Stronger than pain quotes (page 266) | Quotes of famous people

“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Il est encore plus facile de juger de l'esprit d'un homme par ses questions que par ses réponses. (It is easier to judge the mind of a man by his questions rather than his answers) — Pierre-Marc-Gaston, duc de Lévis (1764-1830), Maximes et réflexions sur différents sujets de morale et de politique (Paris, 1808): Maxim xviii
Misattributed

“All I want is to be more famous than anything or anyone.”

Patsy Kensit (1968) British actress

“It is salutary to train oneself to be no more affected by censure than by praise…”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Summing Up

Source: The Summing Up (1938), p. 223

“Power, like love, is easier to experience than to define or measure.”

Joseph Nye (1937) American political scientist

Source: Understanding International Conflicts: An Introduction to Theory and History (6th ed., 2006), Chapter 3, Balance of Power and World War I, p. 60.

“Understanding the knowledge and wisdom of the Qur'an is by far, higher than memorizing.”

Ali (601–661) cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad

Muhammad Kulayni, Usūl al-Kāfī, vol. 4, p. 418
Regarding the Qur'an

“Other things being equal, it is better to be smart than to be stupid.”

Carl Sagan book Cosmos

Source: Cosmos (1980), p. 284

“Lust of absolute power is more burning than all the passions”
cupido dominandi cunctis adfectibus flagrantior est

Tacitus book Annals

Book XV, 53
Annals (117)

“People will no more advance their civility to a bear, than their money to a bankrupt.”

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) British statesman and man of letters

25 December 1753
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)

“Nothing will a man rue more than refusal to listen to the wise.”

Philo (-15–45 BC) Roman philosopher

54.
Every Good Man is Free

“Africa is closer to me in every way than Iraq or Syria.”

Muammar Gaddafi (1942–2011) Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist

Interview (2001), quoted in BBC News (6 February 2001) "Analysis: Gaddafi's revolution" by Gerald Butt
Interviews

“Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician

Maxim 715, trans. Stopp
Maxims and Reflections (1833)

“Nothing should be treasured more highly than the value of the day.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician

Nichts ist höher schätzen als der Werth des Tages.
Maxim 789, trans. Stopp
Variant translation by Saunders: Nothing is more highly to be prized than the value of each day. (332)
Variant translation: Nothing is worth more than this day.
Maxims and Reflections (1833)