Quotes about public (3900 quotes, page 5)

“He has made contributions to many areas of science; among them are agronomy, anthropology, astronomy, bacteriology, botany, economics, forestry, meteorology, psychology, public health, and-above all-genetics, in which he is recognized as one of the leaders. Out of this varied scientific research and his skill in mathematics, he has evolved systematic principles for the interpretation of empirical data; and he has founded a science of experimental design. On the foundations he has laid down, there has been erected a structure of statistical techniques that are used whenever people attempt to learn about nature from experiment and observation.”

Ronald Fisher (1890–1962) English statistician, evolutionary biologist, geneticist, and eugenicist

W. Allen Wallis (1952) at the University of Chicago while honoring Fisher with the Honorary degree of Doctor of Science; cited in: George E. P. Box (1976) " Science and Statistics http://www-sop.inria.fr/members/Ian.Jermyn/philosophy/writings/Boxonmaths.pdf" Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 71, No. 356. (Dec., 1976), pp. 791-799.

People , Learning , Health , Nature

“To bringing about the scientific renaissance (In India) Sir Jagadish had influentially contributed. Indians are justly proud of the possession of a few men who have gained world-wide reputation in their particular fields of activity, and this pride reacts strongly on public opinion. At the Research Institute a group Indian post-graduate students devote their lives to research. The published Transactions of the Institute show that under the leadership of this eminent Bengali, Indian research is making substantial contribution to scientific knowledge, that in this field there is no fundamental difference between the Western and the Eastern mind, as was assumed when Sir Jagadish began his work.”

Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858–1937) Bengali polymath, physicist, biologist, botanist and archaeologist

By Times after the inauguration of the his research institute on 23rd November 1917.
Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose in Vijayaprasara

World , Making love , Knowledge , Men

“William inherited very large possessions, part of which consisted of crown debts, due to the vice-admiral for sums he had advanced for the sea-service. No moneys were at that time less secure than those owing from the king. Penn was obliged to go, more than once, and "thee" and "thou" Charles and his ministers, to recover the debt; and at last, instead of specie, the government invested him with the right and sovereignty of a province of America, to the south of Maryland. Thus was a Quaker raised to sovereign power.
He set sail for his new dominions with two ships filled with Quakers, who followed his fortune. The country was then named by them Pennsylvania, from William Penn; and he founded Philadelphia, which is now a very flourishing city. His first care was to make an alliance with his American neighbors; and this is the only treaty between those people and the Christians that was not ratified by an oath, and that was never infringed. The new sovereign also enacted several wise and wholesome laws for his colony, which have remained invariably the same to this day. The chief is, to ill-treat no person on account of religion, and to consider as brethren all those who believe in one God. He had no sooner settled his government than several American merchants came and peopled this colony. The natives of the country, instead of flying into the woods, cultivated by degrees a friendship with the peaceable Quakers. They loved these new strangers as much as they disliked the other Christians, who had conquered and ravaged America. In a little time these savages, as they are called, delighted with their new neighbors, flocked in crowds to Penn, to offer themselves as his vassals. It was an uncommon thing to behold a sovereign "thee'd" and "thou'd" by his subjects, and addressed by them with their hats on; and no less singular for a government to be without one priest in it; a people without arms, either for offence or preservation; a body of citizens without any distinctions but those of public employments; and for neighbors to live together free from envy or jealousy. In a word, William Penn might, with reason, boast of having brought down upon earth the Golden Age, which in all probability, never had any real existence but in his dominions.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Variants:
No oaths, no seals, no official mummeries were used; the treaty was ratified on both sides with a yea, yea — the only one, says Voltaire, that the world has known, never sworn to and never broken.
As quoted in William Penn : An Historical Biography (1851) by William Hepworth Dixon
William Penn began by making a league with the Americans, his neighbors. It is the only one between those natives and the Christians which was never sworn to, and the only one that was never broken.
As quoted in American Pioneers (1905), by William Augustus Mowry and Blanche Swett Mowry, p. 80
It was the only treaty made by the settlers with the Indians that was never sworn to, and the only one that was never broken.
As quoted in A History of the American Peace Movement (2008) by Charles F. Howlett, and ‎Robbie Lieberman, p. 33
The History of the Quakers (1762)

