“We stopped looking for monsters under our bed when we realized that they were inside us.”
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) British naturalist, author of "On the origin of species, by means of natural selection"
“We stopped looking for monsters under our bed when we realized that they were inside us.”
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) British naturalist, author of "On the origin of species, by means of natural selection"
“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Italian politician, Writer and Author
Machiavelli commented on the relative ease of gaining favor from friends and enemies in Chapter 20 of The Prince, quoted above. However, this particular wording comes from a line spoken by Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974), written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola:
My father taught me many things here. He taught me in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.
Misattributed
“Like it or not, your existence is grounded in faith.”
Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology
Other
“Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
Source: A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The greatest ideas are the simplest.”
William Golding book Lord of the Flies
Source: Lord of the Flies
“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
John Bunyan (1628–1688) English Christian writer and preacher
Erwin Rommel (1891–1944) German field marshal of World War II
Source: The Rommel Papers (1953), Ch. XI : The Initiative Passes, p. 262.[[Courage which goes against military expediency is stupidity, or, if it is insisted upon by a commander, irresponsibility.]]
Context: The Italian command was, for the most part, not equal to the task of carrying on war in the desert, where the requirement was lightning decision followed by immediate action. The training of the Italian infantryman fell far short of the standard required by modern warfare. … Particularly harmful was the all pervading differentiation between officer and man. While the men had to make shift without field-kitchens, the officers, or many of them, refused adamantly to forgo their several course meals. Many officers, again, considered it unnecessary to put in an appearance during battle and thus set the men an example. All in all, therefore, it was small wonder that the Italian soldier, who incidentally was extraordinarily modest in his needs, developed a feeling of inferiority which accounted for his occasional failure and moments of crisis. There was no foreseeable hope of a change for the better in any of these matters, although many of the bigger men among the Italian officers were making sincere efforts in that direction.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920–1975) Bengali revolutionary, founder ("father") of Bangladesh
Quote, This time the struggle is for our freedom (1971)
Context: We gave blood in 1952, we won a mandate in 1954. But we were not allowed to take up the reins of this country. In 1958, Ayub Khan clamped Martial Law on our people and enslaved us for the next 10 years. In 1966, our people fought for the Six points but the lives of our our young men and women were stilled by government bullets.
Crazy Horse (1840–1877) Oglala Sioux chief
As quoted in To Be Just Is to Love : Homilies for a Church Renewing (2001) by Walter J. Burghardt, p. 214
“Silence
is an ocean. Speech is a river.”
Rumi (1207–1273) Iranian poet
"The Three Fish" Ch. 18 : The Three Fish, p. 196<br>Variant translations or adaptations:<br>Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.<br>As quoted in Teachers of Wisdom (2010) by Igor Kononenko, p. 134<br>Silence is an ocean. Speech is a river. Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.<br>As quoted in "Rumi’s wisdom" (2 October 2015) http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2015/10/02/character-of-the-week-rumi/, by Paulo Coelho <br class="br">The Essential Rumi (1995) <br class="br">Context: Silence<br>is an ocean. Speech is a river.When the ocean is searching for you, don't walk<br>into the language-river. Listen to the ocean,<br>and bring your talky business to an end Traditional words are just babbling<br>in that presence, and babbling is a substitute<br>for sight.
“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.”
Albert Camus book The Myth of Sisyphus
This quotation is from Notebook IV in Notebooks: 1942-1951, not Myth of Sisyphus. The quotation appears in none of Camus books you find in bookstores
The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), An Absurd Reasoning
“This is what my soul is telling me: be peaceful and love everyone.”
Malala Yousafzai (1997) Pakistani children's education activist
UN speech, June 2013
Context: Even if there was a gun in my hand and he was standing in front of me, I would not shoot him. This is the compassion I have learned from Mohamed, the prophet of mercy, Jesus Christ and Lord Buddha. This the legacy of change I have inherited from Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Mohammed Ali Jinnah. This is the philosophy of nonviolence that I have learned from Gandhi, Bacha Khan and Mother Teresa. And this is the forgiveness that I have learned from my father and from my mother. This is what my soul is telling me: be peaceful and love everyone.
“We must trust to nothing but facts”
Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794) French chemist
Source: Elements of Chemistry (1790), pp. xviii
Context: We must trust to nothing but facts: These are presented to us by Nature, and cannot deceive. We ought, in every instance, to submit our reasoning to the test of experiment, and never to search for truth but by the natural road of experiment and observation.
Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603) Queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until 1603
Speech to the Troops at Tilbury (1588)
Context: I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm.
Morihei Ueshiba (1883–1969) founder of aikido
Speaking of a vision of the "Great Spirit of Peace" in 1942, during World War II, as quoted in Adjusting Though Reflex : Romancing Zen (2010) by Rodger Hyodo, p. 76
Context: The Way of the Warrior has been misunderstood. It is not a means to kill and destroy others. Those who seek to compete and better one another are making a terrible mistake. To smash, injure, or destroy is the worst thing a human being can do. The real Way of a Warrior is to prevent such slaughter — it is the Art of Peace, the power of love.
“By being too sensitive I have wasted my life.”
Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891) French Decadent and Symbolist poet
Variant: Idle youth, enslaved to everything; by being too sensitive I have wasted my life.
Source: Selected Poems and Letters
“Being a woman is a terribly difficult trade since it consists principally of dealings with men.”
Joseph Conrad book Chance
Source: Chance (1913) part II, Ch. 5
“I am catastrophically in love with you.”
Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess
Source: Clockwork Princess