Rosa Parks (1913–2005) African-American civil rights activist
Rosa Parks: My Story, p. 116, Rosa Parks and James Haskins (1992)
A collection of quotes on the topic of seat, doing, people, likeness.
Rosa Parks (1913–2005) African-American civil rights activist
Rosa Parks: My Story, p. 116, Rosa Parks and James Haskins (1992)
Babur (1483–1530) 1st Mughal Emperor
Quote from Bevridge translation of the Baburnama https://archive.org/stream/baburnama017152mbp#page/n663/mode/2up
“The seat of the soul is where the inner world and the outer world meet.”
Novalis book Blüthenstaub
Blüthenstaub (1798), Unsequenced
Context: The seat of the soul is where the inner world and the outer world meet. Where they overlap, it is in every point of the overlap.
“Superman don't need no seat belt.”
Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist
Rosa Parks (1913–2005) African-American civil rights activist
"Parks Recalls Bus Boycott, Excerpts from an interview with Lynn Neary", National Public Radio (1992), linked at "Civil Rights Icon Rosa Parks Dies" http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4973548, NPR, October 25, 2005.
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French writer, a moralist
Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 188.
Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603) Queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until 1603
The Golden Speech (1601)
Chinua Achebe (1930–2013) Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic
Variant: When Suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat left for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.
Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie
Variant: Memory takes a lot of poetic licence. It omits some details; others are exaggerated, according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart. The interior is therefore rather dim and poetic.
Source: The Glass Menagerie
John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter
Royal Variety Performance in London (4 November 1963) attended by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret. Of this incident Mark Hertsgaard reports in A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles (1995): "The remark provoked warm laughter and applause, and was greeted with profound relief by Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who had feared Lennon would make good on his pre-performance threat to tell them to "rattle their fuckin' jewelry."
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
1860s, Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863)
Nahum Tate (1652–1715) Anglo-Irish poet and playwright
Hymn While shepherds watched their flocks by night
Isaac Newton (1643–1727) British physicist and mathematician and founder of modern classical physics
Vol. I, Ch. 12: Of the Prophecy of the Scripture of Truth
Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John (1733)
“The dream too thinks twice,
gets filtered to go soft
to be seated on children's eyes.”
Suman Pokhrel (1967) Nepali poet, lyricist, playwright, translator and artist
<span class="plainlinks"> Children http://www.occupypoetry.net/children_1/</span> <br class="br">From Poetry
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Speech at the Printing Trade Festival (1845).
1840s
Ali Khamenei (1939) Iranian Shiite faqih, Marja' and official independent islamic leader
Message of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei To the Youth in Europe and North America http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2001, Khamenei.ir (January 21, 2015) <br class="br">2015
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
Source: 1910s, Theodore Roosevelt — An Autobiography (1913), Ch. VIII : The New York Governorship
William Collins (1721–1759) English poet, born 1721
Source: The Passions, an Ode for Music (1747), Line 57. Compare: "Sweetest melodies / Are those that are by distance made more sweet", William Wordsworth, Personal Talk, stanza 2.
Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
You see, even when Herr Hitler wants to speak of peace he cannot avoid uttering threats. This is symptomatic.<br><br> https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1936/03/01.htmInterview Between J. Stalin and Roy Howard; March 1, 1936 <br class="br">Stalin's speeches, writings and authorised interviews
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIV Anatomy, Zoology and Physiology
Anton LaVey book The Devil's Notebook
The Devil's Notebook (1992)
C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology
p 85
The Undiscovered Self (1958)
Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) English writer, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer
Canto 4, "Hys Nouryture"
Phantasmagoria (1869)
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
1860s, Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863)
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XX Humorous Writings
Malcolm Lowry book Under the Volcano
Source: Under the Volcano (1947), Ch. X (p. 292)
Pim Fortuyn (1948–2002) Dutch politician
That’s all <br class="br">Nederland 2 documentary "The Night of Fortuyn" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgM9JozWOf0
H.P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) American author
Letter to Elizabeth Toldridge (9 October 1931), in Selected Letters III, 1929-1931 edited by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei, p. 423
Non-Fiction, Letters
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
1860s, A Short Autobiography (1860)
Context: In 1846 he was elected to the lower House of Congress, and served one term only, commencing in December, 1847, and ending with the inauguration of General Taylor, in March, 1849. All the battles of the Mexican war had been fought before Mr. Lincoln took his seat in Congress but the American army was still in Mexico, and the treaty of peace was not fully and formally ratified till the June afterwards.... he voted for all the supply measures that came up, and for all the measures in any way favorable to the officers, soldiers, and their families, who conducted the war through: with the exception that some of these measures passed without yeas and nays, leaving no record as to how particular men voted. The "Journal" and "Globe" also show him voting that the war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States.