Money , God , Sea , Religion

“My expectation is that our families package, which we will be introducing as a matter of priority will have the effect of lifting tens of thousands of children out of poverty. From there, though, I want to establish clear targets. We’ve always said that we want them put in legislation, and every year we will then report, as part of the Public Finance Act, on how much progress we’ve made. So, I can say now that, yes, I wanted to match their 100,000, but I want incremental goals to hold us to account. In my mind, some of the targets that we’ve set ourselves, some of the goals that we measure ourselves on as a society, don’t take into account the effects on individuals, on their wellbeing. This will be a government that takes into account those markers, and the wellbeing of people will be my sign of success.”

Jacinda Ardern (1980) Prime Minister of New Zealand

Interview with Lisa Owen at Newshub Nation, 21 October 2017

Family , Success , Children , People

“As to riots and tumults, let those answer for them, who, by willful misrepresentations, endeavor to excite and promote them; or who seek to stun the sense of the nation, and to lose the great cause of public good in the outrages of a misinformed mob. We take our ground on principles that require no such riotous aid. We have nothing to apprehend from the poor; for we are pleading their cause. And we fear not proud oppression, for we have truth on our side.”

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

Source: Address And Declaration At a Select Meeting Of The Friends Of Universal Peace And Liberty https://thomaspaine.org/essays/french-revolution/address-and-declaration.html (August 20, 1791)

Sense , Truth , Fear

“What threatens democracy is hunger, it is misery, it is the disease of those who have no resources to face it. These are the evils that can threaten democracy, but never the people in the public square in the use of their legitimate and democratic rights.”

João Goulart (1918–1976) 24th President of Brazil

Source: João Goulart: Uma Biografia. Jorge Ferreira. 2011. Page 411. ISBN 978-85-200-1056-3

Democracy , Hunger , People , Evil

“With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public.”

Henry A. Wallace (1888–1965) Vice President of the United States

Quoted by Thom Hartmann in Fascists Compete To Own America, Common Dreams, https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/04/30/fascists-compete-own-america (30 April 2018)

Truth , Problem

“Intense, long, certain, speedy, fruitful, pure—
Such marks in pleasures and in pains endure.
Such pleasures seek if private be thy end:
If it be public, wide let them extend.
Such pains avoid, whichever be thy view:
If pains must come, let them extend to few.”

Jeremy Bentham book An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation

Source: An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789; 1823), Ch. 4: Value of a Lot of Pleasure or Pain, How to be Measured

Pain , Pleasure

“Jews have always controlled the business (...). The motion picture influence of the United States and Canada (...) is exclusively under the control, moral and financial, of the Jewish manipulators of the public mind.”

Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist

Source: The Dearborn Independent, February 1921

Business

“We women have presented larger petitions in support of our enfranchisement than were ever presented for any other reform; we have succeeded in holding greater public meetings than men have ever held for any reform, in spite of the difficulty which women have in throwing off their natural diffidence, that desire to escape publicity which we have inherited from generations of our foremothers. We have broken through that. We have faced hostile mobs at street corners, because we were told that we could not have that representation for our taxes that men have won unless we converted the whole of the country to our side. Because we have done this, we have been misrepresented, we have been ridiculed, we have had contempt poured upon us, and the ignorant mob have been incited to offer us violence, which we have faced unarmed and unprotected by the safeguards which Cabinet Ministers enjoy. We have been driven to do this; we are determined to go on with this agitation because we feel in honour bound. Just as it was the duty of your forefathers, it is our duty to make the world a better place for women than it is to-day.”

Emmeline Pankhurst book My Own Story

My Own Story (1914), Book II, Ch. 3

Country , Support , Nature , Men

“A poem is never finished; it's always an accident that puts a stop to it-that is to say, gives it to the public.”

Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French poet, essayist, and philosopher

Source: Unsourced

“Of course I thought that in order to be happy I needed to be straight. I reached a point where I thought, Fuck this, I'd much prefer to hold my boyfriend's hand in public or be able to put my own face picture on Tinder and not be so concerned about that than getting a part.”

Jonathan Bailey (1988) British actor

"Jonathan Bailey: Jonathan Bailey Is Giving Us the Vapors" in GQ https://www.gq.com/story/gq-hype-jonathan-bailey (9 March 2022)

Happiness , Parting

“Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord.”

Ray Bradbury book Fahrenheit 451

Source: Fahrenheit 451

Reading

“You're a public menace. You shouldn't be allowed out on your own.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

“What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you.”

Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker

Le Coq et l’Arlequin (1918)

“First paycheck I get, I thought, I'm going to get myself a room near the downtown L. A. Public Library.”

Charles Bukowski book Ham on Rye

Source: Ham on Rye

“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”

Adam Smith (1723–1790) Scottish moral philosopher and political economist

Source: The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book I, Chapter X, Part II, p. 152.
Context: People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty or justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary.

People

“Every man who says frankly and fully what he thinks is so far doing a public service. We should be grateful to him for attacking most unsparingly our most cherished opinions.”

John Stuart Mill book On Liberty

Source: On Liberty

Thinking

“I have a system with bathrooms. I spend a lot of time in them. They are sanctuaries, public places of peace spaced throughout the world for people like me.”

Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story

Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story

People , World , Peace , Time

“The lamb misused breeds public strife
And yet forgives the butcher's knife.”

William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist

Forgiveness

“There is no more hollow feeling than to stand with your honor shattered at your feet while soaring public reputation wraps you in rewards. That's soul-destroying. The other way around is merely very, very irritating.”

Lois McMaster Bujold A Civil Campaign

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, A Civil Campaign (1999)

Way , Feeling , Soul

“The general public has long been divided into two parts; those who think that science can do anything and those who are afraid it will.”

Thomas Pynchon Mason & Dixon

Source: Mason & Dixon

Thinking , Science , Parting

“The fact that my continuous and public rejection of Christianity does not worry me in the least should suggest to you just how inadequate I think your reasons for being a Christian are.”

Sam Harris Letter to a Christian Nation

Source: Letter to a Christian Nation

Thinking

“I am going to sing lesbian love songs and support gay rights no matter what. The rest is public relations.”

Jasmine Guy (1962) American actor, director and singer

Love , Support , Singing

“Kids are never the problem. They are born scientists. The problem is always the adults. They beat the curiosity out of the kids. They out-number kids. They vote. They wield resources. That's why my public focus is primarily adults.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958) American astrophysicist and science communicator

Comment on "I am Neil deGrasse Tyson -- AMA", November 13, 2011 http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/mateq/i_am_neil_degrasse_tyson_ama/c2zg3g6,
2010s
Variant: Kids are never the problem. They are born scientists. The problem is always the adults. They beat the curiosity out of the kids. They out-number kids. They vote. They wield resources. That's why my public focus is primarily adults.

Problem

“I am concentrating docilely on the question why U. S. restrooms always appear to us as infirmaries for public distress, the place to reagain control.”

David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) American fiction writer and essayist

Question , Appearance

“A woman who does not know herself has no choice other than to live with other people’s evaluations. But no one can adapt perfectly to public opinion. And herein lies the source of their destruction.”

Natsuo Kirino book Grotesque

Source: Grotesque

People

“Death is the number two fear that people have and public speaking is the first!”

Sidney Sheldon (1917–2007) American writer

Death , People , Fear

“It is not necessary for the public to know whether I am joking or whether I am serious, just as it is not necessary for me to know it myself.”

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) Spanish artist

Source: Quotes of Salvador Dali, 1961 - 1970, Diary of a Genius (1964), p. 12

“You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library.”

