The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.”
James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States
“Wealth is not about having a lot of money; it's about having a lot of options.”
Chris Rock (1965) American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer, and director
“All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.”
Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet
Letter to J. G. Lockhart (c. 16 June 1830), in H. J. C. Grierson (ed.), Letters of Sir Walter Scott, Vol. II (1936), as reported in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1999), p. 652
“It is very important in life to know when your cue comes.”
Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism
“When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: 'Whose?”
Don Marquis (1878–1937) American writer
Henry James (1843–1916) American novelist, short story author, and literary critic
William James, "Is Life Worth Living?," The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897).
Misattributed
“The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
“You can do anything, but not everything.”
David Allen (1945) American productivity consultant and author
“There is one rule, above all others, for being a man. Whatever comes, face it on your feet.”
al'Lan Mandragoran
(15 November 1990)
Source: The Great Hunt
“The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
James Legge translation.
Variant translations: The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his actions.
The greater man does not boast of himself, But does what he must do.
A good man does not give orders, but leads by example.
The Analects, Chapter I, Chapter IV
“The mind of man is capable of anything.”
Joseph Conrad book Heart of Darkness
Source: Heart of Darkness
“Every man dies, not every man really lives”
Randall Wallace (1949) American filmmaker
Source: Braveheart
“There are lots of real men out there - men who could fall in love with you at the drop of a hat.”
Nicholas Sparks book Message in a Bottle
Source: Message in a Bottle
“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.”
Og Mandino (1923–1996) American author
“It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.”
John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach
“A sense of humour is the only divine quality of man”
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) American economist and diplomat
“Stop the Madness,” Interview with Rupert Cornwell, Toronto Globe and Mail (6 July 2002) (see http://wist.info/galbraith-john-kenneth/7463/ )
Jack Kerouac book Lonesome Traveler
Lonesome Traveler (1960)
Context: No man should go through life without once experiencing healthy, even bored solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself and thereby learning his true and hidden strength. Learning for instance, to eat when he's hungry and sleep when he's sleepy.
“Success is getting what you want.
Happiness is wanting what you get.”
Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) American businessman and philanthropist
“The function of man is to live, not to exist.”
Jack London (1876–1916) American author, journalist, and social activist
Variant: The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
“Happiness is the longing for repetition.”
Milan Kundera (1929–2023) Czech author of Czech and French literature
“I love not man the less, but nature more”
George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement
“We need men who can dream of things that never were.”
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
“A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.”
Ingrid Bergman (1915–1982) Film actress from Sweden
"Webster's Electronic Quotebase," ed. Keith Mohler, 1994
“Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.”
Francis Bacon book Essays
Of Studies
Essays (1625)
“The most important thing for a young man is to establish a credit — a reputation, character.”
John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) American business magnate and philanthropist
The Men Who Are Making America (1918) by Bertie Charles Forbes
“But man is not made for defeat... a man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
Ernest Hemingway book The Old Man and the Sea
Variant: A man can be destroyed but not defeated.
Source: The Old Man and the Sea (1952)
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.”
Rita Mae Brown (1944) Novelist, poet, screenwriter, activist
Brown did include this quote in her book Sudden Death (Bantam Books, New York, 1983), p. 68, but it appears she was just paraphrasing a quote that had already been written elsewhere. The earliest known appearance of a similar quote is the "approval version" of the Narcotics Anonymous "Basic Text" released in November 1981, which included the quote "Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results." A PDF scan of the 1981 approval version can be found here http://www.nauca.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/1981-11-Basic-Text-Approval-Form-White.pdf, with the quote appearing on p. 11 (p. 25 of the PDF), at the end of the fourth paragraph (which begins "We have a disease; progressive, incurable and fatal"). More in this article https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/23/same/ on Quote Investigator website. <br class="br">Misattributed
Mary Pickford (1892–1979) Canadian-American actress
"Why Not Try God?", Chapter 6 (newspaper serial), appeared in St. Petersburg Times, 25 January 1936, sect. 2, p. 3 http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SQxPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=500DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4725,3554118&dq=pickford+not-the-falling-down&hl=en
“You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.”
James Anthony Froude book The Nemesis of Faith
Markham Sutherland's father, quoted in Letter I.
