Quotes about ruin

A collection of quotes on the topic of ruin, can, people, likeness.

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— Benjamin Disraeli British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister 1804 - 1881

Bk. V, Ch. 5.
Books, Coningsby (1844), Tancred (1847)

„The movement of the middle classes for the abolition of slavery was virtuous, but it was not wise. It was an ignorant movement. It showed a want of knowledge both of the laws of commerce and the stipulations of treaties; and it has alike ruined the colonies and aggravated the slave trade…The history of the abolition of slavery by the English and its consequences, would be a narrative of ignorance, injustice, blundering, waste, and havoc, not easily paralleled in the history of mankind.“

— Benjamin Disraeli British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister 1804 - 1881

Lord George Bentinck: A Political Biography (1852), pp. 324-325.
1850s

Law, History, Knowledge

„The danger at such a moment is that designing politicians may take advantage of such sublime sentiments and may apply them for the furtherance of their sinister ends. I do not think there is any language which can denounce too strongly conduct of this description. He who at such a moment would avail himself of such a commanding sentiment in order to obtain his own individual ends, suggesting a course which he may know to be injurious to the interests of the country, and not favourable to the welfare of mankind, is a man whose conduct no language can too strongly condemn. He outrages the principle of patriotism, which is the soul of free communities. He does more—he influences in the most injurious manner the common welfare of humanity. Such conduct, if it be pursued by any man at this moment, ought to be indignantly reprobated by the people of England; for, in the general havoc and ruin which it may bring about, it may, I think, be fairly described as worse than any of those Bulgarian atrocities which now occupy attention.“

— Benjamin Disraeli British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister 1804 - 1881

Source: Speech to the annual meeting of the Royal and Central Bucks Agricultural Association in Aylesbury (20 September 1876), quoted in 'Lord Beaconsfield At Aylesbury', The Times (21 September 1876), p. 6.

People, Soul, Communication, Thinking

„...Unfortunately, an army of transgenders has infiltrated the industry and ruined it. You can also see some of these as heroes....“

— Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar Pakistani writer 1961

Original: Original Urdu :"..."Humaray yahan, badqismati se, hijron ki aik fouj agyi hai. Usne meri industry ka bera garak kardia. Unmai se app kuch hijro ko hero ke roop mai bhi dekh sakte hain..." ~ Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar
Source: Ref https://tribune.com.pk/story/2174588/khalilur-rehman-qamar-call-adnan-malik-hijra March 12, 2020

„Never ruin an apology
with an excuse.“

— Stephie Pahlavi Zan

„If you want to feel the happiness of loving, forget about your soul.
The soul ruins love.
Only in God can the soul meet satisfaction.
Not in another soul.
Only in God — or out of the world.
Souls cannot communicate.
Let your body talk to another body.
Because bodies understand each other, but souls don’t.“

— Manuel Bandeira Brazilian writer 1886 - 1968

Se queres sentir a felicidade de amar, esquece a tua alma.
A alma é que estraga o amor.
Só em Deus ela pode encontrar satisfação.
Não noutra alma.
Só em Deus - ou fora do mundo.
As almas são incomunicáveis.
Deixa o teu corpo entender — se com outro corpo.
Porque os corpos se entendem, mas as almas não.
Arte de amar (The Art of Loving)

Love, God, World, Feeling

„It is the way of the superior man to prefer the concealment of his virtue, while it daily becomes more illustrious, and it is the way of the mean man to seek notoriety, while he daily goes more and more to ruin.“

— Confucius Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher -551 - -479 BC

The Analects, The Doctrine of the Mean
Context: It is the way of the superior man to prefer the concealment of his virtue, while it daily becomes more illustrious, and it is the way of the mean man to seek notoriety, while he daily goes more and more to ruin. It is characteristic of the superior man, appearing insipid, yet never to produce satiety; while showing a simple negligence, yet to have his accomplishments recognized; while seemingly plain, yet to be discriminating. He knows how what is distant lies in what is near. He knows where the wind proceeds from. He knows how what is minute becomes manifested. Such a one, we may be sure, will enter into virtue.

