José Baroja (1983) Chilean author and editor
Source: Interview. Torreblanca, M. E. Entrevista al escritor José Baroja. Fondo de Cultura Económica. https://www.fondodeculturaeconomica.com/Noticia/706
Quotes about worth
A collection of quotes on the topic of worth, life, doing, thing.
Quotes about worth
Marek Żukow-Karczewski (1961) Polish historian, journalist and opinion journalist
Gardens and orchards in the old Poland, "Aura" 11, 1987-11, p.17-18. http://pbn.nauka.gov.pl/sedno-webapp/works/508860
Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician
Variant: If she's amazing, she won't be easy. If she's easy, she won't be amazing. If she's worth it, you wont give up. If you give up, you're not worthy. ... Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.
Source: Guitar Chord Songbook - Bob Marley
“One moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory.”
Louis Zamperini (1917–2014) Italian-American middle distance runner
“The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others.”
Robert Baden-Powell (1857–1941) lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement
Letter (September 1940)
George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist, journalist and translator
Thiis was published without credit in The Best Loved Poems of the American People (1936) with the title "Friendship", and since that time has sometimes been misattributed http://www.geonius.com/eliot/quotes.html to Eliot; it is actually an adaptation of lines by Dinah Craik, in A Life for a Life (1859): <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Context: Oh, the comfort —<br>the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person —<br>having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words,<br>but pouring them all right out,<br>just as they are,<br>chaff and grain together;<br>certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them,<br>keep what is worth keeping,<br>and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.
Jane Goodall (1934) British primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist
The Ten Trusts (2003), p. xv
“It's not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late.”
Emil M. Cioran book The Trouble With Being Born
The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
Source: The Trouble with Being Born
“The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.”
Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician
Billie Eilish (2001) American singer-songwriter
Come Out and Play (20 November 2018), co-written with Finneas O'Connell.
Singles (2017 - )
“To love someone is to show to them their beauty, their worth and their importance.”
Jean Vanier (1928–2019) Canadian humanitarian
“A week of camp life is worth six months of theoretical teaching in the meeting room.”
Robert Baden-Powell (1857–1941) lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement
“Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else's dreams?”
Tim Burton (1958) American filmmaker
“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”
Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright
Source: Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part I, Book IV, Ch. 4.
Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Anarchism or Socialism (1906)
Context: We are not the kind of people who, when the word "anarchism" is mentioned, turn away contemptuously and say with a supercilious wave of the hand: "Why waste time on that, it's not worth talking about!" We think that such cheap "criticism" is undignified and useless.
Nor are we the kind of people who console themselves with the thought that the Anarchists "have no masses behind them and, therefore, are not so dangerous." It is not who has a larger or smaller "mass" following today, but the essence of the doctrine that matters. If the "doctrine" of the Anarchists expresses the truth, then it goes without saying that it will certainly hew a path for itself and will rally the masses around itself. If, however, it is unsound and built up on a false foundation, it will not last long and will remain suspended in mid-air. But the unsoundness of anarchism must be proved.
Some people believe that Marxism and anarchism are based on the same principles and that the disagreements between them concern only tactics, so that, in the opinion of these people, no distinction whatsoever can be drawn between these two trends.
This is a great mistake.
We believe that the Anarchists are real enemies of Marxism. Accordingly, we also hold that a real struggle must be waged against real enemies.
“No man is worth your tears, but once you find one that is, he won't make you cry.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)
“Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.”
Arthur Schopenhauer book Parerga and Paralipomena
Meistens belehrt uns erst der Verlust über den Wert der Dinge.
Source: Parerga and Paralipomena (1851), Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life
Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host
“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?”
Nescire autem quid ante quam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. Quid enim est aetas hominis, nisi ea memoria rerum veterum cum superiorum aetate contexitur? ([http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/orator.shtml#120 120])
Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman
Variant translation: To be ignorant of the past is to be forever a child.
Chapter XXXIV, section 120
Orator Ad M. Brutum (46 BC)
Variant: Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever. For what is the time of a man, except it be interwoven with that memory of ancient things of a superior age?
“Advice is one thing that is freely given away, but watch that you only take what is worth having.”
