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“And now I wish I was somewhere other than here,
Down in some honky tonk, sippin' on a beer.
Yes, I wish I was somewhere other than here.
'Cause that great fillin' station holdup
Cost me two good years.”

Jimmy Buffett (1946) American singer–songwriter and businessman

Song lyrics, A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean (1973)

“On his good mornings, I don't suppose there are more than a handful of men in the W. 1 postal district of London swifter to spot oompus-boompus than Bertram Wooster, and this was one of my particularly good mornings. I saw the whole hideous plot.”

P.G. Wodehouse book Joy in the Morning

Joy in the Morning (1947)

“I myself brought Deism no more to Bavaria than to Rome or Italy. I found it there already; and I shall give the reasons below, just why in the most fanatical countries, and more under Catholicism than Protestantism, this sort of person is found in such a measure and multitude.”

Adam Weishaupt (1748–1830) German philosopher and founder of the Order of Illuminati

Einleitung zu meiner Apologie (1787) p. 39.

“I would hope that American managers - indeed, managers worldwide - continue to appreciate what I have been saying almost from day one: that management is so much more than exercising rank and privilege, that it is much more than "making deals."”

Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant

Management affects people and their lives.
Source: 1990s and later, Managing in a Time of Great Change (1995), p. 351

“Amitbhai provided us more than double (Lok Sabha) seats in Uttar Pradesh. BJP won more seats in UP than what Congress secured in all states put together. This is the best example of what a Gujarati can do if given responsibility.”

Amit Shah (1964) Indian politician

Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister Designate after winning the Lok Sabha election 2014 to the Press Trust of India, in Narendra Modi Bids Farewell to His Assembly Seat, Praises Aide Amit Shah (21 May 2014 ) http://www.ndtv.com/elections/article/election-2014/narendra-modi-bids-farewell-to-his-assembly-seat-praises-aide-amit-shah-527771.

“Try not to become a man of success, but a man of value. Look around at how people want to get more out of life than they put in. A man of value will give more than he receives. Be creative, but make sure that what you create is not a curse for mankind.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Variant transcription from "Death of a Genius" in Life Magazine: "Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value. He is considered successful in our day who gets more out of life than he puts in. But a man of value will give more than he receives."
Source: Attributed in posthumous publications, Einstein and the Poet (1983), p. 143

“Almost all men are less humorous than Shakespeare; but most men are more humorous than Milton, and these, it is to be feared, having suffered themselves to be dragooned by the critics into professing a distant admiration for Paradise Lost, have paid their last and utmost tribute to the genius of its author.”

Walter Raleigh (professor) (1861–1922) British academic

Milton https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031297644;view=1up;seq=23 (1900), p. 7

“Much has been written of love turning to hatred, of the heart growing cold with the death of love. It is a remarkable process. It is far more terrible than anything I have ever read about it, more terrible than anything I will ever be able to say.”

James Baldwin book Giovanni's Room

Pt. 2, Ch. 5 - p.139
Giovanni's Room (1956)

“The Chinese, the Indians, the Brazilians, and the Russians are all getting richer and stronger due to wealth creation. Yet the leaders of these countries, while they appreciate wealth creation as one way to gain power, have never given up on the conquest ethic as another way to gain power. In fact, they see wealth creation as away to increase their military power; then that power can be deployed to acquire more wealth through conquest. [Americans] no longer have the conquest ethic. But the Chinese do; they have never given it up. This is why the world still needs America. We remain the custodians of the idea that wealth should be obtained through invention and trade, not through forced seizure.”

Dinesh D'Souza (1961) Indian-American political commentator, filmmaker, author

Source: Books, America: Imagine a World without Her (2014), Ch. 16

“Real national unity sprang from the things which we had in common; the greater that common interest, the stronger the nation in peace as well as in war. It is because in this country we all enjoyed freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the right to choose and change our Governments that we were united. The continent of Europe had fallen before Hitler because of its disunity. By playing on the rivalries and jealousies of the nations he had divided them and devoured them in detail. There was not enough realization of the common interest of all in our civilization to overcome sectional ambitions and fears. Had Europe been united in spirit the Nazi monster would have been strangled at birth.”

Clement Attlee (1883–1967) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech in Chesterfield (13 June 1941), quoted in The Times (14 June 1941), p. 2.
1940s

“The object of this Essay is to explain as clearly as I am able grounds of an opinion which I have held from the very earliest period when I had formed any opinions at all on social political matters, and which, instead of being weakened or modified, has been constantly growing stronger by the progress reflection and the experience of life. That the principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes — the legal subordination of one sex to the other — is wrong itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement; and that it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality, admitting no power or privilege on the one side, nor disability on the other.”

John Stuart Mill The Subjection of Women

Source: The Subjection of Women (1869), Ch. 1

“At that moment, she cannot think of a more reckless, irrational thing than choosing to become a parent.”

Khaled Hosseini book And the Mountains Echoed

Source: And the Mountains Echoed

“Is she okay? I mean, no offense, she sounds more mental than I do.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

“I can receive nothing more from these tragic solitudes than a little empty purity.”

Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …

“By fighting you never get enough, but by yielding you get more than you expected.”

Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People

Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People

“To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing of a new truth or fact.”

Charles Darwin (1809–1882) British naturalist, author of "On the origin of species, by means of natural selection"

Source: More Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol 2

“I am composed of contradictions, which is why poetry is a better form for me than philosophy”

Czeslaw Milosz (1911–2004) Polish, poet, diplomat, prosaist, writer, and translator

“I can imagine no greater bliss than to lie about, reading novels all day.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: Ten Things I Love About You

“I'm here to be me, which is taking a great deal longer than I had hoped.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Source: Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

“I can't watch TV longer than five minutes without praying for nuclear holocaust.”

Bill Hicks (1961–1994) American comedian