Way

„The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents.“

— John Milton English epic poet 1608 - 1674

Tractate of Education (1644)

Parent, Learning

„And now, ladies and gentlemen, that we've enjoyed some good times this evening, and enjoyed some laughter together, I feel it is my obligation to remind you of some of the negative, depressing, dangerous, life-threatening things that life is really all about; things you have not been thinking about tonight, but which will be waiting for you as soon as you leave the theater or as soon as you turn off your television sets. Anal rape, quicksand, body lice, evil spirits, gridlock, acid rain, continental drift, labor violence, flash floods, rabies, torture, bad luck, calcium deficiency, falling rocks, cattle stampedes, bank failure, evil neighbors, killer bees, organ rejection, lynching, toxic waste, unstable dynamite, religious fanatics, prickly heat, price fixing, moral decay, hotel fires, loss of face, stink bombs, bubonic plague, neo-Nazis, friction, cereal weevils, failure of will, chain reaction, soil erosion, mail fraud, dry rot, voodoo curse, broken glass, snake bite, parasites, white slavery, public ridicule, faithless friends, random violence, breach of contract, family scandals, charlatans, transverse myelitis, structural defects, race riots, sunspots, rogue elephants, wax buildup, killer frost, jealous coworkers, root canals, metal fatigue, corporal punishment, sneak attacks, peer pressure, vigilantes, birth defects, false advertising, ungrateful children, financial ruin, mildew, loss of privileges, bad drugs, ill-fitting shoes, widespread chaos, Lou Gehrig's disease, stray bullets, runaway trains, chemical spills, locusts, airline food, shipwrecks, prowlers, bathtub accidents, faulty merchandise, terrorism, discrimination, wrongful cremation, carbon deposits, beef tapeworm, taxation without representation, escaped maniacs, sunburn, abandonment, threatening letters, entropy, nine-mile fever, poor workmanship, absentee landlords, solitary confinement, depletion of the ozone layer, unworthiness, intestinal bleeding, defrocked priests, loss of equilibrium, disgruntled employees, global warming, card sharks, poisoned meat, nuclear accidents, broken promises, contamination of the water supply, obscene phone calls, nuclear winter, wayward girls, mutual assured destruction, rampaging moose, the greenhouse effect, cluster headaches, social isolation, Dutch elm disease, the contraction of the universe, paper cuts, eternal damnation, the wrath of God, and PARANOIAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!“

— George Carlin American stand-up comedian 1937 - 2008

Playing With Your Head (1986)

Life, God, Bad luck, Children

„Pathans! Your house has fallen into ruin. Arise and rebuild it and remember to what race you belong.“

— Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Indian independence activist 1890 - 1988

Quoted in Eknath Easwaran, A Man to Match his Mountains: Bacha Khan, Nonviolent Soldier of Islam (Nilgiri Press, Petaluma, 1984), p. 25.

Housing

„Popery so threatens and so nearly surrounds us…every sober man would think it seasonable at this time that all dissenting Protestants should be brought to a good understanding and compliance one with another…I think all Protestants ought now by all ways to be stirred up against them [Catholics] as People that have declared themselves ready by blood, violence, and destruction to ruine our Religion and Government…[they] are nothing but either Enemys in our bowells or spies among us, whilst their General commanders whom they blindly obey declare warr, and an unalterable designe to destroy us.“

— John Locke English philosopher and physician 1632 - 1704

'Critical Notes Upon Edward Stillingfleet's Mischief and Unreasonableness of Separation' (c. May 1681), quoted in John Marshall, John Locke: Resistance, Religion and Responsibility (Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 110

People, Religion, Way, Understanding

„Gentleman, I have had men watching you for a long time, and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the bread-stuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to route you out!“

— Andrew Jackson American general and politician, 7th president of the United States 1767 - 1845

Source: 1832. See The Minds of Men: An American Intelligence Brief https://books.google.com.br/books?id=u2I6AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 by Eric Sanders. AuthorHouse, 2014. pp. 27-28

Family, Time, Country, Men

„Gentlemen! I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out, and by the Eternal, (bringing his fist down on the table) I will rout you out!“

— Andrew Jackson American general and politician, 7th president of the United States 1767 - 1845

Reputedly from the original minutes of the Philadelphia committee of citizens sent to meet with President Jackson (February 1834), according to Andrew Jackson and the Bank of the United States (1928) by Stan V. Henkels as published by his son Stan V. Henkels Jr. - online PDF http://kenhirsch.net/money/AndrewJacksonAndTheBankHenkels.pdf. John Carney at Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/sorry-andrew-jackson-probably-never-said-that-den-of-theives-quote-2010-1 has disputed its authenticity alleging Henkels made unreliable claims about historical documents.
A different version of this quote is provided by Henkels in a 1912 copy of Publisher's Weekly https://books.google.com/books?id=IyYzAQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false (p. 2039).
Disputed