Constantine the Great (274–337) Roman emperor
As translated in The Ante-Nicene Fathers (1886) edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, Vol. 7, p. 320 http://books.google.com/books?id=ko0sAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA320<br>Variant translation: When I, Constantine Augustus, as well as I Licinius Augustus fortunately met near Mediolanurn [Milan], and were considering everything that pertained to the public welfare and security, we thought —, among other things which we saw would be for the good of many, those regulations pertaining to the reverence of the Divinity ought certainly to be made first, so that we might grant to the Christians and others full authority to observe that religion which each preferred; whence any Divinity whatsoever in the seat of the heavens may be propitious and kindly disposed to us and all who are placed under our rule. And thus by this wholesome counsel and most upright provision we thought to arrange that no one whatsoever should be denied the opportunity to give his heart to the observance of the Christian religion, or of that religion which he should think best for himself, so that the Supreme Deity, to whose worship we freely yield our hearts, may show in all things His usual favor and benevolence. Therefore, your Worship should know that it has pleased us to remove all conditions whatsoever, which were in the rescripts formerly given to you officially, concerning the Christians and now any one of these who wishes to observe Christian religion may do so freely and openly, without molestation. We thought it fit to commend these things most fully to your care that you may know that we have given to those Christians free and unrestricted opportunity of religious worship. When you see that this has been granted to them by us, your Worship will know that we have also conceded to other religions the right of open and free observance of their worship for the sake of the peace of our times, that each one may have the free opportunity to worship as he pleases; this regulation is made we that we may not seem to detract from any dignity or any religion.<br>As translated in The Early Christian Persecutions (1897) by Dana Carleton Munro http://books.google.com/books?id=eoQTAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA29 <br class="br">Edict of Milan (313) <br class="br">Context: When we, Constantine and Licinius, emperors, had an interview at Milan, and conferred together with respect to the good and security of the commonweal, it seemed to us that, amongst those things that are profitable to mankind in general, the reverence paid to the Divinity merited our first and chief attention, and that it was proper that the Christians and all others should have liberty to follow that mode of religion which to each of them appeared best; so that that God, who is seated in heaven, might be benign and propitious to us, and to every one under our government. And therefore we judged it a salutary measure, and one highly consonant to right reason, that no man should be denied leave of attaching himself to the rites of the Christians, or to whatever other religion his mind directed him, that thus the supreme Divinity, to whose worship we freely devote ourselves, might continue to vouchsafe His favour and beneficence to us. And accordingly we give you to know that, without regard to any provisos in our former orders to you concerning the Christians, all who choose that religion are to be permitted, freely and absolutely, to remain in it, and not to be disturbed any ways, or molested. And we thought fit to be thus special in the things committed to your charge, that you might understand that the indulgence which we have granted in matters of religion to the Christians is ample and unconditional; and perceive at the same time that the open and free exercise of their respective religions is granted to all others, as well as to the Christians. For it befits the well-ordered state and the tranquillity of our times that each individual be allowed, according to his own choice, to worship the Divinity; and we mean not to derogate aught from the honour due to any religion or its votaries.
Kabir (1440–1518) Indian mystic poet
Songs of Kabîr (1915)
Context: Do not go to the garden of flowers!
O Friend! go not there;
In your body is the garden of flowers.
Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus, and there gaze on the Infinite Beauty.
Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) French novelist
Light (1919), Ch. XIX - Ghosts
Context: On this seat — where she came to me for the first time, which was once so important to us that it seemed as if the background of things all about us had been created by us — we sit down to-day, after we have vainly sought in nature the traces of our transit.
The landscape is peaceful, simple, empty; it fills us with a great quivering. Marie is so sad and so simple that you can see her thought.
I have leaned forward, my elbows on my knees. I have contemplated the gravel at my feet; and suddenly I start, for I understand that my eyes were looking for the marks of our footsteps, in spite of the stone, in spite of the sand.
After the solemnity of a long silence, Marie's face takes on a look of defeat, and suddenly she begins to cry. The tears which fill her — for one always weeps in full, drop on to her knees. And through her sobs there fall from her wet lips words almost shapeless, but desperate and fierce, as a burst of forced laughter.
"It's all over!" she cries.
