Quotes about worth
page 12

Alfred Austin photo

“So long as faith with freedom reigns
And loyal hope survives,
And gracious charity remains
To leaven lowly lives;
While there is one untrodden tract
For intellect or will,
And men are free to think and act,
Life is worth living still.”

Alfred Austin (1835–1913) British writer and poet

Source: Poetry Quotes, Is Life Worth Living? http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/9/3/1/19316/19316.htm (1896)

Walter Scott photo
Alice A. Bailey photo
Bill Maher photo
Thomas Brooks photo
William Bateson photo

“Since the belief in transmission of acquired adaptations arose from preconception rather than from evidence, it is worth observing that, rightly considered, the probability should surely be the other way. For the adaptations relate to every variety of exigency. To supply themselves with food, to find it, to seize and digest it, to protect themselves from predatory enemies whether by offence or defence, to counter-balance the changes of temperature, or pressure, to provide for mechanical strains, to obtain immunity from poison and from invading organisms, to bring the sexual elements into contact, to ensure the distribution of the type; all these and many more are accomplished by organisms in a thousand most diverse and alternative methods. Those are the things that are hard to imagine as produced by any concatenation of natural events; but the suggestions that organisms had had from the beginning innate in them a power of modifying themselves, their organs and their instincts so as to meet these multifarious requirements does not materially differ from the more overt appeals to supernatural intervention. The conception, originally introduced by Hering and independently by S. Butler, that adaptation is a consequence or product of accumulated memory was of late revived by Semon and has been received with some approval, especially by F. Darwin. I see nothing fantastic in the notion that memory may be unconsciously preserved with the same continuity that the protoplasmic basis of life possesses. That idea, though purely speculative and, as yet, incapable of proof or disproof contains nothing which our experience of matter or of life at all refutes. On the contrary, we probably do well to retain the suggestion as a clue that may some day be of service. But if adaptation is to be the product of these accumulated experiences, they must in some way be translated into terms of physiological and structural change, a process frankly inconceivable.”

William Bateson (1861–1926) British geneticist and biologist

Source: Problems In Genetics (1913), p. 190

Algis Budrys photo
Charles Darwin photo

“I am quite conscious that my speculations run quite beyond the bounds of true science. … I inferred that genera & Families with very few species (i. e. from Extinction) would be apt (not necessarily always) to have narrow ranges & disjoined ranges. You will not perceive, perhaps, what I am driving at & it is not worth enlarging on, — but I look at Extinction as common cause of small genera & disjoined ranges & therefore they ought, if they behaved properly & as nature does not lie to go together!”

Charles Darwin (1809–1882) British naturalist, author of "On the origin of species, by means of natural selection"

The first sentence is often quoted in isolation http://www.conservapedia.com/Charles_Darwin, with the suggestion that Darwin is saying that his speculations concerning evolution "run quite beyond the bounds of true science." In fact, as the context makes clear, Darwin is referring to his speculations concerning the geographical ranges of genera with few species.
Other letters, notebooks, journal articles, recollected statements
Source: Letter http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/entry-2109 to Asa Gray, 18 June 1857

William Faulkner photo
Allen C. Guelzo photo
Pat Condell photo

“But just because I believe that religion is a cynical perversion of the human spirit that exists purely for the benefit of the parasites we know as clergy, doesn't mean I'm not looking for answers to the big questions just like everybody else — you know, the questions that religion pretends it has answers to, because it knows that for some people, anyone answer is better than no answer at all. Questions like, Why are we here? Where did we come from? Where are we going?…Is there an afterlife, and if so, is it fully licensed for alcoholic drinks? That last bit may seem like a trivial concern to you, but not to me, because I live in a society where many people enjoy a social drink from time to time — not a huge amount, just enough to kill a horse. And in these enlightened days of the twenty-first century, when everyone's human rights and cultural identity are so very important, I don't see why I should have to abandon my culture, just because I'm dead. It's only the afterlife, not Saudi Arabia. Let's keep things in perspective. Of course in reality, we know that there will be beer in heaven, and lots of it, otherwise it wouldn't be heaven, would it? It's almost not even worth pointing that out, but I thought I would anyway, just in case someone wants to take the opportunity to be offended.”