Matt Damon (1970) American actor, screenwriter, and producer

Source: Good Will Hunting

Education

“To be denied was like getting shut out of a Public Park.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Mine

“Everest has always been a magnet for kooks, publicity seekers, hopeless romantics and others with a shaky hold on reality.”

Jon Krakauer (1954) American outdoors writer and journalist

Source: Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster

Reality

“The 'private sector' of the economy is, in fact, the voluntary sector; and the 'public sector' is, in fact, the coercive sector.”

Henry Hazlitt (1894–1993) American journalist

“public self is a conditioned construct of the inner psychological self.”

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian neurologist known as the founding father of psychoanalysis

“Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can't read them either.”

Gore Vidal (1925–2012) American writer

Books , Reading

“Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then--we elected them.”

Lily Tomlin (1939) American actress, comedian, writer, and producer

Country

“The public wants work which flatters its illusions.”

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer (1821–1880)

“Sir, the fact that the book is in a public library brings no comfort. Books are the one element in which I am personally and nakedly acquisitive. If it weren't for the law I would steal them. If it weren't for my purse I would buy them.”

Harold J. Laski (1893–1950) British academic

Books , Law , Personality

“Transparency is for those who carry out public duties and exercise public power. Privacy is for everyone else.”

Glenn Greenwald (1967) American journalist, lawyer and writer

No Place to Hide (2014)
Source: No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State
Context: Democracy requires accountability and consent of the governed, which is only possible if citizens know what is being done in their name. [... ] Conversely, the presumption is that the government, with rare exceptions, will not know anything that law-abiding citizens are doing. [... ] Transparency is for those who carry out public duties and exercise public power. Privacy is for everyone else.

Penguin Books 2015 edition, page 209.

Exercises

“The moment someone keeps an eye on what we do, we involuntarily make allowances for that eye, and nothing we do is truthful. Having a public, keeping a public in mind, means living in lies…”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Truth

“A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

“Is there any point in public debate in a society where hardly anyone has been taught how to think, while millions have been taught what to think?”

Peter Hitchens (1951) author, journalist

Thinking

“TV and the Internet are good because they keep stupid people from spending too much time out in public.”

Douglas Coupland book JPod

Source: JPod (2006)

People , Stupidity , Time

“Truth brought to public light recruits the best of us to work for change. On the other hand, even the best-intentioned "noble lie" ultimately discredits the finest of causes.”

Christina Hoff Sommers (1950) American author and philosopher

Source: Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women

Truth , Lie , Light , Change

“It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.”

Adam Smith (1723–1790) Scottish moral philosopher and political economist

Source: The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book V, Chapter II, Part II, Article I, p. 911.
Context: The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. They find it difficult to get food, and the greater part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess. A tax upon house-rents, therefore, would in general fall heaviest upon the rich; and in this sort of inequality there would not, perhaps, be anything very unreasonable. It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.

“Any actress who appears in public without being well-groomed is digging her own grave.”

Joan Crawford (1904–1977) American actress

Powerful , Appearance

“My parents meant well, but the road to Hell is paved with publicity stunts.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Damned

Source: Damned

Hell , Parent

“One reads for pleasure… it is not a public duty.”

Alan Bennett book The Uncommon Reader

Source: The Uncommon Reader

Pleasure , Reading

“In my world there would be as many public libraries as there are Starbucks.”

Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter

World

“Public libraries have been a mainstay of my life. They represent an individual's right to acquire knowledge; they are the sinews that bind civilized societies the world over. Without libraries, I would be a pauper, intellectually and spiritually.”

James A. Michener (1907–1997) American author

Life , World , Knowledge

“As it is she will probably turn out to be one of these acid-faced virgins that sit behind little desks in public libraries and stamp dates in books.”

Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) Novelist, screenwriter

Books

“I will use big words from time to time, the meanings of which I may only vaguely perceive, in hopes such cupidity will send you scampering to your dictionary: I will call such behavior 'public service'.”

Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) American writer

Hope , Behavior , Time

“Taking into account the public's regrettable lack of taste, it is incumbent upon you not to fit in.”