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)
“Men are not against you, they are merely for themselves.”
Gene Fowler (1890–1960) American journalist
Skyline: A Reporter's Reminiscence of the 1920s (1961) p. 105
“I think that Man in creating God somewhat overestimated his abilities.”
Johannes Grenzfurthner (1975) Austrian artist, writer, curator, and theatre and film director
aphorism used in mRIF http://monochrom.at/mrif
“Men are not punished for their sins, but by them.”
Kin Hubbard (1868–1930) cartoonist
As quoted in Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists (2007) by James Geary, p. 39
“Man is the creature of circumstances.”
Robert Owen (1771–1858) Welsh social reformer
"The Philanthropist".
“A Man who is Master of Patience, is Master of everything else.”
George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax (1633–1695) English politician
Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Reflections (1750), Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections
Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American writer
Source: Intuitions and Summaries of Thought (1862), Volume II, p. 24.
“Man knows that love is, but not what it is.”
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) Swedish 18th century scientist and theologian
Divine Love and Wisdom #1
“The true index of a man’s character is the health of his wife.”
Cyril Connolly book The Unquiet Grave
Part II: Te Palinure Petens (p. 64)
The Unquiet Grave (1944)
“Circumstances rule men and not men circumstances.”
Euripidés (-480–-406 BC) ancient Athenian playwright
Herodotus, Book 7, Ch. 49; Misattributed to Euripedes in "The Imperial Four" by Professor Creasy in Bentley's Miscellany Vol. 33 (January 1853), p. 22
Variant translation: Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.
Misattributed
“The young man who has not wept is a savage, and the old man who will not laugh is a fool.”
George Santayana (1863–1952) 20th-century Spanish-American philosopher associated with Pragmatism
Source: Dialogues in Limbo (1926), Ch. 3, P. 57
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need but not for every man's greed.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India
Quoted by Pyarelal Nayyar in Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase (Volume 10), page 552 http://books.google.com/books?id=sswBAAAAMAAJ&q=%22The+Earth+provides+enough+to+satisfy+every+man's+need+but+not+for+every+man's+greed%22 (1958) <br class="br">1940s
“Vote for the man who promises least; he'll be the least disappointing.”
Bernard Baruch (1870–1965) American businessman
As quoted in Meyer Berger’s New York (1960)
“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”
George Moore (novelist) (1852–1933) Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist
The Brook Kerith http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12821/12821-h/12821-h.htm, ch. 11 (1916).
“Action is the foundational key to all success.”
Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker
As quoted in Stack the Logs! : Building a Success Framework to Reach Your Dreams (2003) by Frank F. Lunn, p. 45
“There is no knowledge that is not power.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
Old Age
1870s, Society and Solitude (1870)
“Think like a man of action, and act like a man of thought.”
Sallust (-86–-34 BC) Roman historian, politician
Henri Bergson, as quoted in The Forbes Scrapbook of Thoughts on the Business of Life (1950), p. 442; this only seems to have become attributed to Sallust in the early 21st century.
Misattributed
“He has but one great fear that fears to do wrong.”
Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American writer
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 244.
“All men would be tyrants if they could.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) English trader, writer and journalist
Jure divino: a satyre, Introduction, l. 2 (1706).
“Like all young men I set out to be a genius, but mercifully laughter intervened.”
Lawrence Durrell The Alexandria Quartet
The Alexandria Quartet (1957–1960), Clea (1960)
“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”
Albert Camus book The Rebel
Introduction
The Rebel (1951)
“The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935) United States Supreme Court justice
Attributed in the Sioux City Journal http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/ (6 Jul 2008), p. A8 <br class="br">In fact, from a " Valedictory Address https://books.google.com/books?id=7joCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA426&dq=The+young+man+knows+the+rules,+but+the+old+man+knows+the+exceptions&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAmoVChMI1-e4oOewyAIVWFmICh0eVQsI#v=onepage&q=%22The%20young%20man%20knows%20the%20rules%2C%20but%20the%20old%20man%20knows%20the%20exceptions%22&f=false, delivered to the Graduating Class of the Bellevue Hospital College" in 1871 by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr, reprinted in the New York Medical Journal 13 (April 1871): 426. <br class="br">Misattributed