Quotes about man
page 10

“It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future.”

Viktor E. Frankl book Man's Search for Meaning

Source: Man's Search for Meaning

Future

“Sin is a thing that writes itself across a man's face. It cannot be concealed.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“Progress is man's ability to complicate simplicity.”

Thor Heyerdahl (1914–2002) Norwegian anthropologist and adventurer

Variant: Progress is a man´s ability to comlicate simplicity.

Funny, For Men

“Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

“The biggest changes in a women's nature are brought by love; in man, by ambition”

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali polymath

Love, Women, Nature, Change

“When a man's stories are remembered, then he is immortal.”

Daniel Wallace book Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions

Variant: Remembering a man's stories makes him immortal.
Source: Big Fish

“He is the half part of a blessed man,
Left to be finished by such as she;
And she a fair divided excellence,
Whose fullness of perfection lies in him.”

William Shakespeare King John

Source: King John

Parting, Perfection

“They say that the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates a man's mind wonderfully; unfortunately, what the mind inevitably concentrates on is that, in the morning, it will be in a body that is going to be hanged.”

Terry Pratchett book Going Postal

Source: Going Postal

“I never expect a perfect work from an imperfect man.”

Alexander Hamilton (1757–1804) Founding Father of the United States

Perfection

“My ancestors were Brahmins. They spent their lives in search of god. I am spending my life in search of man.”

Muhammad Iqbál (1877–1938) Urdu poet and leader of the Pakistan Movement

Educational Thinkers http://books.google.com/books?id=O6Fp2zaQVVMC&pg=PA151&dq=Muhammad+Iqbal+Brahmin&hl=en&ei=hJQaTKPPKMewcfnqzIEK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Muhammad%20Iqbal%20Brahmin&f=false

Life, God, Search

“To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man.”

Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy

People, Thinking

“Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man.”

Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor

Literature, Passion

“The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!”

Jane Austen book Sense and Sensibility

Variant: Mama, the more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love.
Source: Sense and Sensibility

Love, World

“Communism is the final logic of the dehumanization of man.”

Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979) Catholic bishop and television presenter

Second Series, p. 122
Life Is Worth Living (1951–1957)

Communication

“I’m a complicated man, with complicated taste buds.”

Barry Lyga (1971) American writer

Source: I Hunt Killers

“Do you smoke?

Well, yes, I must admit I smoke.

I'm glad to hear of it. A man should always have an occupation of some kind.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

“Nobody loves the light like the blind man.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

Love, Light

“He who kneels before God, can stand before any man.”

Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

God

“You burn the paper, but not the words. You silence the words, but not the thoughts. You kill the thoughts only if you kill the man. And you will find that his thoughts rise again in the minds of others - twice as strong as before.”

Linda Sue Park book When My Name Was Keoko

Source: When My Name Was Keoko

Strong, Silence

“But there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark -- that sort of make everything else seem -- unimportant.”

Tennessee Williams (1911–1983) American playwright

“No! Please! I'll tell you whatever you want to know!" the man yelled.
"Really?" said Vimes. "What's the orbital velocity of the moon?"
"What?"
"Oh, you'd like something simpler?”

Terry Pratchett book Night Watch

Source: Night Watch

“Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved”

William Shakespeare book Shakespeare's Sonnets

Source: Shakespeare's Sonnets

Love, Error, Wedding

“Everything comes if a man will only wait.”

Benjamin Disraeli book Tancred

Bk. IV, Ch. 8.
Source: Books, Coningsby (1844), Tancred (1847)

Waiting

“You can’t make a weak man strong by making a strong man weak”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Strong

“If we assume man has been corrupted by an artificial civilization, what is the natural state? the state of nature from which he has been removed? imagine, wandering up and down the forest without industry, without speech, and without home.”

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) Genevan philosopher

Home, Imagination, Nature

“I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.”

Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer

As quoted in (K)new Words: Redefine Your Communication (2005) by Gloria Pierre, p. 147

Intelligence

“Anyway, you can be sure of one thing, a man's got to fake just to stay alive.”

Osamu Dazai book The Setting Sun

Source: The Setting Sun

“Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do criticize him, you'll be a mile away and have his shoes.”

Steve Martin (1945) American actor, comedian, musician, author, playwright, and producer

Shoe, Way, Funny

“That man that hath a tongue, I say is no man, if with his tongue he cannot win a woman.”

William Shakespeare The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Source: The Two Gentlemen of Verona

“It takes a great man to be a good listener.”

Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American politician, 30th president of the United States (in office from 1923 to 1929)

For Men

“God waits to win back his own flowers as gifts from man's hands.”

Rabindranath Tagore Stray Birds

Source: Stray Birds

God, Flowers, Waiting

“It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.”

Mark Twain book What Is Man?

