Quotes about alibi

A collection of quotes on the topic of alibi, people, time, timing.

Quotes about alibi

“Anything I tell you is an alibi for something else."

Then let's be quiet together.”

Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) Canadian poet and singer-songwriter

Source: The Favorite Game

“I thought it was her wicked stepmother who poisoned her…'
'… Turned out the wicked stepmother had an alibi.'
'… Seems she was off poisoning someone else at the time. Chance in a million, really. It was just bad luck.”

John Connolly The Book of Lost Things

Source: The Book of Lost Things

Bad luck, Chance, Time

“The obstacle became his alibi for weakness.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

“success requires no apologies, failure permits no alibis.” If”

Napoleon Hill book Think and Grow Rich

Think and Grow Rich
Variant: Success requires no explanations. Failure permits no alibis.

Failure, Success

“He turned again to Bunting, saw his troubled countenance, the beads of sweat dancing on his upper lip. "And Bunting…" "Yes?" "Forget the alibi. The Vigils don't provide alibis," Archie said. The words final, like a trapdoor slamming shut.”

Robert Cormier book Beyond the Chocolate War

Source: Beyond the Chocolate War (1985), p. 95

Dance, Forgetting

“There are whole years for which I hope I’ll never be cross-examined, for I could not give an alibi.”

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist

The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Unclassified

Hope

“This is not justice; never could this be justice, the verdict was ordained long ago. Its function is not to determine questions such as guilt or innocence, or truth or falsehood. It is a public relations exercise, designed to provide the government with an alibi for posterity. It is a show of wasteful vengeance; a theatrical warning to people of conscience.”

Julian Assange (1971) Australian editor, activist, publisher and journalist

Prosecutor: Manning let secrets into enemy hands= The Oaklahoman, 2013-06-03, 2013-06-04 http://newsok.com/prosecutor-manning-let-secrets-into-enemy-hands/article/feed/549470/?page=2,Regarding the [Bradley Manning] trial.

People, Truth, Justice, Exercises

“The vast majority of the members of all religions, I believe and would argue, don't want to kill anybody. They want to love and care for their families, find decent work that sustains life and comfort, live in peace and get along with their neighbors. It is a deviant streak in some humans, I suspect, that drives them toward self-righteous violence, and uses religion as a convenient alibi… I am trying as hard as I can to imagine the audience for this movie. Every time I make any progress, it scares me.”

Roger Ebert (1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter

Review http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/september-dawn-2007 of September Dawn (24 August 2007) <br class="br">Reviews, Zero star reviews

Love, Life, Family, Peace

“Success requires no explanations, failure presents no alibis.”

Fred Shero (1925–1990) Former ice hockey player and coach

Liebman, Glenn, Hockey Shorts: 1,001 of the games funniest one liners

Failure, Success

“He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare:
At whatever time the deed took place-
Macavity wasn't there.”

T.S. Eliot book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

Macavity: The Mystery Cat
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939)

Time

“We are now committed to an unqualified art, not illustrating outworn myths or contemporary alibis. One must accept total responsibility for what he executes. And the measure of his greatness will be in the depth of his insight and his courage in realizing his own vision.”

Clyfford Still (1904–1980) American artist

Letter to Dorothy Miller February 5, 1952; as quoted in Abstract Expressionism Creators and Critics, edited by Clifford Ross, Abrams Publishers New York 1990, p. 193
1950s

Art, Courage

“You know, at parties, people always ask, "Where were you when Kennedy was shot?" Well, I don't have an alibi!”

Emo Philips (1956) American comedian

E=MO² (1985)

People

“Optimism has always seemed to me the cunning alibi of egoists, anxious to cover up their state of chronic self-satisfaction. They are optimists in order to avoid pitying other men and their misfortune. ~~ Yet pity is a vexed question.”