Variant translations: <br class="br">Zeus has led us on to know,<br>the Helmsman lays it down as law<br>that we must suffer, suffer into truth.<br>We cannot sleep, and drop by drop at the heart<br>the pain of pain remembered comes again,<br>and we resist, but ripeness comes as well.<br>From the gods enthroned on the awesome rowing-bench<br>there comes a violent love. <br class="br">Robert Fagles, The Oresteia (1975) <br class="br">God, whose law it is<br>that he who learns must suffer.<br>And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget<br>falls drop by drop upon the heart,<br>and in our own despite, against our will,<br>comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. <br class="br">Edith Hamilton, The Greek Way (1930), pp. 61 and 194 ( Google Books https://books.google.com/books?id=D3QwvF3GWOkC&lpg=PA61&ots=BacvHvGm6e&dq=%22And%20in%20our%20own%20despite%2C%20against%20our%20will%2C%20Comes%20wisdom%22%20-kennedy&pg=PA194#v=onepage&q=%22our%20own%20despite%22&f=false) <br class="br">Robert F. Kennedy quoted these lines in his speech announcing the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on 4 April 1968. His version http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/rfkonmlkdeath.html: <br class="br">Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget<br>falls drop by drop upon the heart<br>until, in our own despair, against our will,<br>comes wisdom through the awful grace of God. <br class="br">Variant translations of πάθει μάθος: <br class="br">By suffering comes wisdom. <br class="br">The reward of suffering is experience. <br class="br">Wisdom comes alone through suffering. <br class="br">Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, lines 176–183, as translated by Ian Johnston ( Google Books https://books.google.com/books?id=qz1HpBZ1fTwC&lpg=PA13&ots=C7aohrZRF1&dq=Drips%20in%20our%20hearts%20as%20we%20try%20to%20sleep%2C&pg=PA13#v=onepage&q=Drips%20in%20our%20hearts%20as%20we%20try%20to%20sleep,&f=false)
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) German philosopher
Source: The Way Towards The Blessed Life or the Doctrine of Religion 1806, P. 3
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator
Sometimes attributed to Contact (1985), but the quote does not appear in that book. <br class="br">It appears attributed to Sagan in Judson Poling's 2003 book "Do Science and the Bible Conflict?", but without source. <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Source: Via Google Books https://books.google.com/books?id=Ondv5WzhYYYC&pg=PA21&dq=Sagan
“Never take a seat in the back of the room. Winners sit up front.”
E. Lockhart book We Were Liars
Source: We Were Liars
George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian
Archive of American Television http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/george-carlin, from one of Carlin's final interviews (2008) <br class="br">Interviews, Television Appearances <br class="br">Context: You know what, I said it this way: when you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show. And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat. And some of us get to sit there with notebooks. And I'm a notebook kind of guy: [pretends to be taking notes] "Oh, my God, did you see that? Did you see what he just did?..." And I watch the freak show, and I kept my notes, and I make up stuff about it, and I talk about the freaks. And the freaks are all humans, and they are all like me, and we are all the same. I'm not better, I'm not different, I'm just apart now. I'm separate, I'm over here, because I put myself out of the mix. I don't have a stake at the outcome. I'm not a cheerleader for a given outcome now.
Douglas Adams book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Source: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987)
Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …
Miscellaneous
Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist
Source: Lover Unleashed
“Once I was seated, I couldn't help people-watching. I'll admit it, I'm an addict from way back.”
James Patterson book Sundays at Tiffany's
Source: Sundays at Tiffany's
Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo
Source: Magic Shifts
Douglas Adams The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
Source: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), Ch. 23
“If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”
Shirley Chisholm (1924–2005) American politician
Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo
Source: Magic Strikes
Patricia Briggs book Frost Burned
Source: Frost Burned
Samuel Adams (1722–1803) American statesman, Massachusetts governor, and political philosopher
Letter to James Warren (24 October 1780) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2094
Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul
James A. Garfield (1831–1881) American politician, 20th President of the United States (in office in 1881)
1870s, Speech (1879)
“One day, we shall stand up and our backsides will remain attached to our seats.”
Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French sociologist and philosopher
1980s, Cool Memories (1987, trans. 1990)
Ram Swarup (1920–1998) Indian historian
On Hinduism (2000)
Plutarch book Parallel Lives
Lycurgus, sec. 8. The bolded phrase is often quoted in a paraphrase by Ugo Foscolo: "Wealth and poverty are the oldest and most deadly ailments of all republics" (Le ricchezze e la povertà sono le più antiche e mortali infermità delle repubbliche), Monitore Italiano, 5 February 1798.
Parallel Lives
Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist
First published in Truthout http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/38360-trump-in-the-white-house-an-interview-with-noam-chomsky on 14 November 2016. Then published in the book Optimism over Despair in 2017, pages 121-122 (ISBN 9780241981979). <br class="br">Quotes 2010s, 2016
Jimmy Buffett (1946) American singer–songwriter and businessman
Last Mango in Paris
Song lyrics, Last Mango in Paris (1985)
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) American poet, critic, editor, and diplomat
Literary Essays, vol. II (1870–1890)
Koho Kenichi (1241–1316) Japanese sangha of Rinzai school in Kamakura era
Japanese Death Poems. Compiled by Yoel Hoffmann. ISBN 978-0-8048-3179-6
Amit Shah (1964) Indian politician
"Exclusive Amit Shah Interview: People are waiting to vote for Modi," 2013, "Sunday Interview: We had 450 video raths with GPS and I’d get feedback on my mobile, says Amit Shah", 2014