Quotes

Henry David Thoreau photo
Nicolaus Copernicus photo

“The forward and backward arcs appear greater in Jupiter than in Saturn and smaller than in Mars, and on the other hand greater in Venus than in Mercury.”

End of Ch. 10<!-- quoted in The Advancement of Science, and Its Burdens (1986) by p. 232 -->; the "Congregation of the Index" (the official inquisition censors) declared<!-- on 15 May 1620 --> that the last sentence of this statement was one of eleven passages which should be removed from the work, in this case because it was perceived as implying that God designed things in accord with the Copernican system, rather than that of Ptolemy.
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)
Context: The forward and backward arcs appear greater in Jupiter than in Saturn and smaller than in Mars, and on the other hand greater in Venus than in Mercury. This reversal in direction appears more frequently in Saturn than in Jupiter, and also more rarely in Mars and Venus than in Mercury. Moreover, when Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars rise at sunset, they are nearer to the earth than when they set in the evening or appear at a later hour. But Mars in particular, when it shines all night, seems to equal Jupiter in size, being distinguished only by its reddish color. Yet in the other configurations it is found barely among the stars of the second magnitude, being recognized by those who track it with assiduous observations. All these phenomena proceed from the same cause, which is the earth's motion.
Yet none of these phenomena appears in the fixed stars. This proves their immense height, which makes even the sphere of the annual motion, or its reflection, vanish from before our eyes. For, every visible object has some measure of distance beyond which it is no longer seen, as is demonstrated in optics. From Saturn, the highest of the planets, to the sphere of the fixed stars there is an additional gap of the largest size. This is shown by the twinkling lights of the stars. By this token in particular they are distinguished from the planets, for there had to be a very great difference between what moves and what does not move. So vast, without any question, is the divine handiwork of the most excellent Almighty.

Walter Reuther photo

“There is no greater calling than to serve your brother. There is no greater contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well.”

Walter Reuther (1907–1970) Labor union leader

We share the belief that every child is made in the image of God and that every child ought to have the right to an educational opportunity that will enable that child to grow intellectually and spiritually and culturally—not limited by antiquated classrooms, overcrowded classes, or underpaid teachers—but limited only by the capacity which God gave that child to grow.
1950s, Closing address at the final convention of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (1955)
Source: Closing Address at the final convention of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, New York, New York, December 2, 1955, as quoted in Walter P Reuther: Selected Papers (1961), by Henry M. Christman, p. 102

Walt Whitman photo
Laurell K. Hamilton photo
Miguel de Unamuno photo
Thomas Paine photo
Bertrand Russell photo
Isaac Barrow photo
Don DeLillo photo

“Some people are larger than life. Hitler is larger than death.”

Source: White Noise

Oscar Wilde photo

“A feast is more fatal to love than a fast, and a surfeit than a starvation.”

Charles Caleb Colton (1777–1832) British priest and writer

Vol. II; VIII
Lacon (1820)

Winston S. Churchill photo

“It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic.”

The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War (1898), Chapter VIII.
Early career years (1898–1929)

William Jones photo

“Than all Bocara's vaunted gold,
Than all the gems of Samarcand.”

William Jones (1746–1794) Anglo-Welsh philologist and scholar of ancient India

A Persian Song of Hafiz, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

“Don't try to be better than others. Try to be better than yourself.”

Carlos Gershenson (1978) Mexican researcher

Zire Notes (May 2004 - December 2006)

Meister Eckhart photo

“Nothing is sharper than suffering, nothing is sweeter than to have suffered.”

Meister Eckhart (1260–1328) German theologian

Sermon VI : Sanctification
Meister Eckhart’s Sermons (1909)
Context: Sanctification is the best of all things, for it cleanses the soul, and illuminates the conscience, and kindles the heart, and wakens the spirit, and girds up the loins, and glorifies virtue and separates us from creatures, and unites us with God. The quickest means to bring us to perfection is suffering; none enjoy everlasting blessedness more than those who share with Christ the bitterest pangs. Nothing is sharper than suffering, nothing is sweeter than to have suffered. The surest foundation in which this perfection may rest is humility; whatever here crawls in the deepest abjectness, that the Spirit lifts to the very heights of God, for love brings suffering and suffering brings love.

Miguel de Unamuno photo

“Religion is better described than defined and better felt than described.”

Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) 19th-20th century Spanish writer and philosopher

The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), X : Religion, the Mythology of the Beyond and the Apocatastasis
Context: Religion is better described than defined and better felt than described. But if there is any one definition that latterly has obtained acceptance, it is that of Schleiermacher, to the effect that religion consists in the simple feeling of a relationship of dependence upon something above us and a desire to establish relations with this mysterious power.

Livy photo

“They are more than men at the outset of their battles; at the end they are less than the women.”

Livy (-59–17 BC) Roman historian

Book X, sec. 28
History of Rome