Family, Time, Men, Country

„Ruin seize thee, ruthless King!
Confusion on thy banners wait,
Though fanned by Conquest's crimson wing
They mock the air with idle state.“

— Thomas Gray, The Bard

I. 1. lines 1-4
The Bard (1757)

Waiting

„Most Holy Father, there are many who, on bringing their feeble judgment to bear on what is written concerning the great achievements of the Romans — the feats of arms, the city of Rome and the wondrous skill shown in the opulence, ornamentation and grandeur of their buildings — have come to the conclusion that these achievements are more likely to be fables than facts. I, however, have always seen — and still do see —things differently. For, bearing in mind the divine quality of the ancients' minds as revealed in the remains still to be seen among the ruins of Rome, I do not find it unreasonable to believe that much of what we consider impossible seemed, to them, exceedingly simple.“

— Raphael Italian painter and architect 1483 - 1520

Quote from a letter of Raphael Sanzio to pope Leo X (c. 1519); Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich, cod. it. 37b; translated as 'The Letter to Leo X by Raphael and Baldassare Castiglione, c.1519', by Vaughan Hart and Peter Hicks, Palladio's Rome: A Translation of Andrea Palladio's Two Guidebooks to Rome; Yale University Press, New Haven, 2006, pp. 179-92

„I shall have poetry in my life. And adventure. And love, love, love, above all. Love as there has never been in a play. Unbiddable, ungovernable, like a riot in the heart and nothing to be done, come ruin or rapture.“

— Tom Stoppard British playwright 1937

Love, Life, Heart

„; The glory of saving a country is not for him who has contributed to its ruin.“

— José Rizal, book El Filibusterismo

El Filibusterismo

Country

„Smooth and smiling faces everywhere, but ruin in their eyes.“

— Jean Paul Sartre French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary cri… 1905 - 1980

Smile

„You ruined everything good
Always said you were misunderstood
Made all my moments your own
Just fucking leave me alone.“

— Billie Eilish American singer-songwriter 2001

Source: Happier Than Ever (2021)

„You can't change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future.“

— Karen Blixen Danish writer 1885 - 1962

Past, Future, Change

„All I can say is that effective communication is the cure for any relationship. At the same time, overdoing it will ruin everything.“

— Mwanandeke Kindembo 1996

Time, Communication

„and where men build on false grounds, the more they build, the greater is the ruine:“

— Thomas Hobbes, book Leviathan

The Second Part, Chapter 26, p. 140
Leviathan (1651)

Men, Falseness

„The Earth is littered with the ruins of empires that believed they were eternal.“

— Camille Paglia American writer 1947

„With too much respect you will end up as a weakling. Keep everything balanced. Don't exaggerate anything, nor please others for your own ruin.“

— Mwanandeke Kindembo 1996

„Catch a man a fish, and you can sell it to him. Teach a man to fish, and you ruin a wonderful business opportunity“

— Karl Marx German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist 1818 - 1883

Attributed to Marx (possibly in jest) in W. C. Privy's Original Bathroom Companion (2003).
Misattributed

Business, Fish

„Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise.“

— Thomas Paine, book Common Sense

Source: Common Sense

„The ruins proclaim the building was beautiful.“

— Mohsin Hamid Pakistani novelist 1971

Beauty

„A 'civilization' that makes such a ridiculous fuss about alleged 'war crimes' -- acts of violence against the actual or potential enemies of one's cause -- and tolerates slaughterhouses and vivisection laboratories, and circuses and the fur industry (infliction of pain upon creatures that can never be for or against any cause), does not deserve to live. Out with it! Blessed the day it will destroy itself, so that a healthy, hard, frank and brave, nature-loving and truth-loving élite of supermen with a life-centered faith,-- a natural human aristocracy, as beautiful, on its own higher level, as the four-legged kings of the jungle -- might again rise, and rule upon its ruins, for ever!“

— Savitri Devi Greek–French writer 1905 - 1982

Impeachment of Man (Calcutta: Savitri Devi Mukherji, 1959, p. x, http://www.savitridevi.org/impeachment-preface.html)

