Quotes

George Packer photo
Michael Parenti photo

“Actually, the New Deal's central dedication was to business recovery rather than social reform.”

Michael Parenti (1933) American academic

Source: Democracy for the Few (2010 [1974]), sixth edition, Chapter 5, p. 71

“The scene was more beautiful far to the eye
Than if day in its pride had arrayed it.”

Paul Moon James (1780–1854) British poet and banker

The Beacon, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

Françoise Sagan photo

“It is healthier to see the good points of others than to analyze our own bad ones.”

Un certain sourire (1955, A Certain Smile, translated 1956)

Wilhelm Von Humboldt photo

“How a person masters his fate is more important than what his fate is.”

Wilhelm Von Humboldt (1767–1835) German (Prussian) philosopher, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the University of Berlin

As quoted in International Proverbs (2000) by Luzano Pancho Canlas, p. 40

Thomas Flanagan (political scientist) photo

“There is no iron law here, but there is clearly some tendency for larger-than-necessary coalitions to disintegrate.”

Thomas Flanagan (political scientist) (1944) author, academic, and political activist

Source: Game Theory and Canadian Politics (1998), Chapter 5, How Many Are Too Many? Size of Coalitions, p. 88.

“Relatively unsuccessful firms would be more likely to innovate than relatively successful firms.”

Richard Cyert (1921–1998) American economist

Source: A behavioral theory of the firm, 1959, p. 188

Murray Gell-Mann photo

“If I have seen further than others, it is because I am surrounded by dwarfs.”

Murray Gell-Mann (1929–2019) American physicist

As quoted in "Wilson vs Watson: The blessing of great enemies" by Amanda Gefter in New Scientist (10 September 2009) http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17771-wilson-vs-watson-the-blessing-of-great-enemies.html; this is a play upon the famous statement by Isaac Newton: "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants."

Herman Melville photo

“Well, there is sorrow in the world, but goodness too; and goodness that is not greenness, either, no more than sorrow is.”

Herman Melville (1818–1891) American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet

Source: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (1857), Ch. 5

Ludwig Wittgenstein photo

“If you use a trick in logic, whom can you be tricking other than yourself?”

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-British philosopher

Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 24e

George Santayana photo

“Profound skepticism is favorable to conventions, because it doubts that the criticism of conventions is any truer than they are.”

George Santayana (1863–1952) 20th-century Spanish-American philosopher associated with Pragmatism

"On My Friendly Critics"
Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies (1922)

Samuel R. Delany photo
Larry the Cable Guy photo

“Them [gas] prices are higher than a bus load of Mexicans at the Los Lobos concert.”

Larry the Cable Guy (1963) American stand-up comedian, actor, country music artist, voice artist

Morning Constitutions (2007)

José Saramago photo

“I'm gonna slide into those DMs harder than Chase Utley slides into second.”

Alice Moran (1988) Canadian actress

As quoted on Twitter (10 August 2018) https://twitter.com/Alice_Moran/status/1027933019636736000

“Human ingenuity has not evolved a better method for corporate decisions than the majority principle.”

Source: The Principles of State and Government in Islam (1961), Chapter 3: Government By Consent And Consent, p 50

Voltaire photo

“Life is bristling with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to cultivate one's garden.”

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

La vie est hérissée de ces épines, et je n'y sais d'autre remède que de cultiver son jardin.
Letter to Pierre-Joseph Luneau de Boisjermain (21 October 1769), from Oeuvres Complètes de Voltaire: Correspondance [Garnier frères, Paris, 1882], vol. XIV, letter # 7692 (p. 478)
Citas

Sinclair Lewis photo

“An ugly woodshed that's there, right on the ground, is handsomer to me than a ten-story temple that isn't there.”

Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951) American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright

The God-Seeker (1949), Ch. 57