Alan's Favorite Quotations
I've collected many of these from Anu Garg's A Word A Day emails over the years, and other random places. I add new ones at the bottom.
No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the
Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy
friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am
involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell
tolls; It tolls for thee. -- John Donne, poet (1573-1631)
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we
are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and
servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. -- Theodore
Roosevelt, 26th US President (1858-1919)
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by
stupidity. -- Hanlon's Razor
We have met the enemy and he is us. -- Walt Kelly, cartoonist (1913-1973)
When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the
government there is tyranny. -- Thomas Jefferson, third US president,
architect and author (1743-1826)
The tax which will be paid for the purpose of education is not more than
the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who
will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance. -- Thomas
Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826)
Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more
uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right
and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of
men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped
them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always
skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is
based on "I am not too sure." -- H.L.Mencken
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the
intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell, philosopher,
mathematician, and author (1872-1970)
Some people drink deeply from the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
-- Grant M. Bright
If a triangle could speak, it would say, that God is eminently triangular,
while a circle would say that the divine nature is eminently circular.
-- Baruch Spinoza, philosopher (1632-1677)
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against its
government. -- Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (1927-1989)
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with
sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. -- Galileo
Galilei, physicist and astronomer (1564-1642)
The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough
to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well
enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over its government.
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President (1882-1945)
He who would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from
oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that
will reach to himself. -- Thomas Paine, philosopher and writer (1737-1809)
The fetters imposed on liberty at home have ever been forged out of the
weapons provided for defence against real, pretended, or imaginary dangers
from abroad. -- James Madison, 4th US president (1751-1836)
People who govern in the name of God attribute their own personal preferences to God, and therefore recognize no limit in imposing those preferences on other people. -- Douglas Johnstone, Alabama justice, about Chief Justice Roy Moore's placement of a Ten Commandments monument in the Alabama Judicial Building
Whenever morality is based on theology, whenever right is made dependent on
divine authority, the most immoral, unjust, infamous things can be
justified and established. -- Ludwig Feuerbach, philosopher (1804-1872)
In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really
good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they would actually
change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They
really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists
are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I
cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or
religion. -- Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)
Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth. -- Albert
Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose
our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. -- Abraham Lincoln,
16th U.S. President (1809-1865)
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single kind act is better than a
thousand head-bowings in prayer. -- Saadi, poet (c. 1200 AD)
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point
than the fact than a drunken man is happier than a sober one. -- George
Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate (1856-1950)
The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in
the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the
elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life - the sick, the needy and
the handicapped. -- Hubert Horatio Humphrey, US Vice President (1911-1978)
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of
fighting a foreign enemy. -- James Madison, fourth US president (1751-1836)
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. -- Edward R. Murrow, journalist
(1908-1965)
A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion.
Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they
consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move
against him, believing that he has the gods on his side. -- Aristotle,
philosopher (384-322 BCE)
Ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.
-- James Baldwin, writer (1924-1987)
News is what people want to keep hidden; everything else is publicity.
-- Bill Moyers, journalist (1934- )
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left
to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. -- Antoine de
Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (1900-1945)
Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret, especially
under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous. -- William
Proxmire, US senator, reformer (1915-2005)
When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more
hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever
been committed in the name of rebellion. -- C.P. Snow, scientist and writer
(1905-1980)
Dissent is what rescues democracy from a quiet death behind closed doors.
-- Lewis H. Lapham, editor (1935- )
Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a
troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be
left to irresponsible action. -- George Washington, 1st US president
(1732-1799)
It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart
you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong. -- Richard Feynman,
physicist, Nobel laureate (1918-1988)
Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness,
consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal
peace. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president (1890-1969)
The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of
morality by religion. -- Arthur C Clarke, science fiction writer (1917- )
Do I believe God is going to take away my illness when he turned an
entirely deaf ear to the six million Jews who went into the gas chambers?
-- Karen Armstrong, author (1944- )
I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his
creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who
is but a reflection of human frailty. -- Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel
laureate (1879-1955)
For money you can have everything it is said. No that is not true. You can
buy food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; soft beds, but not
sleep; knowledge but not intelligence; glitter, but not comfort; fun, but
not pleasure; acquaintances, but not friendship; servants, but not
faithfulness; grey hair, but not honor; quiet days, but not peace. The
shell of all things you can get for money. But not the kernel. That cannot
be had for money. -- Arne Garborg, writer (1851-1924)
When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion.
-- Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the U.S. (1809-1865)
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? -- Epicurus, philosopher (c. 341-270 BCE)
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