Love, Life, Pain, War

„Let no one think that I am dying of grief over my own dismal and ruined state. The sorrow that I feel, I can not at all express; but I can give a hint of it. From among those of the English community who were murdered at the hands of those disgraced ["black-faced"] black ones, one was my patron, and one was my well-wisher, and one my friend, and one my supporter, and one my pupil. Among the Hindustanis, some dear ones, some friends, some pupils, some beloveds. Thus every one of them was mingled with the dust. How harsh is the mourning for one dear one! He who would be a mourner for so many dear ones— how could his life not be difficult? Alas! So my friends died that now when I die, there would not even be anyone left to mourn for me.“

— Ghalib Urdu-Persian poet 1797 - 1869

Letter to Munshi Hargopal Tafta, 17/18 July, 1858
Quotes from Letters

Life, Feeling, Communication, Support

„This is my belief: that through difficulties and problems God gives us the opportunity to grow. So when your hopes and dreams and goals are dashed, search among the wreckage, you may find a golden opportunity hidden in the ruins.“

— A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, book Wings of Fire

Source: Wings of Fire, p. 140.

God, Dreams, Hope, Search

„In friendship false, implacable in hate,
Resolved to ruin or to rule the state.“

— John Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel

Pt. I, lines 173–174.
Absalom and Achitophel (1681)

Hate, Friendship, Falseness

„I’d ruin any day, all my days, for those long nights with you, and I did.“

— Daniel Handler, book Why We Broke Up

Source: Why We Broke Up

Night

„We have Divine Wisdom in the mortal body. Whatever does harm to the body, ruins the House of the Eternal.“

— Paracelsus Swiss physician and alchemist 1493 - 1541

Paracelsus - Doctor of our Time (1992)

Wisdom, Housing

„A faith which we follow upon orders imposed from outside is no faith, and a community which puts its dependence upon such a pseudo-faith is ultimately bound to ruin itself because of the paralysis which the lack of a healthy growing science imposes upon it.“

— Norbert Wiener, book The Human Use of Human Beings

XI. Language, Confusion, and Jam. p. 193
The Human Use of Human Beings (1950)

Faith, Communication, Science, Dependency

„Let's not go and ruin it by thinking too much.“

— Clint Eastwood actor and director from the United States 1930

Thinking

„In a crunch a man's reputation never counts for as much as it ought to. Most people are good-hearted and willing to give a man the benefit of the doubt, but the poisonous few are eager to see others brought down, ruined. … Envy, Bob. Envy eats them alive. If you had money, they'd envy you that. But since you don't, they envy you for having such a good, bright, loving daughter. They envy you for just being a happy man. They envy you for not envying them. One of the greatest sorrows of human existence is that some people aren't happy merely to be alive but find their happiness only in the misery of others.“

— Dean Koontz, book Lightning

Part I, Chapter 1.2, the mysterious stranger's words to Bob Shane
Lightning (1988)

Love, Money, People, Heart

„A great piece of music is beautiful regardless of how it is performed. Any prelude or fugue of Bach can be played at any tempo, with or without rhythmic nuances, and it will still be great music. That's how music should be written, so that no-one, no matter how philistine, can ruin it.“

— Dmitri Shostakovich Russian composer and pianist 1906 - 1975

Letter to Isaac Glikman, August 28, 1955; Josiah Fisk & Jeff Nichols (eds.) Composers on Music (1997) p. 364.

Beauty, Music

„people who have no hold over their process of thinking ara likely to be ruined by liberty of thought.“

— Muhammad Iqbál Urdu poet and leader of the Pakistan Movement 1877 - 1938

People, Thinking

„I am accused of ruining the world. What is it I am going to gain by ruining the world? I do not understand what the Brahmin devotees actually feel. Will anyone carry on propaganda to ruin the world? I hope they would soon think with reason.“

— Periyar E. V. Ramasamy Tamil politician and social reformer 1879 - 1973

Brahminism

World, Hope, Feeling, Understanding

„The victimisation of individuals or corporations or groups of people is a very dangerous and difficult development. The fact that careers can be ruined and reputations can be savaged without any particular responsibility on the part of those who are doing it… we live in strange times.“

— Rowan Atkinson English actor, comedian, and screenwriter 1955

As quoted in an interview with entertainment.ie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment.ie (2018)