George S. Clason book The Richest Man in Babylon
Source: The Richest Man in Babylon
Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology
Bible Series V: Cain and Abel: The Hostile Brothers
Concepts
Francisco Palau (1811–1872) Beatified Spanish Discalced Carmelite friar and priest
Letter to Juana Gratia (1857)
Morgan Freeman (1937) American actor, film director, and narrator
Source: [Stern, Marlow, Janbuary 28, 2014, Morgan Freeman on God, Satan, and How the Human Race Has ‘Become A Parasite’, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/morgan-freeman-kerry-washington-celebrate-oscars-science-at-breakthrough-prize-ceremony-1064160, The Daily Beast, New York, December 4, 2017]
E.M.S (1995) Nigerian rapper, singer and record producer
Hidden (2017)
George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist, journalist and translator
Thiis was published without credit in The Best Loved Poems of the American People (1936) with the title "Friendship", and since that time has sometimes been misattributed http://www.geonius.com/eliot/quotes.html to Eliot; it is actually an adaptation of lines by Dinah Craik, in A Life for a Life (1859):<br>Oh, the comfort — the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person — having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away. <br class="br">Misattributed
“A woman who can threaten your life before breakfast is the only sort of woman worth having.”
Nora Roberts (1950) American romance writer
Source: Black Hills
“A book worth reading is worth owning.”
John Ruskin (1819–1900) English writer and art critic
Variant: If a book is worth reading, it is worth buying.
“The trouble is not in dying for a friend, but in finding a friend worth dying for.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“Anything worth doing, is worth doing right.”
Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author
Andrei Tarkovsky (1932–1986) Soviet and Russian film-maker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director
“Nobody is worth your tears, and the one who is won't make you cry”
Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist
Source: The Alchemist
“Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for?”
Leonard Ravenhill (1907–1994) British writer
Source: Final message to the church (n. d.)
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated (1894)
“Anything new, anything worth doing, can't be recognized.”
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer
Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) English writer, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer
This is a paraphrase of statement in a thank you note from Carroll to a childhood friend, the actress Ellen Terry, published in Ellen Terry, Player in Her Time (1997), p. 126 https://books.google.com/books?id=2PkzZ9KaRlwC&lpg=PA126&vq=%22do%20for%20others%22&pg=PA126#v=snippet&q=%22do%20for%20others%22&f=fals by Nina Auerbach: "... and so you have found out that secret — one of the deep secrets of Life — that all, that is really worth the doing, is what we do for others?" <br class="br">Disputed
“Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly--until you can learn to do it well.”
Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American motivational speaker
Shahrukh Khan (1965) Indian actor, producer and television personality
From interview with Anshul Chaturvedi
“That which is not worth speaking they sing.”
Pierre Beaumarchais book The Barber of Seville
Ce qui ne vaut pas la peine d'être dit, on le chante.
Act I, scene i. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 712-13.
Le Barbier de Séville (1773)
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Mark Twain in Eruption: Hitherto Unpublished Pages About Men and Events (1940) edited by Bernard DeVoto
“A hundred girls aren't worth a single testicle.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
Attributed on the internet; a popular Vietnamese saying
Misattributed, Not Chinese
“This is the war on terrorism; it's worth fighting for.”
Bruce Willis (1955) American actor, producer, and musician
Bruce Willis during a visit to the 101st Airborne Division in northern Iraq, September 25, 2003. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Sep2003/n09262003_200309266.html
“The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being.”
Socrates (-470–-399 BC) classical Greek Athenian philosopher
38a
Variant translations:
(More closely) The unexamining life is not worth living for a human being
The life which is unexamined is not worth living.
An unexamined life is not worth living.
The unexamined life is not the life for man.
Life without enquiry is not worth living for a man.<!--Translated by W. H. D. Rouse-->
Plato, Apology
James Watt (1736–1819) British engineer
Attributed to James Watt in: Joel Mokyr, The lever of riches: Technological creativity and economic progress. Oxford University Press, 1992. p, 245
Douglas Adams The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
Source: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), Ch. 4
George Orwell book Down and Out in Paris and London
Source: Down and out in Paris and London (1933), Ch. 17
“A well-fought defeat is worth more than a casual victory.”
José de San Martín (1778–1850) Argentine general and independence leader
Una derrota peleada vale más que una victoria casual.
100 Masones Su Palabra (2010)
Pierre Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865) French politician, mutualist philosopher, economist, and socialist
"The Authority Principle" in No Gods, No Masters : An Anthology of Anarchism (1980) Daniel Guérin, as translated by Paul Sharkey (1998), p. 90
Context: I stand ready to negotiate, but I want no part of laws: I acknowledge none; I protest against every order with which some authority may feel pleased on the basis of some alleged necessity to over-rule my free will. Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider webs for the rich and mighty, steel chains for the poor and weak, fishing nets in the hands of government.
