“It is better to conceal ignorance than to expose it.”
Heraclitus (-535) pre-Socratic Greek philosopher
Fragment 109
Variant translation: Hide our ignorance as we will, an evening of wine soon reveals it.
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“Life is better lived than conceptualized.”
Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker
This writing can be less demanding should I allow myself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation. Fortunately for me, my self-knowledge has transcended that and I've come to understand that life is best to be lived — not to be conceptualized. If you have to think, you still do not understand.
Source: Striking Thoughts (2000), p. 45
“It is better to suffer, than to do, wrong.”
Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher
The Sayings of the Wise (1555), p. 164
“Thoughts are mightier than strength of hand.”
Sophocles (-496–-406 BC) ancient Greek tragedian
Fragment 854.
Phædra
“There is nothing more regenerating than music.”
Epifanio de los Santos (1871–1928) Filipino politician
Philippine Free Press. Manila. April 28, 1928.
ULOL
“It's much harder to be relevant than it is to be successful”
Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2
CNN Larry King Weekend (2002)
“It's better to bet on this life than on the next.”
Albert Camus book A Happy Death
A Happy Death (1971)
“It is easier to be wise for others than for oneself.”
François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims
Il est plus aisé d'être sage pour les autres que de l'être pour soi-même.
Maxim 132.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)
“There is no gift more great than love.”
James Branch Cabell (1879–1958) American author
Morvyth, in Book Two : The Mathematics of Gonfal, Ch. X : Relative to Gonfal's Head
The Silver Stallion (1926)
“Mercy is of greater value than justice.”
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French writer, a moralist
La clémence vaut mieux que la justice.
Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 174.
“The infinite of the soul is mightier than the finite in it.”
George Holmes Howison (1834–1916) American philosopher
Source: The Limits of Evolution, and Other Essays, Illustrating the Metaphysical Theory of Personal Ideaalism (1905), The Harmony of Determinism and Freedom, p.373
“Wagner's music is better than it sounds.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Actually by Bill Nye, possibly confused due to Nye quoting Twain in More Tramps Abroad, 1897. (See also autobiography, vol. 1, p. 288.)
Misattributed
“The use of riches is better than their possession.”
Fernando de Rojas La Celestina
Act II.
La Celestina (1499)
“Equity will go no further than the law.”
Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon (1732–1802) British Baron
Tooke v. Hollingworth (1793), 5 T. R. 225.
“Writing is closer to thinking than to speaking.”
Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist and essayist
“To be a poet is a condition rather than a profession.”
Robert Graves (1895–1985) English poet and novelist
Reply to questionnaire, "The Cost of Letters" in Horizon (September 1946).
General sources
“You can't do better than that.”
Jack White (1975) American musician and record producer
On being hugged by Pope John Paul II during the pontiff's visit to Detroit in 1987 <br class="br">Dolon, John (July 2007), "The White Stripes: New Jack City" http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=2705 Blender Volume unknown: pp. 109 <br class="br">2010
“Is there anything more frightening than people?”
Svetlana Alexievich book Voices from Chernobyl
Source: Voices from Chernobyl (2005), p. 60