Time, People, Parting

„If you think being dysfuncted and damaged, strapped to your baggage, dirty, ruined and hurt like critical, cynical, scathing, if you're lost or have come up missing, scarred and scared (or pretending you aren't), when you think that's all you've got, it's not. The sadness you wear around like a trophy is intriguing at most, but it's miserable, and about as original as a frat boy with a visor cap. So step up.“

— Buddy Wakefield American poet 1974

Moving Forward
Poetry

Sadness, Boy, Thinking, Hurt

„That God existed before there were human beings on Earth, that He holds the entire world, believers and non-believers, in His omnipotent hand for eternity, and that He will remain enthroned on a level inaccessible to human comprehension long after the Earth and everything that is on it has gone to ruins; those who profess this faith and who, inspired by it, in veneration and complete confidence, feel secure from the dangers of life under protection of the Almighty, only those may number themselves among the truly religious.“

— Max Planck German theoretical physicist 1858 - 1947

As quoted in God’s Laughter (1992) by Gerhard Staguhn, p. 152

Life, God, World, Faith

„The skepticism which fails to contribute to the ruin of our health is merely an intellectual exercise.“

— Emil M. Cioran Romanian philosopher and essayist 1911 - 1995

All Gall Is Divided (1952)

Health, Exercises

„For a long while I have lived with the notion that I was the most normal being that ever existed. This notion gave me the taste, even the passion for being unproductive: what was the use of being prized in a world inhabited by madmen, a world mired in mania and stupidity? For whom was one to bother, and to what end? It remains to be seen if I have quite freed myself from this certitude, salvation in the absolute, ruin in the immediate.“

— Emil M. Cioran, book The Trouble With Being Born

The Trouble With Being Born (1973)

Stupidity, World, Passion

„I may cry, ruining my makeup
Wash away all the things you've taken
And I don't care if I don't look pretty
Big girls cry when their hearts are breaking“

— Sia (musician) Australian singer 1975

Big Girls Cry, 1000 Forms of Fear (2014). Cowritten with Christopher Braide
Songs

Girl, Heart, Cry

„I used to look at homeless peopleand try to imagine what they had once looked like. It's not easy. Beneath the grime and degradation is a face once adored by someone. It's a truth that tricks the eye; our glances slide away. But something happened to ruin that life, to strip it bare; and it was something small, something that but for the grace of God could take us, too.“

— John Hart American author with multiple books and awards 1965

Source: The King of Lies (2006), Ch. 2.

Life, God, Truth, Imagination

„The distinguished gentleman who introduced the bill from the committee very appropriately said that it requires us to enter upon unexplored territory. That territory, Mister Speaker, is the neutral ground of all political philosophy, — the neutral ground for which rival theories have been struggling in all ages. There are two ideas so utterly antagonistic that when, in any nation, either has gained absolute and complete possession of that neutral ground, the ruin of that nation has invariably followed. The one is that despotism which swallows and absorbs all power in a single central government; the other is that extreme doctrine of local sovereignty which makes nationality impossible, and resolves a general government into anarchy and chaos. It makes but little difference as to the final result which of these ideas drives the other from the field; in either case, ruin follows. The result exhibited by the one was seen in the United Netherlands, which Madison, in the Federalist, describes as characterized by "imbecility in the government; discord among the provinces; foreign influence and indignities.“

— James A. Garfield American politician, 20th President of the United States (in office in 1881) 1831 - 1881

1870s, Speech in the House of Representatives (1871)

Age, Idea

„This perpetual hurry of business and company ruins me in soul if not in body. More solitude and earlier hours!“

— William Wilberforce English politician 1759 - 1833

Soul, Business, Solitude

„When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, "Why God? Why me?" and the thundering voice of God answered, "There's just something about you that pisses me off".“

— Stephen King, Storm of the Century

Storm of the Century (1999)
Source: Storm of the Century: An Original Screenplay

Life, God, Family

„Love among the ruins… I'll tell you something, my friend: Weird love's better than no love at all.“

— Stephen King, book The Green Mile

Source: The Green Mile

Love

„Jnana marga is like Ramphal. Bhakthi marga is like Sitaphal (custart apple), easy to deal with and very sweet. The pulp of Ramphal is inside and difficult to get at. Ramphal should ripen on the tree and plucked ripe, If it falls down it is spoilt. So if a Jnani falls, he is ruined. Even for a Jnani there is the danger of a fall, i. e., by a little negligence or carelessness.“

— Sai Baba of Shirdi Hindu and muslim saint 1835 - 1918

Sources

Tree

„Idleness ere now has ruined both kings and wealthy cities.“
Otium et reges prius et beatas perdidit urbes.