Source: What Is Man? (1906), Ch. 6

Animals

“God changes his appearance every second. Blessed is the man who can recognize him in all his disguises.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Zorba the Greek

Source: Zorba the Greek

God, Appearance, Change

“The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”

William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

A Memorable Fancy
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793)

Water

“I'm a man of simple tastes. I'm always satisfied with the best.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Variant: I have simple tastes. I am always satisfied with the best

“Man cannot stand a meaningless life.”

C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology

Life

“Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Mark Twain's Notebook (1935)

Nature

“A true man of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help humbling others.”

Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) Confederate general in the Civil War

"Definition of a Gentleman" http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/LEE/gentdef.html, a memorandum found in his papers after his death, as quoted in Lee the American (1912) by Gamaliel Bradford, p. 233 Context: The forbearing use of power does not only form a touchstone, but the manner in which an individual enjoys certain advantages over others is a test of a true gentleman. The power which the strong have over the weak, the employer over the employed, the educated over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding, even the clever over the silly — the forbearing or inoffensive use of all this power or authority, or a total abstinence from it when the case admits it, will show the gentleman in a plain light. The gentleman does not needlessly and unnecessarily remind an offender of a wrong he may have committed against him. He cannot only forgive, he can forget; and he strives for that nobleness of self and mildness of character which imparts sufficient strength to let the past be but the past. A true man of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help humbling others.

Feeling, Help

“Who shot him? I asked.
The grey man scratched the back of his neck and said: Somebody with a gun.”

Dashiell Hammett book Red Harvest

Source: Red Harvest

“My God died young. Theolatry i found
Degrading, and its premises, unsound.
No free man needs God; but was I free?”

Vladimir Nabokov book Pale Fire

Source: Pale Fire

God

“There is the heat of Love,
the pulsing rush of Longing, the lover's whisper,
irresistible—magic to make the sanest man go mad.”

Homér Iliad

XIV. 216–217 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Alexander Pope's translation:
: In this was every art, and every charm,
To win the wisest, and the coldest warm:
Fond love, the gentle vow, the gay desire,
The kind deceit, the still reviving fire,
Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs,
Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)
Source: The Iliad

Love, Lovers, Madness

“The significant relationships of early adulthood are thus construed as the means to an end of individual achievement, and these "transitional figures" must be cast off or reconstructed following the realization of success. If in the process, however, they become, like Dido, an impediment to the fulfillment of the Dream, then the relationship must be renounced, "to allow the developmental process" to continue. This process is defined by Levinson explicitly as one of individuation: "throughout the life cycle, but especially in the key transition periods… the developmental process of individuation is going on." The process refers "to the changes in a person's relationships to himself and to the external world," the relationships that constitute his "Life Structure" (p. 195).

If in the course of "Becoming One's Own Man," this structure is discovered to be flawed and threatens the great expectations of the Dream, then in order to avert "serious Failure or Decline," the man must "break out" to salvage his Dream. This act of breaking out is consummated by a "marker event" of separation, such as "leaving his wife, quitting his job, or moving to another region" (p. 206). Thus the road to mid-life salvation runs through either achievement or separation.”

Carol Gilligan (1936) American feminist, ethicist, and psychologist

Source: In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development

Life, World, Dreams, Failure

“Real understanding does not come from what we learn in books; it comes from what we learn from love of nature, of music, of man. For only what is learned in that way is truly understood.”

Pablo Casals (1876–1973) Catalan cellist and conductor

Love, Books, Music, Way

“By my soul I swear, there is no power in the tongue of man to alter me.”

William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice

Source: The Merchant of Venice

Soul

“I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited.”

Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)

1980s, Second term of office (1985–1989), Farewell Address (1989)
Context: I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.

People, Hope

“As far as I'm concerned the last good man went when Elvis died.”

Jennifer Crusie book Bet Me

Source: Bet Me

“In dark ages people are best guided by religion, as in a pitch-black night a blind man is the best guide; he knows the roads and paths better than a man who can see. When daylight comes, however, it is foolish to use blind, old men as guides.”

Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic

Men, People, Age, Religion

“Man did not enter society to be worse off, or to have fewer rights, but rather to have those rights better secured”

Thomas Paine (1737–1809) English and American political activist

“In man's struggle against the world, bet on the world.”

Franz Kafka book The Zürau Aphorisms

52, Im Kampf zwischen Dir und der Welt, sekundiere der Welt. Aphorism 52 in Unpublished Works 1916-1918 http://www.kafka.org/index.php?unpub1916_1918 Variant translations: In the struggle between yourself and the world, back the world. In the struggle between yourself and the world, side with the world. In the fight between you and the world, back the world. The Zürau Aphorisms (1917 - 1918) Variant: In the struggle between yourself and the world, second the world.

World

“One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1947) American basketball player

For Team

“All I care to know about a man is that he is a human being… he can't be any worse.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

“If a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his reverence for all of life.”

Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French-German physician, theologian, musician and philosopher

Life, Parting

“Man has, since the Enlightenment, dealt with things he should have ignored.”

