Quotes about goodness
page 69

Patrick Swift photo
John Calvin photo
Shanna Moakler photo
George Soros photo
Noam Chomsky photo
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston photo
Ayn Rand photo
Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden photo

“A good corroborating chain, if they fail in the last link, the whole will fall to the ground.”

Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden (1714–1794) English lawyer, judge and Whig politician

Wilkes v. Wood (1763), Lofft. 12.

José Rizal photo

“No good water comes from a muddy spring. No sweet fruit comes from a bitter seed.”

José Rizal (1861–1896) Filipino writer, ophthalmologist, polyglot and nationalist

Letter to the Young Women of Malolos

W. Somerset Maugham photo

“There is a sort of man who pays no attention to his good actions, but is tormented by his bad ones. This is the type that most often writes about himself.”

Ch. 4, p. 11 http://books.google.com/books?id=Ma3RAAAAMAAJ&q=%22There+is+a+sort+of+man+who+pays+no+attention+to+his+good+actions+but+is+tormented+by+his+bad+ones+this+is+the+type+that+most+often+writes+about+himself%22&pg=PA11#v=onepage
The Summing Up (1938)

Carl Panzram photo
Logan Pearsall Smith photo

“There are few sorrows, however poignant, in which a good income is of no avail.”

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) British American-born writer

Life and Human Nature.
Afterthoughts (1931)

Roy Jenkins photo

“Undoubtedly, looking back, we nearly all allowed ourselves, for decades, to be frozen into rates of personal taxation which were ludicrously high… That frozen framework has been decisively cracked, not only by the prescripts of Chancellors but in the expectations of the people. It is one of the things for which the Government deserve credit… However, even beneficial revolutions have a strong tendency to breed their own excesses. There is now a real danger of the conventional wisdom about taxation, public expenditure and the duty of the state in relation to the distribution of rewards, swinging much too far in the opposite direction… I put in a strong reservation against the view, gaining ground a little dangerously I think, that the supreme duty of statesmanship is to reduce taxation. There is certainly no virtue in taxation for its own sake… We have been building up, not dissipating, overseas assets. The question is whether, while so doing, we have been neglecting our investment at home and particularly that in the public services. There is no doubt, in my mind at any rate, about the ability of a low taxation market-oriented economy to produce consumer goods, even if an awful lot of them are imported, far better than any planned economy that ever was or probably ever can be invented. However, I am not convinced that such a society and economy, particularly if it is not infused with the civic optimism which was in many ways the true epitome of Victorian values, is equally good at protecting the environment or safeguarding health, schools, universities or Britain's scientific future. And if we are asked which is under greater threat in Britain today—the supply of consumer goods or the nexus of civilised public services—it would be difficult not to answer that it was the latter.”

Roy Jenkins (1920–2003) British politician, historian and writer

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1988/feb/24/opportunity-and-income-social-disparities in the House of Lords (24 February 1988).

Ann Coulter photo

“Point one and point two by the end of the week had become official government policy. As for converting them to Christianity, I think it might be a good idea to get them on some sort of hobby other than slaughtering infidels. I mean perhaps that's the Peace Corps, perhaps it's working for Planned Parenthood, but I've never seen the transforming effect of anything like that of Christianity.”

Ann Coulter (1961) author, political commentator

Interview with Katie Couric, on Today, quoted in "Coulter Declares 'Slander' In Couric 'Today' Show Match" in The Drudge Report (26 June 2002) http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2002/06/27/20020627_075636_flash.htm.
2002

Van Morrison photo
Jerome Isaac Friedman photo
Patrick Nielsen Hayden photo
Patrick Henry photo

“Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty?”

Patrick Henry (1736–1799) attorney, planter, politician and Founding Father of the United States

Speech on the Federal Constitution, Virginia Ratifying Convention (5 June 1788).
1780s

Thorstein Veblen photo
Tibor R. Machan photo

“If one behaved as a good citizen or a charitable person simply because one was dreadfully scared of the state placing one in jail, one would not be a good citizen or person but barely more than a circus animal.”

Tibor R. Machan (1939–2016) Hungarian-American philosopher

Source: Classical Individualism: The Supreme Importance of Each Human Being (1998), p. 11

“There's good news and bad news about 2 Fast 2 Furious, the moronic follow-up to The Fast and the Furious and a contender for the worst movie of 2003. The good news is that it's better, albeit marginally, than Freddy Got Fingered.”

James Berardinelli (1967) American film critic

The bad news is that it's 15 minutes longer.
Review http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=1105 of 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003).
Half-star reviews

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom photo

“Good thinking,” the tall man agreed. “In this case it’s not true, but it is good thinking.”

Michael Kurland (1938) American writer

Source: Tomorrow Knight (1976), Chapter 6 (p. 57)

Karl Pilkington photo

“Why didn't evolution make a giraffe good at carpentry so it could build a ladder?”