Pat Condell (1949) Stand-up comedian, writer, and Internet personality

"God is not enough" (23 May 2008) http://youtube.com/watch?v=1czXvHSjDac&feature=related)
2008

Dora Russell photo
Samuel Johnson photo

“Worth seeing? yes; but not worth going to see.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

October 12, 1779
On the Giant's Causeway. A similar opinion was expressed by the English traveller Richard Twiss in 1775 in A Tour of Ireland http://books.google.ie/books?id=ujpIAAAAMAAJ, p. 157
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III

William James photo
William Blake photo
Phil Ochs photo

“It's always the old to lead us to the war
It's always the young to fall
Now look at all we've won with the sabre and the gun
Tell me is it worth it all.”

Phil Ochs (1940–1976) American protest singer and songwriter

"I Ain't Marching Anymore" http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/i-aint-marching-anymore.html from I Ain't Marching Anymore(1965)
Lyrics

“You're sent from heaven
And I know your worth.
You made a heaven for me here on the earth.
When I'm old and grey, dear,
Promise you won't stray, dear,
For I love you so, Sonny Boy.”

Buddy de Sylva (1895–1950) American musician

Song: Sonny Boy (de Sylva wrote the words; Lew Brown and Ray Henderson wrote the music; Al Jolson insisted on being credited too)

Alfred Austin photo

“He is dead already who doth not feel
Life is worth living still.”

Alfred Austin (1835–1913) British writer and poet

Source: Is Life Worth Living? http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/9/3/1/19316/19316.htm (1896)

Henry James photo
Tallulah Bankhead photo
William Ellery Channing photo
Joyce Kilmer photo
John Milton photo
Vasco Rossi photo
Elijah Wood photo

“In the absence of love, there is nothing worth fighting for.”

Elijah Wood (1981) American actor

Quoted in M. Kumar, Dictionary of Quotations Page 136 http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=N0VKD37eY94C&pg=PA136&dq=%22In+the+absence+of+love,+there+is+nothing+worth+fighting+for%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7ns3T6XuNI6n8gOnpaWqAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22In%20the%20absence%20of%20love%2C%20there%20is%20nothing%20worth%20fighting%20for%22&f=false

Euripidés photo

“Dionysus: He who believes needs no explanation.
Pentheus: What's the worth in believing worthless things?
Dionysus: Much worth, but not worth telling you, it seems.”

Euripidés (-480–-406 BC) ancient Athenian playwright

Bacchae l. 472, as translated by Colin Teevan (2002)

Alfred Austin photo

“Is life worth living? Yes, so long
As Spring revives the year,
And hails us with the cuckoo's song,
To show that she is here;”

Alfred Austin (1835–1913) British writer and poet

Source: Is Life Worth Living? http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/9/3/1/19316/19316.htm (1896)

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield photo

“Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.”

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) British statesman and man of letters

The French attribute this to the painter Nicolas Poussin (born 15 June 1594) "Ce qui vaut la peine d'être fait vaut la peine d'être bien fait"
Disputed

George W. Bush photo
Aristophanés photo

“Chremylus: And what good thing can [Poverty] give us, unless it be burns in the bath, and swarms of brats and old women who cry with hunger, and clouds uncountable of lice, gnats and flies, which hover about the wretch's head, trouble him, awake him and say, “You will be hungry, but get up!” […]
Poverty: It's not my life that you describe; you are attacking the existence beggars lead. […] The beggar, whom you have depicted to us, never possesses anything. The poor man lives thriftily and attentive to his work; he has not got too much, but he does not lack what he really needs. […] But what you don't know is this, that men with me are worth more, both in mind and body, than with [Wealth]. With him they are gouty, big-bellied, heavy of limb and scandalously stout; with me they are thin, wasp-waisted, and terrible to the foe. […] As for behavior, I will prove to you that modesty dwells with me and insolence with [Wealth]. […] Look at the orators in our republics; as long as they are poor, both state and people can only praise their uprightness; but once they are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice, plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy. […]
Chremylus: Then tell me this, why does all mankind flee from you?
Poverty: Because I make them better. Children do the very same; they flee from the wise counsels of their fathers. So difficult is it to see one's true interest.”

tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Pl.+535
Plutus, line 535-539 & 548 & 552-554 & 558-561 & 563-564 & 567-570 & 575-578
Plutus (388 BC)

John Ralston Saul photo
Brian Greene photo
Marcus Aurelius photo
Joaquin Miller photo
Ono no Komachi photo

“Although I come to you constantly
over the roads of dreams,
those nights of love
are not worth one waking touch of you.”

Ono no Komachi (825–900) Japanese poet

Source: Kenneth Rexroth's translations, Women Poets of Japan (1982), p. 15

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps photo
O. Henry photo
Cato the Elder photo

“When you have decided to purchase a farm, be careful not to buy rashly; do not spare your visits and be not content with a single tour of inspection. The more you go, the more will the place please you, if it be worth your attention. Give heed to the appearance of the neighbourhood, - a flourishing country should show its prosperity. "When you go in, look about, so that, when needs be, you can find your way out."”

Of buying a farm; Cited in John Claudius Loudon (1825) An Encyclopædia of Agriculture. Part 1. p. 14
Loudon commented: In the time of Cato the Censor, the author of The Husbandry of the Ancients observed, though the operations of agriculture were generally performed by servants, yet the great men among the Roman continued to give particular attention to it, studied its improvement, and were very careful and exact in the management of nil their country affairs. This appears from the directions given them by this most attentive farmer. Those great men had both houses in town, and villas in the country; and, as they resided frequently in town, the management of their country affairs was committed to a bailiff or overseer. Now their attention to the culture of their land and to every other branch of husbandry, appears, from the directions given them how to behave upon their arrival from the city at their villas.
De Agri Cultura, about 160 BC

Anacreon photo

“Love for lineage nothing cares.
Tramples wisdom under foot.
Worth derides, and only looks
For money.”

Anacreon (-570–-485 BC) Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and hymns

Odes, XXIX. (XXVIL, b), 5.

Ilana Mercer photo
Gypsy Rose Lee photo

“If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing slowly … very slowly.”

Gypsy Rose Lee (1911–1970) American burlesque performer, actress, author

As quoted in Great Hollywood Wit: A Glorious Cavalcade of Hollywood Wisecracks, Zingers, Japes, Quips, Slings, Jests, Snappers, & Sass from the Stars (2003) by Gene Shalit, p. 46

Robert Silverberg photo
Edgar Guest photo
Gary Gygax photo

“I think a lot of what I was taught, gathered, and learned is worth keeping. Heritage and "wisdom" and simply personal family and local history enrich the one able to tap such information. As it is I wish I had garnered more from my grandparents and parents.”

Gary Gygax (1938–2008) American writer and game designer

"An Interview with Gary Gygax" by Christopher Smith at Lejendary Adventure http://www.lejendary.com/la/template.php?page=garygygax&style=blaze

Thomas Carlyle photo
Michael Johns photo
Ai Weiwei photo
Germaine Greer photo
William Saroyan photo
Calvin Coolidge photo
Glen Cook photo
Brian W. Aldiss photo
Michele Bachmann photo
Anthony Kennedy photo
Gregory Peck photo
Alex Miller photo
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto photo

