“I’ll know how to die with courage; that is easier than living.”
Act II.
Dantons Tod (Danton's Death) (1835)
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Quotes
“There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law.”
Montesquieu (1689–1755) French social commentator and political thinker
As quoted in With Prejudice : The Perspective of an Acquitted Defendent (2010) by Vicky Gallas; no earlier occurence of this phrasing has been located (Relevant quote: "Il n’y a point de plus cruelle tyrannie que celle que l’on exerce à l’ombre des lois et avec les couleurs de la justice" i.e. "There is no tyranny more cruel than that which is exercised within the shade of the law and with the colours of justice." See Chap. XIV of Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence).
Disputed
“There was no man more valorous and courageous than Robert E. Lee.”
Ilana Mercer South African writer
"Sanctuary City Mayor Trashes An AMERICAN Hero, Robert E. Lee https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/sanctuary-city-mayor-trashes-an-american-hero-robert-e-lee/," The Abbeville Institute, May 25, 2017 <br class="br">2010s, 2017
“A great portrait is always more a portrait of the painter than of the painted.”
Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist
Portraits
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part VII - On the Making of Music, Pictures, and Books
“A woman's mind is cleaner than a man's—she changes it oftener.”
Oliver Herford (1863–1935) American writer
Saturday Review of Literature, Volume 26 (1943), p. 4.
Attributed
“It is better to ride a pony than a horse which throws you.”
Navjot Singh Sidhu (1963) Indian cricketer and politician
Referring to Dinesh Mongia, who was like a reliable pony than Sachin Tendulkar who at that time, was more like an unreliable horse, on a television broadcast (11 July 2002), during a one day match with Sri Lanka in England.
“There are few sights sadder than a ruined book. -Lemony Snicket”
Daniel Handler book The Wide Window
The Wide Window (2000)
“Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster.”
Niklaus Wirth (1934) Swiss computer scientist
[A Plea for Lean Software, http://csdl2.computer.org/persagen/DLAbsToc.jsp?resourcePath=/dl/mags/co/&toc=comp/mags/co/1995/02/r2toc.xml&DOI=10.1109/2.348001, 2007-01-13, Computer, 1995, February, 28, 2, pp. 64-68]
Variation: Software is decelerating faster than hardware is accelerating.
aka "Wirth's law"
“Silver is sometimes more valuable than gold, that is, in large quantities.”
G. K. Chesterton book The Innocence of Father Brown
The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Queer Feet
The Father Brown Mystery Series (1910 - 1927)
“The price of doing nothing is far greater than the cost of error.”
Michael Elmore-Meegan (1959) British humanitarian
All Will be Well (2004)
“I hope our DVD comes out better than this!”
Rachel Trachtenburg (1993) American musician
Rachel on the low quality of the bootleg copy of Off & On Broadway skit
Off & On Broadway documentary (2006)
“Better build schoolrooms for "the boy"
Than cells and gibbets for "the man."”
Eliza Cook (1818–1889) British writer
A Song for ragged Schools, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“Nothing can be more idle than the opposition of theory to practice!”
Jean-Baptiste Say (1767–1832) French economist and businessman
Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Introduction, p. xxi
“Randomness works well in search—sometimes better than humans.”
Nassim Nicholas Taleb book Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
Source: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (2012), p. 103
“3389. Men are more prone to revengeInjuries, than to requite Kindnesses.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
“Before adolescence, memory is more interested in the future than the past…”
Gabriel García Márquez book Living to Tell the Tale
Living to Tell the Tale (2002)
“I was no more eccentric than your average raving loon.”
George Alec Effinger book When Gravity Fails
Source: When Gravity Fails (1986), Chapter 6 (p. 63).
“Assisting the weak is better for you than your act of charity.”
Ali al-Rida (770–818) eighth of the Twelve Imams
Ibn Shu’ba al-Harrani, Tuhaf al-'Uqul, p. 446-450.
Religious Wisdom
“It is better to be poor and walk in integrity than to be stupid and speak lies.”
Solomon (-990–-931 BC) king of Israel and the son of David
Proverbs 19:1 http://www.jw.org/en/publications/bible/nwt/books/proverbs/19/
“My greatest wish — other than salvation — was to have a book.”
Yann Martel book Life of Pi
Source: Life of Pi (2001), Chapter 73, p. 230