“I summed up all systems in a phrase, and all existence in an epigram.”
Written in a letter from Reading Prison to Lord Alfred Douglas in early 1897
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Oscar Wilde812
Irish writer and poet 1854–1900Related quotes
Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host
“To sum it all up, I must say that I regret nothing.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) German Nazi SS-Obersturmbannführer
While awaiting trial in Israel, as quoted in LIFE magazine (5 December 1960).
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer
Rome, or Reason? A Reply to Cardinal Manning. Part I. The North American Review (1888)
Context: It is probably safe to say that at one time, or during one phase of the development of man, everything was miraculous. After a time, the mind slowly developing, certain phenomena, always happening under like conditions, were called “natural,” and none suspected any special interference. The domain of the miraculous grew less and less—the domain of the natural larger; that is to say, the common became the natural, but the uncommon was still regarded as the miraculous. The rising and setting of the sun ceased to excite the wonder of mankind—there was no miracle about that; but an eclipse of the sun was miraculous. Men did not then know that eclipses are periodical, that they happen with the same certainty that the sun rises. It took many observations through many generations to arrive at this conclusion. Ordinary rains became “natural,” floods remained “miraculous.” But it can all be summed up in this: The average man regards the common as natural, the uncommon as supernatural. The educated man—and by that I mean the developed man—is satisfied that all phenomena are natural, and that the supernatural does not and can not exist.
“The sum of all known value and respect, I add up in you, whoever you are.”
Walt Whitman book Fulles d'herba
Source: Leaves of Grass
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)
Remarks to the White House Conference on Small Business http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/081586e.htm (15 August 1986) <br class="br">1980s, Second term of office (1985–1989)
“All human wisdom is summed up in two words; wait and hope.”
Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) French writer and dramatist, father of the homonym writer and dramatist
“Nay, had I a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, and voice of iron, I could not sum up all the forms of crime, or rehearse all the tale of torments.”
Non, mihi si linguae centum sunt oraque centum
Ferrea vox, omnis scelerum comprendere formas,
Omnia poenarum percurrere nomina possim.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Lines 625–627 (tr. H. R. Fairclough); the punishments of the Inferno.
