Quotes about few
A collection of quotes on the topic of few, people, doing, year.
Quotes about few
“We are just cogs and nuts of a few stupid people in power.”
Source: La Otra Historia.
Radio show.
“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.”
Variant: Love all, trust a few.
Source: All's Well That Ends Well
“I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.”
Education helps reduce social problems and improves quality of life
“You have to die a few times before you can really
live.”
Variant: You have to die a few times before you actually live.
Source: The People Look Like Flowers at Last
“You never know when a moment and a
few sincere words can have an impact on a life.”
“And silver, though few people knew it, was a rarer metal than gold.”
Source: The Course of True Love [and First Dates]
Other sources
Source: Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall
Context: Bus stops are far more interesting and useful places to have art than in museums. Graffiti has more chance of meaning something or changing stuff than anything indoors. Graffiti has been used to start revolutions, stop wars, and generally is the voice of people who aren't listened to. Graffiti is one of those few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don't come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make somebody smile while they're having a piss.
“Rape is one of the most terrible crimes on earth. And it happens every few minutes.”
As quoted in New Musical Express (1991-11-23).
Interviews (1989-1994), Print
Source: Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), Ch. 34 : Materializing a Palace in the Himalayas
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985), First Inaugural address (1981)
Context: To a few of us here today this is a solemn and most momentous occasion, and yet in the history of our nation it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place, as it has for almost two centuries, and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-four-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.
“Very few of us are what we seem.”
Source: The Man in the Mist
Date unknown, but appears on Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!.
Interviews (1989-1994), Video
First Mughal emperor Babur wrote in his autobiography Tuzk-e-Babri
“Let silence be your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words.”
Golden Sayings of Epictetus
Context: Let silence be your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words. We shall, however, when occasion demands, enter into discourse sparingly, avoiding such common topics as gladiators, horse-races, athletes; and the perpetual talk about food and drink. Above all avoid speaking of persons, either in the way of praise or blame, or comparison. If you can, win over the conversation of your company to what it should be by your own. But if you should find yourself cut off without escape among strangers and aliens, be silent. (164).
“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.”
Variant: Small is the number of them that see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts
Source: "Einstein's Reply to Criticisms" (1949), The World As I See It (1949), p. 66 of the edition at http://books.google.com/books?id=aNKOo94tO6cC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA66#v=onepage&q&f=false
“All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into the drop.”
“Jesus has now many lovers of the heavenly kingdom but few bearers of His cross.”
Source: Imitation Of Christ
Letter to Bushrod Washington http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushrod_Washington (15 January 1783)
1780s
Mother Courage
Mother Courage and Her Children (1939)
Attributed in “The Conflict Between Church And State In The Third Reich”, by S. Parkes Cadman, La Crosse Tribune and Leader-Press (28 October 1934), viewable online on p. 9 of the issue here http://newspaperarchive.com/us/wisconsin/la-crosse/la-crosse-tribune-and-leader-press/1934/10-28/ (double-click the page to zoom). The quote is preceded by “In this connection it is worth quoting in free translation a statement made by Professor Einstein last year to one of my colleagues who has been prominently identified with the Protestant church in its contacts with Germany.” [Emphasis added.] While based on something that Einstein said, Einstein himself stated that the quote was not an accurate record of his words or opinion. After the quote appeared in Time magazine (23 December 1940), p. 38 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,765103,00.html, a minister in Harbor Springs, Michigan wrote to Einstein to check if the quote was real. Einstein wrote back “It is true that I made a statement which corresponds approximately with the text you quoted. I made this statement during the first years of the Nazi-Regime — much earlier than 1940 — and my expressions were a little more moderate.” (March 1943) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/archive/200706A19.html
In a later letter to Rev. Cornelius Greenway of Brooklyn, who asked if Einstein would write out the statement in his own hand, Einstein was more vehement in his repudiation of the statement (14 November 1950) http://books.google.com/books?id=T5R7JsRRtoIC&pg=PA94: <blockquote><p>The wording of the statement you have quoted is not my own. Shortly after Hitler came to power in Germany I had an oral conversation with a newspaper man about these matters. Since then my remarks have been elaborated and exaggerated nearly beyond recognition. I cannot in good conscience write down the statement you sent me as my own.</p><p> The matter is all the more embarrassing to me because I, like yourself, I am predominantly critical concerning the activities, and especially the political activities, through history of the official clergy. Thus, my former statement, even if reduced to my actual words (which I do not remember in detail) gives a wrong impression of my general attitude.</p></blockquote>
: In his original statement Einstein was probably referring to the actions of the Emergency Covenant of Pastors organized by Martin Niemöller, and the Confessing Church which he and other prominent churchmen such as Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer established in opposition to Nazi policies.
