Quotes

George S. Patton photo

“I'd rather have a German division in front of me, than a French one behind.”

George S. Patton (1885–1945) United States Army general

Misattributed by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger on Fox News. Patton commanded French troops, the 2nd Armored Division commanded by Philippe Leclerc, integrated in the Third Army, and had rocky but friendly relations with the French general. For instance, on August, 15 1944 Patton wrote in his diary: "Leclerc came in very much excited. He said, among other things, that if he were not allowed to advance on Paris, he would resign. I told him in my best French that he was a baby and said I had left him in the most dangerous place on the front. We parted friends"
Misattributed

Frank Harris photo

“Christ goes deeper than I do, but I have had a wider experience.”

Frank Harris (1856–1931) Irish journalist and rogue

Hugh Kingsmill Frank Harris (1932) p. 164.

Tom Robbins photo
Samuel Johnson photo

“No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library.”

No. 106 (23 March 1751)
The Rambler (1750–1752)

Eugéne Ionesco photo

“People who don’t read are brutes. It is better to write than to make war, isn’t it?”

Eugéne Ionesco (1909–1994) Romanian playwright

The Paris Review interview (1984)

Patrick Modiano photo

“Why, one wonders, does lightning strike in one place rather than another?”

Patrick Modiano (1945) French writer

P 86
The Search Warrant (2000)

G. K. Chesterton photo

“One of his hobbies was to wait for the American Shakespeare — a hobby more patient than angling.”

G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist

'The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Secret Garden
The Father Brown Mystery Series (1910 - 1927)

E. B. White photo

“A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handy man with a sense of humus.”

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

"The Practical Farmer" http://books.google.com/books?id=njRHAAAAYAAJ&q=%22A+good+farmer+is+nothing+more+nor+less+than+a+handy+man+with+a+sense+of+humus%22&pg=PA218#v=onepage ( October 1940 http://books.google.com/books?id=SvAvAAAAMAAJ&q=%22A+good+farmer+is+nothing+more+nor+less+than+a+handy+man+with+a+sense+of%22&pg=PA555#v=onepage)
One Man's Meat (1942)

Nicholas Rowe photo

“Is she not more than painting can express,
Or youthful poets fancy when they love?”

Act iii, scene 1.
The Fair Penitent (1703)

Tim Powers photo

“Your skull in gold will be more valuable than others, being solid all through.”

Source: Declare (2001), Chapter 12 (p. 345)

Jacques Ellul photo

“Hate, hunger, and pride make better levers of propaganda than do love or impartiality.”

Vintage, p. 38
Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes (1965)

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues photo

“Some are born to invent, others to embellish; but the gilder attracts more attention than the architect.”

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French writer, a moralist

Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 190.

Lu Xun photo

“Rather than worship Confucius and Kuan Kung, one should worship Darwin and Ibsen.”

Lu Xun (1881–1936) Chinese novelist and essayist

29
"The Epigrams of Lusin"

Anderson Cooper photo

“I've been overseas more than you have in your whole little life.”

Anderson Cooper (1967) journalist and author

CNN http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/anderson-cooper-andy-dean-trump (17 September 2015).

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali photo

“Know that thankfulness is from the highest of stations, and it is higher than patience, fear, and detachment of the world.”

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058–1111) Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic

al-Ghazali https://awakenthegreatnesswithin.com/35-inspirational-imam-al-ghazali-quotes-on-success/

“The new work obviously resembles sculpture more than it does painting, but it is nearer to painting.”

Donald Judd (1928–1994) artist

Source: 1960s, "Specific Objects," 1965, p. 75; Cited in: Diane Waldman. Carl Andre https://archive.org/stream/carlandre00wald#page/6/mode/1up. Published 1970 by Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. p. 6

James K. Morrow photo

“In fact, there’s probably only one thing worse than not being able to understand a person.”

James K. Morrow (1947) (1947-) science fiction author

“What’s that?” asked Nimrod.
“Being able to understand him completely.”
"Bible Stories for Adults, No. 20: The Tower" p. 76 (originally published in Author’s Choice Monthly #8: Swatting at the Cosmos)
Short fiction, Bible Stories for Adults (1996)

Harold Innis photo

“The voice of a second-rate person is more impressive than the published opinion of superior ability.”

2007 edition, p. 31.
Empire and Communications (1950)
Context: Graham Wallas has reminded us that writing as compared with speaking involves an impression at the second remove and reading an impression at the third remove. The voice of a second-rate person is more impressive than the published opinion of superior ability.

Dora Russell photo

“We want better reasons for having children than not knowing how to prevent them.”

Hypatia (1925), Ch. 4
Context: We want better reasons for having children than not knowing how to prevent them. Nor should we represent motherhood as something so common and easy that everyone can go through it without harm or suffering and rear her children competently and well.