“Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness.”

— Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 76e

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Ludwig Wittgenstein 228

Austrian-British philosopher 1889–1951

Richard Llewellyn book How Green Was My Valley

Source: How Green Was My Valley

“Silly people say stupid things, clever people do them.”

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian writer

Alberne Leute sagen Dummheiten. Gescheite Leute machen sie.
Source: Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 70.

“Merry the green, the green hill shall be merry.
Hungry, the owlet shall seek out the mouse
And Jack his Joan, but they shall never marryAnd snow shall fly, the big flakes fat and furry.
Lonely, the traveler shall seek out the house,
And Jack his Joan, but they shall never marry.Weary the soldiers go, and come back weary,
Up a green hill and down the withered hill,
And Jack from Joan, but they shall never marry.”

Donald Justice (1925–2004) Poet, teacher

Another Song
The Summer Anniversaries (1960)

“On chameleons - Stay green. Stay in the woods. Stay safe.”

Karl Pilkington (1972) English television personality, social commentator, actor, author and former radio producer

Podcast Series 2 Episode 4
On Nature

“There are times when the price of vegetables, sawi (mustard greens) and kangkung (water convolvulus) goes up and there are times it comes down. I read in the newspaper that some prices have come down. Kangkung price once went up and now it is down. When the prices come down, why are there no praises for the government? When it goes up, the government gets the blame. This is unfair because (such issues are determined by) the weather conditions.”

Najib Razak (1953) Malaysian politician

Speech given at Kemaman, Terengganu, on 14 January 2014, cf Palatino M, <i>The Diplomat</i>; "Malaysia's Kangkung Meme" http://thediplomat.com/2014/01/malaysias-kangkung-meme/.

“Isn't it kind of silly to think that tearing someone else down builds you up?”

Sean Covey (1964) author; business executive

Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens: The Ultimate Teenage Success Guide

“I decided I wasn't going to come down. I was going to fly. I was going to stay up in the air forever.”

Jesse Owens (1913–1980) American track and field athlete

On his final record-breaking leap in the long-jump competition.
Jesse Owens, Champion Athlete (1990)

“I have the ability to build myself up or break myself down. I stay positive. Strength comes from within.”

Hayley Williams (1988) American singer-songwriter and musician

From Hayley's Twitter. September 10, 2010. http://twitter.com/#!/yelyahwilliams/status/24055172040

“After tumbling down the mountain, a stone lies in a valley.
How did it fall away? Right now, no-one knows.
Did it tear from the heights on its own?
Or was it cast down by the will of another?
Aeons have flowed by, yet no-one knows the reason why.”

Fyodor Tyutchev Problème

Problème

“On the heights it is warmer than people in the valleys suppose, especially in winter. The thinker recognizes the full import of this simile.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Maxims

“Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness.”

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Ludwig Wittgenstein 228

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