— Gaio Valerio Catullo, list of poems by Catullus

LI, last lines
Carmina

„In the human heart there is a perpetual generation of passions, such that the ruin of one is almost always the foundation of another.“

— François de La Rochefoucauld, book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Il y a dans le coeur humain une génération perpétuelle de passions, en sorte que la ruine de l'une est presque toujours l'établissement d'une autre.
Maxim 10.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

Passion, Heart

„[F]rom the earliest periods of time [man] alone has divided the empire of the world between him and Nature. …[H]e rather enjoys than possesses, and it is by constant and perpetual activity and vigilance that he preserves his advantage, for if those are neglected every thing languishes, changes, and returns to the absolute dominion of Nature. She resumes her power, destroys the operations of man; envelopes with moss and dust his most pompous monuments, and in the progress of time entirely effaces them, leaving man to regret having lost by his negligence what his ancestors had acquired by their industry. Those periods in which man loses his empire, those ages in which every thing valuable perishes, commence with war and are completed by famine and depopulation. Although the strength of man depends solely upon the union of numbers, and his happiness is derived from peace, he is, nevertheless, so regardless of his own comforts as to take up arms and to fight, which are never-failing sources of ruin and misery. Incited by insatiable avarice, or blind ambition, which is still more insatiable, he becomes callous to the feelings of humanity; regardless of his own welfare, his whole thoughts turn upon the destruction of his own species, which he soon accomplishes. The days of blood and carnage over, and the intoxicating fumes of glory dispelled, he beholds, with a melancholy eye, the earth desolated, the arts buried, nations dispersed, an enfeebled people, the ruins of his own happiness, and the loss of his real power.“

— Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon French natural historian 1707 - 1788

Buffon's Natural History (1797) Vol. 10, pp. 340-341 https://books.google.com/books?id=respAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA340, an English translation of Histoire Naturelle (1749-1804).

War, People, Age, World

„I did, however, pass by one young girl, and she was like a goddess who came down from heaven. She was walking alone, in her bathing suit, with her luscious blonde hair blowing in the wind. I couldn’t help but slyly admire her beauty as we passed by each other. I was scared. I was scared that she might view me as nothing but an inferior insect who’s presence ruins her atmosphere. Her beauty was intoxicating! And then, just as we passed each other, she actually looked at me. She looked at me and smiled. Most girls never even deigned to look at me, and this one actually looked at me and smiled. I had never felt so euphoric in my life. One smile. One smile was all it took to brighten my entire day. The power that beautiful women have is unbelievable. They can temporarily turn a desperate boy’s whole world around just by smiling.“

— Elliot Rodger American spree killer 1991 - 2014

My Twisted World (2014), Thoughts at 19, Longing

Life, Women, World, Smile

„There are many teachers who could ruin you. Before you know it you could be a pale copy of this teacher or that teacher. You have to evolve on your own.“

— Berenice Abbott American photographer 1898 - 1991

Teachers

„All that is done and said and thought and suffered upon the Earth combine together, and flow onward in one broad resistless current toward those great results to which they are determined by the will of God.
We build slowly and destroy swiftly. Our Ancient Brethren who built the Temples at Jerusalem, with many myriad blows felled, hewed, and squared the cedars, and quarried the stones, and car»ed the intricate ornaments, which were to be the Temples. Stone after stone, by the combined effort and long toil of Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, and Master, the walls arose; slowly the roof was framed and fashioned; and many years elapsed, before, at length, the Houses stood finished, all fit and ready for the Worship of God, gorgeous in the sunny splendors of the atmosphere of Palestine. So they were built. A single motion of the arm of a rude, barbarous Assyrian Spearman, or drunken Roman or Gothic Legionary of Titus, moved by a senseless impulse of the brutal will, flung in the blazing brand; and, with no further human agency, a few short hours sufficed to consume and melt each Temple to a smoking mass of black unsightly ruin.
Be patient, therefore, my Brother, and wait!
The issues are with God: To do,
Of right belongs to us.
Therefore faint not, nor be weary in well-doing! Be not discouraged at men's apathy, nor disgusted with their follies, nor tired of their indifference! Care not for returns and results; but see only what there is to do, and do it, leaving the results to God! Soldier of the Cross! Sworn Knight of Justice, Truth, and Toleration! Good Knight and True! be patient and work!“