“The long-range trend toward federal regulation, which found its beginnings in the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and the Sherman Act of 1890, which was quickened by a large number of measures in the Progressive era, and which has found its consummation in our time, was thus at first the response of a predominantly individualistic public to the uncontrolled and starkly original collectivism of big business. In America the growth of the national state and its regulative power has never been accepted with complacency by any large part of the middle-class public, which has not relaxed its suspicion of authority, and which even now gives repeated evidence of its intense dislike of statism. In our time this growth has been possible only under the stress of great national emergencies, domestic or military, and even then only in the face of continuous resistance from a substantial part of the public. In the Progressive era it was possible only because of widespread and urgent fear of business consolidation and private business authority. Since it has become common in recent years for ideologists of the extreme right to portray the growth of statism as the result of a sinister conspiracy of collectivists inspired by foreign ideologies, it is perhaps worth emphasizing that the first important steps toward the modern organization of society were taken by arch-individualists — the tycoons of the Gilded Age — and that the primitive beginning of modern statism was largely the work of men who were trying to save what they could of the eminently native Yankee values of individualism and enterprise.”

Richard Hofstadter (1916–1970) American historian

Source: The Age of Reform: from Bryan to F.D.R. (1955), Chapter VI, part II, p. 233

Arthur Schopenhauer photo
Rudyard Kipling photo

“I have written the tale of our life
For a sheltered people's mirth,
In jesting guise—but ye are wise,
And ye know what the jest is worth.”

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) English short-story writer, poet, and novelist

Prelude Stanza 3.
Departmental Ditties and other Verses (1886)

Stewart Brand photo
Cyril Connolly photo
Frederick William Robertson photo
Jonah Goldberg photo
Peter Cook photo
Herbert Marcuse photo
George William Russell photo
Laurence Sterne photo
Alfred Tarski photo
Pat Condell photo
James Comey photo
Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Sr. photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“This is where we are. Where do we go from here? First, we must massively assert our dignity and worth. We must stand up amidst a system that still oppresses us and develop an unassailable and majestic sense of values.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)

Henry Adams photo
Robert E. Howard photo
James Anthony Froude photo
William Godwin photo
Daniel Dennett photo
Henry Adams photo
Francis Escudero photo

“Let her story forever inspire us and future generations of Filipinos, and serve as a constant reminder that the Filipino is worth fighting for.”

Francis Escudero (1969) Filipino politician

The Official Website of the Senate of the Philippines http://www.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2009/0801_escudero1.asp
2009, Statement: on the Passing of Former President Corazon C. Aquino

Phil Ochs photo

“So do your duty, boys, and join with pride
Serve your country in her suicide
Find the flags so you can wave goodbye
But just before the end even treason might be worth a try
This country is too young to die
I declare the war is over
It's over, it's over.”

Phil Ochs (1940–1976) American protest singer and songwriter

"The War Is Over" http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/war-is-over.html from Tape from California (1968)
Lyrics

John Updike photo

“[Harry listening to car radio] …he resents being made to realise, this late, that the songs of his life were as moronic as the rock the brainless kids now feed on, or the Sixties and Seventies stuff that Nelson gobbled up – all of it designed for empty heads and overheated hormones, an ocean white with foam, and listening to it now is like trying to eat a double banana split the way he used to. It's all disposable, cooked up to turn a quick profit. They lead us down the garden path, the music manufacturers, then turn around and lead the next generation down with a slightly different flavour of glop.
Rabbit feels betrayed. He was reared in a world where war was not strange but change was: the world stood still so you could grow up in it. He knows when the bottom fell out. When they closed down Kroll's, Kroll's that had stood in the centre of Brewer all those years, bigger than a church, older than a courthouse, right at the head of Weiser Square there,… […] So when the system just upped one summer and decided to close Kroll's down, just because shoppers had stopped coming in because the downtown had become frightening to white people, Rabbit realised the world was not solid and benign, it was a shabby set of temporary arrangements rigged up for the time being, all for the sake of money. You just passed through, and they milked you for what you were worth, mostly when you were young and gullible. If Kroll's could go, the courthouse could go, the banks could go. When the money stopped, they could close down God himself.”

Rabbit at Rest (1990)

Henry Rollins photo
Elaine Paige photo
Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair photo