“Such death makes happier end
than conquests of huge realms or infinite gold.”
Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) Italian poet
Felice e cotal morte e scempio,
Via più ch' acquisto di province e d'oro.
Canto VIII, stanza 44 (tr. Wickert)
Gerusalemme Liberata (1581)
“Nothing hath an uglier Look to us than Reason, when it is not of our side.”
George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax (1633–1695) English politician
Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Reflections (1750), Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections
Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587) Scottish monarch and queen consort of France
[Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart, Guy, John, 2005, Mariner Books, 0618619178]
“It is, of course, much easier to shout, abuse, and howl than to attempt to relate, to explain.”
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution
April Thesis (1917)
“Computers are no more able to create information than iPods are capable of creating music.”
Robert J. Marks II (1950) American electrical engineering researcher and intelligent design advocate
Stephen C. Meyer, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, HarperOne (2009) p. 292
“Nothing was better for you than humiliation, for there was nothing you felt more deeply.”
Elias Canetti (1905–1994) Bulgarian-born Swiss and British jewish modernist novelist, playwright, memoirist, and non-fiction writer
J. Agee, trans. (1989), p. 130
Das Geheimherz der Uhr [The Secret Heart of the Clock] (1987)
“Thus I live in the world rather as a spectator of mankind than as one of the species.”
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright
No. 1 (1 March 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
“If life is all subjective, why not be subjectively happy rather than subjectively sad?”
Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese writer
On the Wisdom of America (1950), p. 155
“Who would not rather founder in the fight
Than not have known the glory of the fray?”
Richard Hovey (1864–1900) American writer
"Two and Fate", p. 29.
Along the Trail (1898)
“I achieved more than I could dream of in chess and in chess composing.”
Yochanan Afek (1952) Israeli chess player, composer, trainer and arbiter
From an interview with Tibor Károlyi, Genius in the Background (2009), p. 59.
“A book can never be anything more than the impression of its author’s thoughts.”
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher
The value of these thoughts lies either in the matter about which he has thought, or in the form in which he develops his matter — that is to say, what he has thought about it.
Essays, On Authorship and Style
“Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.”
Francis Bacon book Essays
Of Cunning
Essays (1625)
“There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision.”
William James (1842–1910) American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist
Source: 1890s, The Principles of Psychology (1890), Ch. 4
“And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears.”
A.E. Housman book A Shropshire Lad
No. 19 ("To an Athlete Dying Young"), st. 4.
A Shropshire Lad (1896)
“We think the world is ours forever, but we are little more than squatters.”
Alexander McCall Smith book The Careful Use of Compliments
The Careful Use of Compliments, chapter 1.
The Sunday Philosophy Club series
“Any time I connect to a website other than Wikipedia, it's through Tor.”
Richard Stallman (1953) American software freedom activist, short story writer and computer programmer, founder of the GNU project
In a video interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkkDvKGcNSo around 38:20 (published on February 22, 2016) <br class="br">2010s
“Human reason needs only to will more strongly than fate, and she is fate.”
Thomas Mann book The Magic Mountain
Source: The Magic Mountain (1924), Ch. 6
“And a thimble's worth of milky moon
Can touch hearts larger than a thimble.”
Joanna Newsom (1982) American musician
Bridges & Balloons
The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004)
