Quotes

Alexander II of Russia photo

“It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait for it to abolish itself from below.”

Alexander II of Russia (1818–1881) Emperor of Russia

Speech (30 March 1856), as quoted in A Concise History of Russia (1972) by Ronald Hingley\. p. 122.

William Hazlitt photo

“It is better to be able neither to read nor write than to be able to do nothing else.”

William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English writer

"On the Ignorance of the Learned"
Table Talk: Essays On Men And Manners http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Essays/TableHazIV.htm (1821-1822)

Graham Greene photo

“You think it more difficult to turn air into wine than to turn wine into blood?”

On a priest who pantomimes Mass, Monsignor Quixote, PBS TV (February 13, 1987)

Don Marquis photo

“there are more things
twixt the vermiform appendix
and nirvana than are dreamt of
in thy philosophy horatio”

Don Marquis (1878–1937) American writer

the robin and the worm

Jack Welch photo

“Getting the right people in the right jobs is a lot more important than developing a strategy.”

Jack Welch (1935) American executive: General Electric CEO

Source: Jack: Straight from the Gut (2001), Ch. 24.

George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax photo

“The sight of a drunkard is a better sermon against that vice than the best that was ever preached on that subject.”

George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax (1633–1695) English politician

The Lady's New Year's Gift: or Advice to a Daughter (1688)

Simone Weil photo

“There is a certain kind of morality which is even more alien to good and evil than amorality is.”

Simone Weil (1909–1943) French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist

“The responsibility of writers,” p. 169
On Science, Necessity, and the Love of God (1968)

Niklaus Wirth photo

“But active programming consists of the design of new programs, rather than contemplation of old programs.”

Niklaus Wirth (1934) Swiss computer scientist

Program Development by Stepwise Refinement (1971)

Karl Kraus photo

“It is better not to express what one means than to express what one does not mean.”

Karl Kraus (1874–1936) Czech playwright and publicist

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Industrial marketing should be understood as a relationship-specific rather than a transaction-specific construct.”

Christian Homburg (1962) German academic

Christian Homburg, and Bettina Rudolph. "Customer satisfaction in industrial markets: dimensional and multiple role issues." Journal of Business Research 52.1 (2001): 15-33.

“We can love an honest rogue, but what is more offensive than a false saint?”

Jessamyn West (1902–1984) American author

To See the Dream, part 1 (1956)

François de La Rochefoucauld photo

“It is harder to hide the feelings we have than to feign the ones we do not have.”

François de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) French author of maxims and memoirs

Maxim 56 from the posthumously published 1693 edition of the Maximes.
Later Additions to the Maxims

Horace Greeley photo

“The illusion that times that were are better than those that are, has probably pervaded all ages.”

Horace Greeley (1811–1872) American politician and publisher

As quoted in The American Conflict, A History of the Great Rebellion (1864).
1860s

Philippe Kahn photo

“We are less than a decade away from the medical lab the size of a sugar cube.”

Philippe Kahn (1952) Entrepreneur, camera phone creator

Founding speech for Fullpower, 2003, focusing in particular on the power of MEMS and Nanotechnology and its applications to life sciences.

Francis Quarles photo

“The slender debt to Nature's quickly paid,
Discharged, perchance, with greater ease than made.”

Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English poet

Book II, no. 13. Compare: "To die is a debt we must all of us discharge", Euripides, Alcestis, line 418.
Emblems (1635)

Philip Roth photo
Aurelius Augustinus photo
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero photo

“Today things are better than a year ago. But within a year things will be even better.”

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (1960) Former Prime Minister of Spain

Presidential press release on 29th December 2006, one day before an ETA bomb attack at Madrid airport, resulting in 2 deaths.
As President, 2006
Source: el Mundo http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2006/12/29/espana/1167368963.html.

John Dryden photo

“Than a successive title long and dark,
Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's ark.”

Pt 1, line 301.
The Hind and the Panther (1687)