Quotes

John Steinbeck photo

“We are no better than the animals; in fact in a lot of ways we aren't as good.”

Source: The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951), Chapter 9

Isaac Asimov photo

“It is better to go to defeat with free will than to live in a meaningless security as a cog in a machine.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation’s Edge (1982), Chapter 19 “Decision” section 7, p. 404

Bill Hybels photo

“God is no more intimidated by childish demands for instant gratification than are wise parents.”

Bill Hybels (1951) American writer

Too Busy Not to Pray (2008, InterVarsity Press)

Edward Gibbon photo

“Wit and valor are qualities that are more easily ascertained than virtue, or the love of wisdom.”

Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) English historian and Member of Parliament

Vol. 1, Chap. 1.
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire: Volume 1 (1776)

John Varley photo

“I found that it is much more pleasurable to read adventures than to live them.”

Source: The Ophiuchi Hotline (1977), Chapter 23 (p. 210)

“In economic theory the conclusions are sometimes less interesting than the route by which they are reached.”

Piero Sraffa (1898–1983) Italian economist

October 1975 in letter to C.P. Blitch, as cited in: Riccardo Bellofiore, ‎Scott Carter (2014), Towards a New Understanding of Sraffa. p. 199

Bob Dylan photo

“My songs always sound a lot better in person than they do on the record.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

The Rolling Stone Interview: Bob Dylan http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-talks-a-raw-and-extensive-first-rolling-stone-interview-19691129 (29 November 1969)

James Fenimore Cooper photo
Pliny the Younger photo

“By then day had broken everywhere, but here it was still night—no, more than night.”

Pliny the Younger (61–113) Roman writer

Letter 16.
Letters, Book IV

Hans Freudenthal photo

“Educational technique needs a philosophy, which is a matter of faith rather than of science.”

Hans Freudenthal (1905–1990) Dutch mathematician

Hans Freudenthal (1977) Weeding and Sowing: Preface to a Science of Mathematical Education. p. 33

Miguel de Unamuno photo

“There is nothing more universal than the individual, for what is the property of each is the property of all.”

Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) 19th-20th century Spanish writer and philosopher

The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), III : The Hunger of Immortality
Context: Egoism you say? There is nothing more universal than the individual, for what is the property of each is the property of all. Each man is worth more than the whole of humanity, nor will it do to sacrifice each to all save in so far as all sacrifice themselves to each. That which we call egoism is the principle of psychic gravity, the necessary postulate. "Love thy neighbor as thyself," we are told, the presupposition being that each man loves himself; and it is not said "Love thyself." And nevertheless, we do not know how to love ourselves.

E. B. White photo

“At this juncture we might conceivably act in a sensible, rather than a popular, manner”

E. B. White (1899–1985) American writer

The Wild Flag (1943)
Context: The delegate from Patagonia spoke up. 'I fear that the wild flag, one for all, will prove an unpopular idea.'
'It will, undoubtedly,' sighed the Chinese delegate. 'But now that there are only a couple of hundred people on earth, even the word "unpopular" loses most of its meaning. At this juncture we might conceivably act in a sensible, rather than a popular, manner.' And he produced eighty-two more shoeboxes and handed a wild flag to each delegate, bowing ceremoniously.
Next day the convention broke up and the delegates returned to their homes, marveling at what they had accomplished in so short a time. And that is the end of our dream.

George Bernard Shaw photo

“Remember that the progress of the world depends on your knowing better than your elders”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

1910s, A Treatise on Parents and Children (1910)
Context: A nation should always be healthily rebellious; but the king or prime minister has yet to be found who will make trouble by cultivating that side of the national spirit. A child should begin to assert itself early, and shift for itself more and more not only in washing and dressing itself, but in opinions and conduct; yet as nothing is so exasperating and so unlovable as an uppish child, it is useless to expect parents and schoolmasters to inculcate this uppishness. Such unamiable precepts as Always contradict an authoritative statement, Always return a blow, Never lose a chance of a good fight, When you are scolded for a mistake ask the person who scolds you whether he or she supposes you did it on purpose, and follow the question with a blow or an insult or some other unmistakable expression of resentment, Remember that the progress of the world depends on your knowing better than your elders, are just as important as those of The Sermon on the Mount; but no one has yet seen them written up in letters of gold in a schoolroom or nursery.