Karl Pilkington (1972) English television personality, social commentator, actor, author and former radio producer

Xfm 11 June 2005
On Biology

Charles Maturin photo

“They waste life in what are called good resolutions—partial efforts at reformation, feebly commenced, heartlessly conducted, and hopelessly concluded.”

Charles Maturin (1782–1824) Irish writer

Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 384.

Tom Clancy photo
Roberto Clemente photo
Giorgio de Chirico photo
Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

“The John Birch Society is a good, patriotic society. I don't agree with what its founder said about me, but that does not detract from the fact that its membership is comprised of many fine Americans dedicated to the preservation of our libertarian Republic.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)

Reported in an editorial in the Alton Evening Telegraph (July 14,1964), A-4; appeared in a display ad in the Los Angeles Times (September 27, 1964), D14. Reported as misattributed in Paul F. Boller, Jr., and John George, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, & Misleading Attributions (1989), p. 24, stating that an aide of Eisenhower's had denied that Eisenhower had made the remark.
Misattributed

Samantha Bee photo
Paul Simonon photo
Titian photo
Richard III of England photo

“Right trusty and well beloved, we greet you well, and where, by your letters of supplication to us delivered by your servant John Brackenbury, we understand that, by reason of your great charges that ye have had and sustained, as well in the defence of this realm against the Scots as otherwise, your worshipful city remaineth greatly in poverty, for the which ye desire us to be good mean unto the King’s Grace for an ease of such charges as ye yearly bear and pay unto His Highness, we let you wit that for such great matters and businesses as we now have to do for the weal and usefulness of the realm, we as yet ne can have convenient leisure to accomplish this your business, but be assured that for your kind and loving dispositions to us at all times showed, which we ne can forget, we in goodly haste shall so endeavour us for your ease in this behalf as that ye shall verily understand we be your especial good and loving lord, as your said servant shall show you, to whom it will like you herein to give further credence; and for the diligent service which he hath done to our singular pleasure unto us at this time, we pray you to give unto him laud and thanks, and God keep you.”

Richard III of England (1452–1485) English monarch

Letter to the city fathers of York in April or early May 1483 as Lord Protector for his nephew, Edward V, reprinted in Richard the Third (1956) http://books.google.com/books?id=dNm0JgAACAAJ&dq=Paul+Murray+Kendall+Richard+the+Third&ei=TZHDR8zXKZKIiQHf2NCpCA

Allen C. Guelzo photo
Zoroaster photo
Benazir Bhutto photo
Chester A. Arthur photo
George W. Bush photo
Roger Shepard photo
Gore Vidal photo

“American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.”

Two Sisters: A Memoir in the Form of a Novel http://books.google.com/books?id=xnJbAAAAMAAJ&q="American+writers+want+to+be+not+good+but+great+and+so+are+neither" (1970)
1970s

Paul Theroux photo
Garrison Keillor photo
Edsger W. Dijkstra photo

“Thank goodness we don't have only serious problems, but ridiculous ones as well.”

Edsger W. Dijkstra (1930–2002) Dutch computer scientist

Dijkstra (1982) "A Letter to My Old Friend Jonathan" (EWD475) p. 101 in [Dijkstra, Edsger, Selected Writings on Computing, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1982, 9780387906522]
1980s

Alan Keyes photo

“The question isn't whether you have a good master or a bad master. It's to be your own master. That is the dignity of humanity.”

Alan Keyes (1950) American politician

Renew America rally in Alabama, April 29, 2000. http://renewamerica.us/archives/speeches/00_04_29alrenew.htm.
2000

Douglas Coupland photo
Subramanian Swamy photo

“I feel that only those who have been oppressed by the society and have been forced to live a backward life should given reservations. If Muslims want to study, then should be given scholarships, good schools, But Muslims and Christians can't have reservation as they have ruled our country.”

Subramanian Swamy (1939) Indian politician

On giving reservations to Muslims and Christians, as quoted in "Muslims and Christians shouldn't ask for reservation, says Subramanian Swamy" http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-muslims-and-christians-shouldn-t-ask-for-reservation-says-subramanian-swamy-1995886, DNA India (16 June 2014)
2011-2014

Ibn Khaldun photo
Marc Chagall photo
Elizabeth I of England photo

“Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects.”

Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603) Queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until 1603

Speech to the Troops at Tilbury (1588)

Harry Truman photo
Jesper Kyd photo
Orson Scott Card photo
Philo photo
Michael Friendly photo

“Many schools are now introducing computers into the educational curriculum. Within 10 years it is predicted that computers will play a significant role in every classroom in North America. The question is, how will they be used? Many educators have been focusing on the use of computers for drill and programmed instruction—to provide individualized practice and instruction in the usual curriculum areas. There is another use for computers in education which some educators, myself included, find more exciting. These involve using the computer:
• to provide an environment in which learning can be intrinsically motivating and fun.
• to allow children to discover, explore and create knowledge.
• to help develop skills of thinking and problem solving.
• to make some of the most powerful ideas of the burgeoning computer culture accessible and tangible to children at an early age.
If you have ever watched a child playing good video games or if you play them yourself, then you know the powerful motivation that graphics displays can create. As I’ve watched children play these games, every bit of their attention focused on the screen, I’ve often thought how wonderful it would be to harness this motivation and channel it toward intellectual growth and learning…”

Michael Friendly (1945) American psychologist

Michael Friendly. Advanced Logo: A Language for Learning. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 1988. Preface

Nyanaponika Thera photo
Herbert Marcuse photo
Daniel Handler photo
Alain de Botton photo
Miguel de Cervantes photo

“An honest man's word is as good as his bond.”

Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright

Source: Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part II (1615), Book IV, Ch. 34.

David Hume photo
Max Tegmark photo

“So with each advance in understanding come new questions. So we need to be very humble. We shouldn't have hubris and think that we can understand everything. But history tells us that there is good reason to believe that we will continue making fantastic progress in the years ahead.”

Max Tegmark (1967) Swedish-American cosmologist

Interview http://www.templeton.org/features/grant/fqx/hp-sub01.html with the Co-Founders of the Foundational Questions Institute, Dr.Max Tegmark and Dr. Anthony Aguirre.

George Herbert photo

“155. Good words are worth much, and cost little.”

George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest

Jacula Prudentum (1651)

Ambrose Bierce photo
Wallace Stevens photo
Joseph Addison photo
Nouriel Roubini photo
John Dryden photo
Mark Hurd photo

“AI and its offshoot, machine learning, will be a foundational tool for creating social good as well as business success.”

Mark Hurd (1957–2019) American businessman, philanthropist and CEO of Oracle

LinkedIn article https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/prof-hawking-all-due-respect-ai-benefit-us-mark-v-hurd (27 December 2017)

Noam Chomsky photo
Ed Gillespie photo
Frederick Buechner photo

“[W]e are none of us very good at silence. It says too much.”

Frederick Buechner (1926) Poet, novelist, short story writer, theologian

Telling the Truth (1977)

Gloria Estefan photo
Robert Baden-Powell photo
Paul Karl Feyerabend photo

“A Universal Good should reflect the reality of the individual benefits that are collected under its name, not the other way around.”

Paul Karl Feyerabend (1924–1994) Austrian-born philosopher of science

pg 218.
Conquest of Abundance (2001 [posthumous])

Ron Paul photo
Muhammad photo
Gordon B. Hinckley photo

“Do you know what a good life is? A good life is a life in which you never have to think about yourself again. You know why? Because you can't think about yourself without producing fear.”

Guy Finley (1949) American self-help writer, philosopher, and spiritual teacher, and former professional songwriter and musician

Secrets of Being Unstoppable

Donald J. Trump photo
Howard Dean photo

“This is a struggle of good and evil. And we're the good.”

Howard Dean (1948) American political activist

His opinion of the difference between Republicans and Democrats. Remarks at a Democratic fundraiser at the home of John and Nancy Hiebert, February 25, 2005, in Lawrence, Kansas. Quoted in "Dean Roars Into Town" http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/feb/26/dean_roars_into/ by Joel Mathis, Lawrence Journal-World, February 26, 2005. Retrieved May 9, 2016.

Martin Farquhar Tupper photo

“A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever.”

Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–1889) English writer and poet

Of Reading.
Proverbial Philosophy (1838-1849)

Roger Ebert photo
Benjamin N. Cardozo photo
C. B. Colby photo

“A good yarn, an offbeat tale, a bloodcurdling ghost story -- they need no explanation or excuse for the telling!”

C. B. Colby (1904–1977) American writer

Source: World's Best "True" Ghost Stories, (1988), p. 5

Rufus Wainwright photo

“There's a huge difference between a good idea and a God-inspired idea.”

Craig Groeschel (1967) American priest

It – How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It (2008, Zondervan)

Mohammed VI of Morocco photo

“We are delighted, at this moment in which we celebrate these two great memorial days, to announce to you, dear people, the good news of the discovery of Oil and Natural Gas, in good quality and abundant quantities, in the region of Talsint, in the provinces of the Oriental, which are so dear to us”

Mohammed VI of Morocco (1963) King of Morocco

Original French: Nous nous réjouissons, au moment où nous célébrons ces deux glorieux anniversaires, de t’annoncer, cher peuple, la bonne nouvelle de la découverte du pétrole et du gaz, de bonne qualité et en quantités abondantes, dans la région de Talsint dans les provinces de l’Oriental qui nous sont si chères.
Televised speech 20 August 2000 http://www.maroc.ma/fr/discours-royaux/discours-de-sm-le-roi-mohammed-vi-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99occasion-du-47%C3%A8me-anniversaire-de-la