— Albert Pike, book Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry

Source: Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), Ch. XIX : Grand Pontiff, p. 321

Men, God, Truth, Justice

„If I ever happen to have an accident that eventually costs me my life, I hope it is in one go. I would not like to be in a wheelchair. I would not like to be in a hospital suffering from whatever injury it was. If I’m going to live, I want to live fully, very intensely, because I am an intense person. It would ruin my life if I had to live partially.“

— Ayrton Senna Brazilian racing driver 1960 - 1994

Interview, January 1994 http://bleacherreport.com/articles/20702-ayrton-senna-fourteen-years-later

Life, Hope, Suffering, Personality

„If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination. Once begun upon this downward path, you never know where you are to stop. Many a man has dated his ruin from some murder or other that perhaps he thought little of at the time.“

— Thomas De Quincey English author 1785 - 1859

"A Second Paper on Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts" (1839). Source: Thomas de Quincy. On Murder (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006), 84

Time, Drink, Thinking

„Dyspepsy is the ruin of most things: empires, expeditions, and everything else.“

— Thomas De Quincey English author 1785 - 1859

Letter to Hessey (1823).

„Gentlemen,
You have undertaken to cheat me. I won't sue you, for law is too slow. I'll ruin you.
Yours truly,
Cornelius Vanderbilt“

— Cornelius Vanderbilt American businessman, philanthropist, and tycoon 1794 - 1877

Said to be the entirety of a letter to Charles Morgan and C. K. Garrison, quoted in an obituary, "Commodore Vanderbilt's Life" (5 January 1877) New York Times. Stiles, in The First Tycoon (2009) doubts this. He notes that there is no earlier source, that Vanderbilt was no stranger to the courts, and that he never otherwise closed letters with "yours truly."
Disputed

Law, Cheating

„I just realized that I hadn't posted about the film "An Inconvenient Truth" for those of you who don't know, this movie talks about global warming. I went into the movie a little skeptical, wondering if I was going to be preached at by Al Gore, the narrator and spokesperson for the film. It's a documentary, too, so I wasn't expecting anything too exciting. As it turns out, this movie is a must-see. it's not about Al Gore, tree-hugging hippies, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, George Bush, or U. S. issues. This film and the movement surrounding it is about being aware of the nasty turn our world and weather seems to be taking, and what we can do to turn it around before we ruin the only pace we have to live. The information in this film is shocking. Parts of our planet that I assumed were covered in ice are now melting, and the photos of these places, seen in the movie, make me nervous. The links from this past year's natural disasters to the overall direction of global warming is an issue that is worth looking at. The ten hottest years ever measured were in the last 14 years. The hottest was last year, but it doesn't take a genius to tell that this year is hotter.“

— Mike Shinoda American musician 1977

LP/FM MB 2006

Truth, World, Photo, Nature

„Too many kings can ruin an army“

— Homér Ancient Greek epic poet, author of the Iliad and the Odyssey

„Love is enough: cherish life that abideth,
Lest ye die ere ye know him, and curse and misname him;
For who knows in what ruin of all hope he hideth,
On what wings of the terror of darkness he rideth?“

— William Morris author, designer, and craftsman 1834 - 1896

Love is Enough (1872), Song VI: Cherish Life that Abideth
Context: Love is enough: cherish life that abideth,
Lest ye die ere ye know him, and curse and misname him;
For who knows in what ruin of all hope he hideth,
On what wings of the terror of darkness he rideth?
And what is the joy of man's life that ye blame him
For his bliss grown a sword, and his rest grown a fire?

Love, Life, Hope

„Dr. Franklin says "it is the eyes of others and not our own eyes which ruin us. If all the world were blind except myself I should not care for fine clothes or furniture.“

— P.T. Barnum American showman and businessman 1810 - 1891

Source: The Art of Money Getting; Or, Golden Rules for Making Money

World, Clothes

„I come from the South and I know what war is, for I have seen its terrible wreckage and ruin. It is easy for me as President to declare war. I do not have to fight, and neither do the gentlemen on the Hill who now clamor for it. It is some poor farmer's boy, or the son of some poor widow - who will have to do the fighting and dying.“

— Woodrow Wilson American politician, 28th president of the United States (in office from 1913 to 1921) 1856 - 1924

War, Boy, Fight

„Reality continues to ruin my life.“

— Bill Watterson American comic artist 1958

Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat
Source: The Complete Calvin and Hobbes