“A social order in which the maximum legal income is not more than tenfold the minimum”

Kirby Page (1890–1957) American clergyman

Property (1935)
Context: A social order in which the maximum legal income is not more than tenfold the minimum... and in which competition for private profit has been eliminated, and in which social motivations are more dominant, is certain to be a more harmonious community than can ever be created by economic individualism.

Elbert Hubbard photo

“If there is any better way to teach virtue than by practicing it, I do not know it.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul

The Better Part (1901)
Context: No man who believes in force and violence is an Anarchist. The true Anarchist decries all influences save those of love and reason. Ideas are his only arms.
Being an Anarchist I am also a Socialist. Socialism is the antithesis of Anarchy. One is the North Pole of Truth, the other the South. The Socialist believes in working for the good of all, while Anarchy is pure Individualism. I believe in every man working for the good of self; and in working for the good of self, he works for the good of all. To think, to see, to feel, to know; to deal justly; to bear all patiently; to act quietly; to speak cheerfully; to moderate one's voice — these things will bring you the highest good. They will bring you the love of the best, and the esteem of that Sacred Few, whose good opinion alone is worth cultivating. And further than this, it is the best way you can serve Society — live your life. The wise way to benefit humanity is to attend to your own affairs, and thus give other people an opportunity to look after theirs.
If there is any better way to teach virtue than by practicing it, I do not know it.
Would you make men better — set them an example. The millenium will never come until governments cease from governing, and the meddler is at rest. Politicians are men who volunteer the task of governing us, for a consideration. The political boss is intent on living off your labor. A man may seek an office in order to do away with the rascal who now occupies it, but for the most part office-seekers are rank rogues. Shakespeare used the word politician five times, and each time it is synonymous with knave. That is to say, a politician is one who sacrifices truth and honor for policy. The highest motive of his life is expediency — policy. In King Lear it is the "scurvy politician," who through tattered clothes beholds small vices, while robes and furred gowns, for him, covers all.

George W. Bush photo

“No President has ever done more for human rights than I have.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

Ken Auletta "Fortress Bush", The New Yorker, January 19, 2004, p64
2000s, 2004

William Thomson photo

“I have not the smallest molecule of faith in aerial navigation other than ballooning”

William Thomson (1824–1907) British physicist and engineer

As a response to Major B. F. S. Baden Powell's request to join the Aeronautical Society, December 8, 1896 http://zapatopi.net/kelvin/papers/letters.html#baden-powell.
Often reproduced out of context and without citation to any primary source as "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible", like in The Experts Speak : The Definitive Compendium of Authoritative Misinformation (1984) by Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky, p. 236
Context: I am afraid I am not in the flight for “aerial navigation”. I was greatly interested in your work with kites; but I have not the smallest molecule of faith in aerial navigation other than ballooning or of expectation of good results from any of the trials we hear of. So you will understand that I would not care to be a member of the aëronautical Society.

Reinhold Niebuhr photo

“Historical communities are, in short, more deeply involved in nature and time than the individual.”

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) American protestant theologian

The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation (1941)
Context: The brotherhood of the community is indeed the ground in which the individual is ethically realized. But the community is the frustration as well as the realization of individual life. Its collective egotism is an offense to his conscience; its institutional injustices negate the ideal of justice; and such brotherhood as it achieves is limited by ethnic and geographic boundaries. Historical communities are, in short, more deeply involved in nature and time than the individual.

“The largest army will founder if its men are less willing to die than to win.”

Source: Drenai series, Legend, Pt 1: Against the Horde, Ch. 9
Context: How do you decide a battle is lost? Numbers, strategic advantage, positioning? It's all worth a sparrow's fart. It comes down to men who are willing. The largest army will founder if its men are less willing to die than to win.