: Einstein also made some scathingly negative comments about the behavior of the Church under the Nazi regime (and its behavior towards Jews throughout history) in a 1943 conversation with William Hermanns recorded in Hermanns' book Einstein and the Poet (1983). On p. 63 http://books.google.com/books?id=QXCyjj6T5ZUC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA63#v=onepage&q&f=false Hermanns records him saying "Never in history has violence been so widespread as in Nazi Germany. The concentration camps make the actions of Ghengis Khan look like child's play. But what makes me shudder is that the Church is silent. One doesn't need to be a prophet to say, 'The Catholic Church will pay for this silence.' Dr. Hermanns, you will live to see that there is moral law in the universe. . . .There are cosmic laws, Dr. Hermanns. They cannot be bribed by prayers or incense. What an insult to the principles of creation. But remember, that for God a thousand years is a day. This power maneuver of the Church, these Concordats through the centuries with worldly powers . . . the Church has to pay for it. We live now in a scientific age and in a psychological age. You are a sociologist, aren't you? You know what the Herdenmenschen (men of herd mentality) can do when they are organized and have a leader, especially if he is a spokesmen for the Church. I do not say that the unspeakable crimes of the Church for 2000 years had always the blessings of the Vatican, but it vaccinated its believers with the idea: We have the true God, and the Jews have crucified Him. The Church sowed hate instead of love, though the Ten Commandments state: Thou shalt not kill." And then on p. 64 http://books.google.com/books?id=QXCyjj6T5ZUC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA64#v=onepage&q&f=false: "I'm not a Communist but I can well understand why they destroyed the Church in Russia. All the wrongs come home, as the proverb says. The Church will pay for its dealings with Hitler, and Germany, too." And on p. 65 http://books.google.com/books?id=QXCyjj6T5ZUC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA65#v=onepage&q&f=false: "I don't like to implant in youth the Church's doctrine of a personal God, because that Church has behaved so inhumanely in the past 2000 years. The fear of punishment makes the people march. Consider the hate the Church manifested against the Jews and then against the Muslims, the Crusades with their crimes, the burning stakes of the Inquisition, the tacit consent of Hitler's actions while the Jews and the Poles dug their own graves and were slaughtered. And Hitler is said to have been an alter boy! The truly religious man has no fear of life and no fear of death—and certainly no blind faith; his faith must be in his conscience. . . . I am therefore against all organized religion. Too often in history, men have followed the cry of battle rather than the cry of truth." When Hermanns asked him "Isn't it only human to move along the line of least resistance?", Einstein responded "Yes. It is indeed human, as proved by Cardinal Pacelli, who was behind the Concordat with Hitler. Since when can one make a pact with Christ and Satan at the same time? And he is now the Pope! The moment I hear the word 'religion', my hair stands on end. The Church has always sold itself to those in power, and agreed to any bargain in return for immunity. It would have been fine if the spirit of religion had guided the Church; instead, the Church determined the spirit of religion. Churchmen through the ages have fought political and institutional corruption very little, so long as their own sanctity and church property were preserved."
Misattributed
“That's why there are so few women stars today. Pornography has taken away the mystery.”
A Visit With Irene Dunne (1977)
Letter to Catherine L. Moore (7 February 1937), in Selected Letters V, 1934-1937 edited by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei, pp. 407-408
Non-Fiction, Letters
"On the Method of Theoretical Physics" The Herbert Spencer Lecture, delivered at Oxford (10 June 1933); also published in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 1, No. 2 (April 1934), pp. 163-169., p. 165. [thanks to Dr. Techie @ www.wordorigins.org and JSTOR]
There is a quote attributed to Einstein that may have arisen as a paraphrase of the above quote, commonly given as “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler,” "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler", or “Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler.” See this article from the Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/05/13/einstein-simple/ for a discussion of where these later variants may have arisen.
The original quote is very similar to Occam's razor, which advocates that among all hypotheses compatible with all available observations, the simplest hypothesis is the most plausible one.
The aphorism "everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler" is normally taken to be a warning against too much simplicity and emphasizes that one cannot simplify things to a point where the hypothesis is no more compatible with all observations. The aphorism does not contradict or extend Occam's razor, but rather stresses that both elements of the razor, simplicity and compatibility with the observations, are essential.
The earliest known appearance of Einstein's razor is an essay by Roger Sessions in the New York Times (8 January 1950) http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30615FE3559137A93CAA9178AD85F448585F9, where Sessions appears to be paraphrasing Einstein: “I also remember a remark of Albert Einstein, which certainly applies to music. He said, in effect, that everything should be as simple as it can be, but not simpler.”
Another early appearance, from Time magazine (14 December 1962) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872923,00.html: “We try to keep in mind a saying attributed to Einstein—that everything must be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.”
1930s
1950s, What Desires Are Politically Important? (1950)
Context: We love those who hate our enemies, and if we had no enemies there would be very few people whom we should love.