Life, Reality

„A kiss may ruin a human life“

— Oscar Wilde Irish writer and poet 1854 - 1900

Life, Kiss

„If I've learned one lesson from all that's happened to me, it's that there is no such thing as the biggest mistake of your existence. There's no such thing as ruining your life. Life's a pretty resilient thing, it turns out.“

— Sophie Kinsella, book The Undomestic Goddess

Source: The Undomestic Goddess

Life, Learning

„… most men and women will yield to the strong currents sucking them into the seas of ruin. Only the strongest in mind and spirit will swim against that current.“

— Ted Dekker American writer 1962

Source: Red: The Heroic Rescue

Women, Men, Strong, Sea

„It took me a long time to realize that distance can ruin even the best of intentions.“

— Nicholas Sparks, book The Rescue

Source: The Rescue

Time

„If I were going to begin practicing the presence of God for the first time today, it would help to begin by admitting the three most terrible truths of our existence: that we are so ruined, and so loved, and in charge of so little.“

— Anne Lamott Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist 1954

Source: Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers

Love, God, Truth, Time

„Tell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us.
These, our bodies, possessed by light.
Tell me we'll never get used to it.“

— Richard Siken American poet 1967

Source: Crush

Love, Light

„The danger would be going back, or staying still. The only way out was through. The past was ruins, but the present was still in play.“

— Lev Grossman, The Magicians

Source: The Magicians

Way, Past

„For sometimes you can't help but crave some ruin in what you love.“

— Chang-rae Lee Novelist 1965

Source: On Such a Full Sea

Love, Help

„Maybe… you'll fall in love with me all over again."
"Hell," I said, "I love you enough now. What do you want to do? Ruin me?"
"Yes. I want to ruin you."
"Good," I said. "That's what I want too.“

— Ernest Hemingway, book A Farewell to Arms

Source: A Farewell to Arms

Love, Hell

„The gods are strange. It is not our vices only they make instruments to scourge us. They bring us to ruin through what in us is good, gentle, humane, loving.“

— Oscar Wilde, book De Profundis

Source: De Profundis

Love, God

„I collected men with interesting names. I already knew a Socrates. He was tall and ugly and intellectual and the son of some big Greek movie producer in Hollywood, but also a Catholic, which ruined it for both of us.“

— Sylvia Plath American poet, novelist and short story writer 1932 - 1963

Men

„Once through this ruined city did I pass
I espied a lonely bird on a bough and asked
‘What knowest thou of this wilderness?’
It replied: 'I can sum it up in two words:
‘Alas, Alas!“

— Khushwant Singh Indian novelist and journalist 1915 - 2014

Source: Delhi

Bird

„Woe, destruction, ruin, and decay; the worst is death and death will have his day.“

— William Shakespeare, Richard II

Source: Richard II

Death

„I wanted him to hold me, to take care of me. To make the pain dissolve away. I know that this was part of what had ruined everything but I wanted it once more anyway.“

— Francesca Lia Block, book Echo

Source: Echo

Pain, Parting

„It is after all so easy to shatter a story. To break a chain of thought. To ruin a fragment of a dream being carried around carefully like a piece of porcelain. To let it be, to travel with it, as Velutha did, is much the harder thing to do.“

— Arundhati Roy, book The God of Small Things

Source: The God of Small Things

Dreams, Travel

„No; he could be ruined again and again by hope, but he would never be capable of belief.“

— Michael Chabon, book The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Source: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Hope

„These fragments I have shored against my ruins
Why then Ile fit you. Hieronymo's mad againe.
Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.
Shantih shantih shantih“

— T.S. Eliot, book The Waste Land

The final lines of the poem.
The Waste Land (1922)
Source: The Waste Land and Other Poems

Madness

„Dan: You've ruined my life.
Anna: You'll get over it.“

— Patrick Marber, Closer

Closer

Life

„Many a good argument is ruined by some fool who knows what he is talking about.“

— Marshall McLuhan Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor of English literature, a literary critic, and a communicatio… 1911 - 1980

Fools

„If a life can be ruined in a single moment, a moment of betrayal, or violence, or ill luck, then why can a life not also be saved, be worth living, be made, by just a few pure moments of perfection?“

— Marcus Sedgwick British writer and illustrator 1968

Source: Midwinterblood

Life, Betrayal, Perfection