George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist
"The Prevention of Literature" (1946)
Context: Totalitarianism, however, does not so much promise an age of faith as an age of schizophrenia. A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud. Such a society, no matter how long it persists, can never afford to become either tolerant or intellectually stable. It can never permit either the truthful recording of facts or the emotional sincerity that literary creation demands. But to be corrupted by totalitarianism one does not have to live in a totalitarian country. The mere prevalence of certain ideas can spread a kind of poison that makes one subject after another impossible for literary purposes. Wherever there is an enforced orthodoxy — or even two orthodoxies, as often happens — good writing stops. This was well illustrated by the Spanish civil war. To many English intellectuals the war was a deeply moving experience, but not an experience about which they could write sincerely. There were only two things that you were allowed to say, and both of them were palpable lies: as a result, the war produced acres of print but almost nothing worth reading.
Dinah Craik (1826–1887) English novelist and poet
A part of this passage appeared in The Best Loved Poems of the American People (1936) with the title "Friendship":
A Life for a Life (1859)
Context: Thus ended our little talk: yet it left a pleasant impression. True, the subject was strange enough; my sisters might have been shocked at it; and at my freedom in asking and giving opinions. But oh! the blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject; with whom one's deepest as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort — the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person — having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.
Somebody must have done a good deal of the winnowing business this afternoon; for in the course of it I gave him as much nonsense as any reasonable man could stand...
“A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894) Poet, essayist, physician
Source: The Professor at the Breakfast Table (1859), Ch. X.
Context: Poets are never young, in one sense. Their delicate ear hears the far-off whispers of eternity, which coarser souls must travel towards for scores of years before their dull sense is touched by them. A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience.
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist
The Superstition of Divorce (1920)
Context: I do not ask them to assume the worth of my creed or any creed; and I could wish they did not so often ask me to assume the worth of their worthless, poisonous plutocratic modern society. But if it could be shown, as I think it can, that a long historical view and a patient political experience can at last accumulate solid scientific evidence of the vital need of such a vow, then I can conceive no more tremendous tribute than this, to any faith, which made a flaming affirmation from the darkest beginnings, of what the latest enlightenment can only slowly discover in the end.
“There's nothing worth the wear of winning,
But laughter and the love of friends.”
Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) writer
"Dedicatory Ode", stanza 22
Verses (1910)
Context: From quiet homes and first beginning,
Out to the undiscovered ends,
There's nothing worth the wear of winning,
But laughter and the love of friends.
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2015, Remarks to the People of Africa (July 2015)
Context: Every one of us is equal. Every one of us has worth. Every one of us matters. And when we respect the freedom of others -- no matter the color of their skin, or how they pray or who they are or who they love -- we are all more free. Your dignity depends on my dignity, and my dignity depends on yours. Imagine if everyone had that spirit in their hearts. Imagine if governments operated that way. Just imagine what the world could look like -- the future that we could bequeath these young people.
George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist
"Charles Dickens" (1939)
Context: The thing that drove Dickens forward into a form of art for which he was not really suited, and at the same time caused us to remember him, was simply the fact that he was a moralist, the consciousness of ‘having something to say’. He is always preaching a sermon, and that is the final secret of his inventiveness. For you can only create if you can care. Types like Squeers and Micawber could not have been produced by a hack writer looking for something to be funny about. A joke worth laughing at always has an idea behind it, and usually a subversive idea. Dickens is able to go on being funny because he is in revolt against authority, and authority is always there to be laughed at.
Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood (1864–1958) lawyer, politician and diplomat in the United Kingdom
A Great Experiment (1941), p. 189
Context: The truth is, I was never a very good Party man. Probably but for the War of 1914, I should have gone on fairly comfortably as a Conservative official. But those four years burnt into me the insufferable conditions of international relations which made war the acknowledged method — indeed, the only fully authorized method — of settling international disputes. Thenceforth, the effort to abolish war seemed to me, and still seems to me, the only political object worth while.
1997
Attila (406–453) King of the Hunnic Empire
Turkish Wikipedia
https://quotestats.com/topic/attila-hun-quotes/
“The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.”
C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology
“I gave my life to become the person I am right now. Was it worth it?”
Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer
“Your Value Doesn't Decrease Based On Someone's Inability To See Your Worth.”
Keanu Reeves (1964) Canadian actor, director, producer and musician
https://successtutorship.com/10-famous-keanu-reeves-quotes/
“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching.”
Gerard Way (1977) American musician and comic book writer
Babe Ruth (1895–1948) American baseball player
"Chapter X," Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball (1928), p. 135; reprinted as "Babe Ruth's Own Story — Chapter X: Great Individual Stars Worth Little Without Team Play; Signs and How They Operate, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=c0sbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AUsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4554%2C1154246 The Pittsburgh Press (January 18, 1929), p. 45 <br class="br">Context: Baseball always has been and always will be a game demanding team play. You can have the nine greatest individual ball players in the world, but if they don't play together the club won't be worth a dime.