“Funeral pomp is more for the vanity of the living than for the honor of the dead.”
François de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) French author of maxims and memoirs
"Pensées Tirées des Premières Éditions," Réflexions: Ou, Sentences Et Maximes Morales de La Rochefoucauld (1822)
Later Additions to the Maxims
“Creating is always so much more stimulating than destroying.”
José Saramago book The Cave
Source: The Cave (2000), p. 107 (Vintage 2003)
“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
“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
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)
“Women run to extremes; they are either better or worse than men.”
Jean de La Bruyère book Les Caractères
Les femmes sont extrêmes: elles sont meilleures ou pires que les hommes.
Aphorism 53
Les Caractères (1688), Des Femmes
“No state more extensive than the minimal state can be justified.”
Robert Nozick (1938–2002) American political philosopher
Source: (1974), Ch. 10 : A Framework for Utopia; The Framework, p. 297
“A man perfects himself by work much more than by reading.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher
1860s, On The Choice Of Books (1866)
“China is a much richer country than any part of Europe.”
Adam Smith (1723–1790) Scottish moral philosopher and political economist
Source: (1776), Book I, Chapter XI, Part III, (First Period) p. 221.
“Figuring out women is harder than topping a ManPro Quiz.”
Chetan Bhagat (1974) Indian author, born 1974
Source: Five Point Someone - What not to do at IIT! (2004), P. 45
“Don’t worry about it. There is less here than meets the eye.”
Robert A. Heinlein book The Number of the Beast
Source: The Number of the Beast (1980), Chapter XLVIII : L’Envoi or Rev. XXII: 13, p. 497