Andrei Tarkovsky (1932–1986) Soviet and Russian film-maker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director

“Oscar Wilde was suing the Marquis of Queensbury in 1895 for libel accusing Wilde of homosexuality

Counsel: Have you ever adored a young man madly?
Wilde: I have never given adoration to anyone except myself.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

“A small man can be just as exhausted as a great man.”

Arthur Miller book Death of a Salesman

Linda
Source: Death of a Salesman (1949)

“All male friendships are essentially quixotic: they last only so long as each man is willing to polish the shaving-bowl helmet, climb on his donkey, and ride off after the other in pursuit of illusive glory and questionable adventure.”

Michael Chabon book Wonder Boys

Source: Wonder Boys

Friendship, Question

“The man who cannot visualize a horse galloping on a tomato is an idiot.”

André Breton (1896–1966) French writer

Horse

“I have never met the man I could despair of after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.”

Oswald Chambers book My Utmost for His Highest

Source: My Utmost for His Highest

God, Despair

“Put a man on the brink of the abyss and - in the unlikely event that she doesn't fall into it - he will become a mystic or a madman… Which is probably the same thing!”

Apostolos Doxiadis (1953) Greek writer

Source: Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

“Man was made at the end of the week's work when God was tired.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Source: 381 https://cdm15999.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/ItalTravLit/id/22790 Ref: en.wikiquote.org - Mark Twain / Quotes / Mark Twain's Notebook (1935)

God

“The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot.”

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) Spanish artist

Quote from Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp (1987) by Pierre Cabanne
Quotes of Salvador Dali, 1981 - 1989

“This man belongs to me, I want him!”

Bram Stoker book Dracula

Source: Dracula

“Suddenly Saracen Rue looked old and tired, and Skulduggery Pleasant came into focus as what he really was – a genius, a killer, a tortured soul, and the only true dead man among them.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Last Stand of Dead Men

Soul, Dead

“The finest actor is he who play the comedy of life perfectly, as i aspire to do. To walk well, talk well, weep well, laugh well and die well, it is all pure acting, because in every man there is the dumb dreadful immortal spirit who is real- who cannot act, who-is and who steadily maintains an infinite though speechless protest against the body's lies”

Marie Corelli (1855–1924) British writer

Source: The Sorrows of Satan or The Strange Experience of One Geoffrey Tempest, Millionaire

Life

“Fang laughed as he shoved Vane away 'Man, quit hugging on me. You are a perv." Vane punched him in the arm. "You're such an a**hole,"
Trace gasped. "Daddy said a bad word!"
Fang said "You tell him pup. Keep your daddy straight.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Bad Moon Rising

“It is fatal to be a man or woman pure and simple: one must be a woman manly, or a man womanly.”

Virginia Woolf book A Room of One's Own

Variant: It is fatal to be a man or woman pure and simple; one must be woman-manly or man-womanly.... Some marriage of opposites has to be consummated.
Source: A Room of One's Own

“I believe I have no prejudices whatsoever. All I need to know is that a man is a member of the human race. That's bad enough for me.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

“It is part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risk everything.”

Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher

Parting, For Men

“A man may study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even Bible knowledge. But he prays because his soul is hungry for God.”

Leonard Ravenhill (1907–1994) British writer

God, Soul, Knowledge, Study

“The wisest man would be the one richest in contradictions, who has, as it were, antennae for all types of men---as well as his great moments of grand harmony---a rare accident even in us! A sort of planetary motion”

Friedrich Nietzsche book The Will to Power

Source: The Will to Power

Men

“I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Pleasure, Reading, Dead

“My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music. My pleasures are the most intense known to man: writing and butterfly hunting.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Strong Opinions

"Foreword", p. 3.
Source: Strong Opinions (1973)

Pleasure, Stupidity, Music

“Man is the Only Animal that Blushes. Or needs to.”

Mark Twain book Following the Equator

Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. XXVII
Following the Equator (1897)

Animals

“Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.”

John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach

They Call Me Coach (1972)
Variant: Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.

God

“Ordinary people merely think how they shall 'spend' their time; a man of talent tries to 'use' it.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

People, Thinking, Time

“I love you breathlessly, my amazing man.”

Paullina Simons book The Bronze Horseman

Source: The Bronze Horseman

Love

“Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.”

Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)

Democracy

“To explain all nature is too difficult a task for any one man or even for any one age. 'Tis much better to do a little with certainty, & leave the rest for others that come after you, than to explain all things by conjecture without making sure of any thing.”

Isaac Newton (1643–1727) British physicist and mathematician and founder of modern classical physics

Statement from unpublished notes for the Preface to Opticks (1704) quoted in Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton (1983) by Richard S. Westfall, p. 643

Age, Nature

“Stand before your god, bow before your king, kneel before your man.”

Terry Pratchett book Lords and Ladies

Source: Lords and Ladies

God