Quotes

Hartley Coleridge photo

“Her very frowns are fairer far
Than smiles of other maidens are.”

Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849) British poet, biographer, essayist, and teacher

"Song. She is not fair"
Poems (1851)

Alexander Cockburn photo

“The First Law of Journalism: to confirm existing prejudice, rather than contradict it.”

Alexander Cockburn (1941–2012) Leftist journalist and writer

More magazine (1974).

Juvenal photo

“Bitter poverty has no harder pang than that it makes men ridiculous.”
Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se, quam quod ridiculos homines facit.

Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se,
quam quod ridiculos homines facit.
III, line 152-3.
Variant translations:
Of all the Griefs that harrass the Distrest,
Sure the most bitter is a scornful Jest.
As translated by Samuel Johnson
The hardest thing to bear in poverty is the fact that it makes men ridiculous.
Wretched poverty offers nothing harsher than this: it makes men ridiculous.
Satires, Satire III

Ralph Waldo Emerson photo

“He thought it happier to be dead,
To die for Beauty, than live for bread.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Beauty
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Isabel II do Reino Unido photo

“We are a moderate, pragmatic people, more comfortable with practice than theory.”

Isabel II do Reino Unido (1926–2022) queen of the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and head of the Commonwealth of Nations

Speech in reply to Addresses from both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall in the year of Her Golden Jubilee (30 April 2002)

B.F. Skinner photo

“The way positive reinforcement is carried out is more important than the amount.”

B.F. Skinner (1904–1990) American behaviorist

As quoted in Meditations for Parents Who Do Too Much (1993) by Jonathon Lazear and Wendy Lazear, p. 5.

Matthew Prior photo

“That if weak women went astray,
Their stars were more in fault than they.”

Matthew Prior (1664–1721) British diplomat, poet

Hans Carvel (1700).

Larry Wall photo

“Well, I think Perl should run faster than C.”

Larry Wall (1954) American computer programmer and author, creator of Perl

[199801200306.TAA11638@wall.org, 1998]
Usenet postings, 1998

Joseph Joubert photo
Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“To know yourself less beloved than you love, is a dreadful feeling”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

Traits and Trials of Early Life (1836)

“There is no greater force for change than people inspired to live a better life.”

Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 32

J.M.W. Turner photo

“If I could find anything blacker than black, I'd use it.”

J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) British Romantic landscape painter, water-colourist, and printmaker

Quote of Turner, c. 1842-43; as cited by Philip Gilbert Hamerton (1879) The Life of J. M. W. Turner, R. A. p. 296
his reply after the prominent English marine painter Clarkson Stanfield had complained, that Turner in his painting 'Peace - Burial at Sea' - he painted after the burial of his artist-friend David Wilkie - had painted the sails in the steamer as black as possible
1821 - 1851

Wassily Kandinsky photo

“An empty canvas is a living wonder - far lovelier than certain pictures.”

Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) Russian painter

Quoted in: Myfanwy Evans Piper (1937) The Painter's Object. p. 53
1930 - 1944

Anton Chekhov photo

“Better to perish from fools than to accept praises from them.”

Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) Russian dramatist, author and physician

Note-Book of Anton Chekhov (1921)

Vladimir Putin photo

“We are guided by interests rather than feelings in dealing with our partners.”

Vladimir Putin (1952) President of Russia, former Prime Minister

10 December 2014 http://itar-tass.com/en/economy/766135, "Russia interested in US economy’s ability to resist current crisis — Russian PM"
2011 - 2015

Margaret Mead photo

“The ability to learn is older — as it is also more widespread — than is the ability to teach.”

Margaret Mead (1901–1978) American anthropologist

Source: 1960s, Continuities in Cultural Evolution (1964), p. 44

“This principle valued the discretionary rather than the prescribed part of work roles”

Eric Trist (1909–1993) British scientist

Jaques, 1956
The evolution of socio-technical systems, (1981)

“In my mind, partial failure is always better than delusory success.”

William A. Henry III (1950–1994) American critic

In Defense of Elitism

“There is no way you could sit down more than you do.”

Radio From Hell (June 7, 2006)