Janeane Garofalo (1964) comedian, actress, political activist, writer

Feel This Book, co-authored with Ben Stiller
from "Feel this Book"
Source: Feel This Book: An Essential Guide to Self-Empowerment, Spiritual Supremacy, and Sexual Satisfaction
Context: Many people feel that mass acceptance and smooth socialization are desirable life paths for a young adult... Many people are often wrong... Don't bother being nice. Being popular and well liked is not in your best interest. Let me be more clear; if you behave in a manner pleasing to most, then you are probably doing something wrong. The masses have never been arbiters of the sublime, and they often fail to recognize the truly great individual. Taking into account the public's regrettable lack of taste, it is incumbent upon you not to fit in.

“I restore myself when I'm alone. A career is born in public — talent in privacy.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

As quoted in Ms. magazine (August 1972) p. 40
Variant: I restore myself when I'm alone. A career is born in public — talent in privacy.

“My past was a private obstacle, not a public excuse.”

Kelley Armstrong book Stolen

Source: Stolen

Past

“One of the most subversive institutions in the United States is the public library..”

Bell Hooks (1952) American author, feminist, and social activist

Source: Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem

“Your woman wears underwear out in public,”
Sabin said. “Must be nice. How’d you manage that
little miracle?”
“Only the Deity knows.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: The Darkest Surrender

“It's not wrong to hustle hustlers. It's like killing murderers, a public service. -Damon Salvatore”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: Moonsong

“Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. what a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

Fate , Thinking

“She taught me I should never do anything in private I did not want talked about in public, and cautioned me not to talk in my sleep.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

Sleep

“Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo
Ipse domi stimul ac nummos contemplar in arca.
(The public hiss at me, but I cheer myself when in my own house I contemplate the coins in my strong-box.)”

Arthur Conan Doyle book A Study in Scarlet

Source: A Study in Scarlet

Strong , Housing , Box

“If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

People , Law , Nature

“There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.”

John Adams (1735–1826) 2nd President of the United States

Notes for an oration at Braintree (Spring 1772)
1770s

Men

“I attempted briefly to consecrate myself in the public library, believing every crack in my soul could be chinked with a book.”

Barbara Kingsolver The Poisonwood Bible

Source: The Poisonwood Bible

Books , Soul

“Here is the treasure chest of the world - the public library, or a bookstore.”

Ben Carson (1951) 17th and current United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; American neurosurgeon

Source: Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence

World

“Declining from the public ways, walk in unfrequented paths.”

Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher

Symbol 5
The Symbols

Way

“I will continue to freak out my children by knitting in public. It's good for them.”

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (1968) Canadian writer

Source: At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much

Children

“It took him forever to get to downtown Vancouver although Tony had to admit that saving the world by public transportation was a particularly Canadian way to do things.”

Tanya Huff (1957) Canadian fantasy author

Source: Smoke and Shadows

World , Way

“Belief in one’s identity as a poet or writer prior to the acid test of publication is as naive and harmless as the youthful belief in one’s immortality…and the inevitable disillusionment is just as painful.”

Dan Simmons book Hyperion

Source: Hyperion (1989), Chapter 3 (p. 186)

Pain , Youth

“An essentially private man who wished his total indifference to public notice to be universally recognized.”

Tom Stoppard Travesties

Carr, Act I
Source: Travesties (1974)

Universe , Indifference

“Let us save what remains: not by vaults and locks which fence them from the public eye and use in consigning them to the waste of time, but by such a multiplication of copies, as shall place them beyond the reach of accident.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Letter to a Mr. Hazard (18 February 1791) published in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (1853), Vol. 2, edited by Henry Augustine Washington, p. 211
1790s
Context: I learn with great satisfaction that you are about committing to the press the valuable historical and State papers you have been so long collecting. Time and accident are committing daily havoc on the originals deposited in our public offices. The late war has done the work of centuries in this business. The last cannot be recovered, but let us save what remains; not by vaults and locks which fence them from the public eye and use in consigning them to the waste of time, but by such a multiplication of copies, as shall place them beyond the reach of accident.

Time