Georges Bernanos book Les grands cimetières sous la lune

Source: Les grands cimetieres sous la lune (A Diary of My Times) 1938, p.38

Men, Optimism, Question

“I have no intention of arguing about the Holocaust. But, does it not stand to reason that some victorious countries of World War II intended to create an alibi on the basis of which they could continue keeping the defeated nations of World War II indebted to them. Their purpose has been to weaken their morale and their inspiration in order to obstruct their progress and power. In addition to the people of Germany, the peoples of the Middle East have also borne the brunt of the Holocaust. By raising the necessity of settling the survivors of the Holocaust in the land of Palestine, they have created a permanent threat in the Middle East in order to rob the people of the region of the opportunities to achieve progress.”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (1956) 6th President of the Islamic Republic of Iran

2006, Letter to Angela Merkel, 2006

War, People, World, Victory

“When the Judgment Day comes civilization will have an alibi, "I never took a human life, I only sold the fellow the gun to take it with."”

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer

Daily Telegram #926, A General Digging Out Of Old War Contracts (15 July 1929) <ref name=telegram2>
Daily telegrams

Life

“Leiderman thought it was not enough that the government dropped charges. He wanted the criminal justice system to recognize Gonzalez’s innocence affirmatively. There is such a thing as a declaration of factual innocence, he explained to Gonzalez. A judge can grant it. It is exceedingly rare – so rare that many cops and lawyers go a career without seeing one. It means not just that prosecutors couldn’t make a case against you, but that you didn’t do the crime. The case remained on the docket of Ventura County Superior Court Judge Patricia Murphy, who had earlier ordered Gonzalez held without bail. Leiderman petitioned the judge, trying not to get his client’s hopes up. He laid out the case, pointing out the holes in West’s story and the numerous alibi witnesses. Prosecutors did not want Gonzalez declared innocent. They knew a jury wouldn’t convict him but said they couldn’t be positive of his innocence. [ ] Ventura County’s chief assistant district attorney, later explained their reasoning: The attack West described was “improbable, but it wasn’t physically impossible.””

Jay Leiderman (1971) lawyer

In January 2009, nearly a year after Gonzalez’s arrest, Leiderman called him excitedly: The judge had sided with them. Gonzalez was soon holding a certified copy of the judge’s order declaring him factually innocent.
As stated in, A Man Falsely Accused of Rape and Kidnap. http://jayleiderman.com/blog/jay-leiderman-quoted-part-5/

Justice, Hope

“To say that his conscience was clear would be inaccurate, for he did not have a conscience, but he had what was much better, an alibi…”

P.G. Wodehouse book The Girl in Blue

The Girl in Blue (1970)

“If Nietzsche and Hegel serve as alibis to the masters of Dachau and Karaganda, that does not condemn their entire philosophy.”

Albert Camus book The Rebel

The Rebel (1951)
Context: If Nietzsche and Hegel serve as alibis to the masters of Dachau and Karaganda, that does not condemn their entire philosophy. But it does lead to the suspicion that one aspect of their thought, or of their logic, can lead to these appalling conclusions.

“There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement.”

Eric Hoffer (1898–1983) American philosopher

Section 181
The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)
Context: There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day: we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life. Moreover, when we have an alibi for not writing a book, painting a picture, and so on, we have an alibi for not writing the greatest book and not painting the greatest picture. Small wonder that the effort expended and the punishment endured in obtaining a good alibi often exceed the effort and grief requisite for the attainment of a most marked achievement.

“The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.”

Albert Camus book Resistance, Rebellion, and Death

"Homage to an Exile", published as an essay in Actuelles III, originally a speech "delivered 7 December 1955 at a banquet in honor of President Eduardo Santos, editor of El Tiempo, driven out of Colombia by the dictatorship".
Resistance, Rebellion, and Death (1960)
Context: The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience. It would be easy, however, to destroy that good conscience by shouting to them: if you want the happiness of the people, let them speak out and tell what kind of happiness they want and what kind they don't want! But, in truth, the very ones who make use of such alibis know they are lies; they leave to their intellectuals on duty the chore of believing in them and of proving that religion, patriotism, and justice need for their survival the sacrifice of freedom.

People

“No alibi will save you from accepting the responsibility.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

“Excessive jealousy is the alibi of someone who does not give enough value to the one who calls love.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) L'eccessiva gelosia è l'alibi di chi non dà abbastanza valore a colui che chiama amore.
Source: prevale.net

Love, Jealousy

“You are guilty every time you use an alibi, saying you don't know how you want to live.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Sei colpevole ogni volta che usi un alibi, dicendo che non sai come vuoi vivere.
Source: prevale.net

Time