All this, however, is only true so long as we are concerned solely with attitudes towards other human beings. You might regard the soil as your enemy because it yields reluctantly a niggardly subsistence. You might regard Mother Nature in general as your enemy, and envisage human life as a struggle to get the better of Mother Nature. If men viewed life in this way, cooperation of the whole human race would become easy. And men could easily be brought to view life in this way if schools, newspapers, and politicians devoted themselves to this end. But schools are out to teach patriotism; newspapers are out to stir up excitement; and politicians are out to get re-elected. None of the three, therefore, can do anything towards saving the human race from reciprocal suicide.
“Just sitting silently for a few minutes within the sphere of Dhyanalinga is enough”
Isha Insights Magazine, Spring Edition 2009
Sourced from newspapers and magazines
Context: Just sitting silently for a few minutes within the sphere of Dhyanalinga is enough to make even those unaware of meditation experience a state of deep meditativeness. - Sadhguru (on the Dhyanalinga meditation shrine at Isha Yoga Centre, India)
Source: The Art of War, Chapter I · Detail Assessment and Planning
This statement is not to be found in the works of Herodotus. It appears in the acknowledgements to Mark Twain's A Horse's Tale (1907) preceded by the words "Herodotus says", but Twain was simply summarizing what he took to be Herodotus' attitude to historiography.
Misattributed
“Management of many is the same as management of few. It is a matter of organization.”
Source: The Art of War, Chapter V · Forces
453: Love — thou art high —
The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (1960)
“I think pressure’s healthy, and very few can handle it.”
Introduction
The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome (2003)
Designing the Future (2007)
Source: https://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/writings/shockingly-simple-principles-of-spiritual-awakening/
Source: https://www.frasicelebri.it/frasi-di/rita-levi-montalcini/.
“A few things are absolute and non-negotiable, though. NPOV for example.”
Source: Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism (1917), Chapter One
Source: Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism: Full Text of 1916 Edition
“If you live to be one hundred, you've got it made. Very few people die past that age.”
Source: The World Ahead: An Anthropologist Anticipates the Future
“Few sons, indeed, are like their fathers.
Generally they are worse; but just a few are better.”
II. 276–277 (tr. E. V. Rieu).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)
Source: The Odyssey
“Few men think; yet all have opinions.”
Philonous to Hylas. The Second Dialogue. This appears in a passage first added in the third edition, (1734)
Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (1713)
Source: The Freedom Writers Diary
“All artists are willing to suffer for their work. But why are so few prepared to learn to draw?”
Existencilism (2002)
Source: Wall and Piece
“There are very few honest friends—the demand is not particularly great.”
Es gibt wenig aufrichtige Freunde. Die Nachfrage ist auch gering.
Source: Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 71.
“I like Brando's acting … and James Dean … and Richard Widmark. Quite a few of 'em I like.”
When asked to name his favorite male actors, in "Elvis Exclusive Interview" with Ray Green in Little Rock, Arkansas (16 May 1956), as published in Elvis — Word for Word : What He Said, Exactly As He Said It (1999)
Eric Blom (ed.) Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th edn. (London: Macmillan, 1954) vol. 7, p. 27.
Criticism
The Salmon of Doubt (2002)
Linda Shrieves (July 7, 1990) "Bob Ross Uses His Brush to Spread Paint and Joy", The Orlando Sentinel, p. E1.
Interview: Tom Kenny talks voicing SpongeBob Squarepants and 'Mr. Show' http://www.metro.us/entertainment/interview-tom-kenny-talks-voicing-spongebob-squarepants-and-mr-show/zsJoba---UspN3mmMXb2BE (February 2, 2015)
The Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1965)
My Twisted World (2014), 19-22, UC Santa Barbara, Building to Violence
"As I Please," Tribune (12 May 1944)<sup> http://alexpeak.com/twr/orwell/quotes/</sup>
"As I Please" (1943–1947)
http://www.popmonk.com/actors/leonardo-dicaprio/quotes-leonardo-dicaprio.htm
"Stone River Enters Stanford University's Outdoor Art Collection" (4 September 2001)
is the closest to the truth. http://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/firestone-shulamith/dialectic-sex.htm
The Dialectic of Sex (1970)
Passing Strange and Wonderful: Aesthetics, Nature, and Culture, ch. 10 (1993).
“I have the most evil memories of Spain, but I have very few bad memories of Spaniards.”
Homage to Catalonia (1938)
Article on Wealth
L'Encyclopédie (1751-1766)
“Let your accusations be few in number, even if they be just.”
The Ring (c. 120).
If "The Ring" refers to the work "The Ring of Sixtus", it is highly unlikely that these quotes are attributed correctly. It is widely believed that "The Ring of Sixtus" was written by a Pythagorean philosopher.
television address (4 March 1987)
1980s, Second term of office (1985–1989)
Quoted in Jessamy Calkin, "Johnny Depp Esq.," http://www.johnnydeppfan.com/interviews/ukesquire.htm Esquire [U.K. edition] (February 2000)