Quotes thread

2746 Views 48 Replies 22 Participants Last post by SINC, Sep 15, 2009

bryanc

Discussion Starter · Aug 27, 2009

I've seen a lot of great quotes here over the years... in people's signatures or in their postings.

So I thought I'd start a thread in which we post quotes (preferably with attributions) that we find philosophically edifying, uplifting, or just amusing.

I'll start:

"I wish to propose for the reader's favourable consideration a doctrine which may, I fear, appear wildly paradoxical and subversive. The doctrine in question is this: that it is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true." -- Bertrand Russell

1 - 20 of 49 Posts

bryanc

Discussion Starter · #2 · Aug 27, 2009

Here's another, from Ted Kennedy's eulogy for his brother:

"Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery and valor, or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world." - Ted Kennedy

SINC

· #3 · Aug 27, 2009

"Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need." - Will Rogers

MLeh

· #4 · Aug 27, 2009

"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." - Samuel Johnson

monokitty

· #5 · Aug 27, 2009

MLeh said:
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." - Samuel Johnson

Excellent quote!

monokitty

· #6 · Aug 27, 2009

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
-- Edmund Burke

MannyP Design

· #7 · Aug 27, 2009

MLeh said:
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." - Samuel Johnson

One of my favs:

Judge a man not by how he treasts his equals, but by how he treats the littlest of us all.

MannyP Design

· #8 · Aug 27, 2009

Without music, life would be a mistake. — Friedrich Nietzsche

chasMac

· #9 · Aug 27, 2009

Thought about posting this one in the "respect for recently deceased" thread:

There is no man so blessed that some who stand by his deathbed won't hail the occassion with delight.

-Marcus Aurelius

SINC

· #10 · Aug 27, 2009

"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." - Winston Churchill

CubaMark

· #11 · Aug 27, 2009

“As I have said before, the ever more sophisticated weapons piling up in the arsenals of the wealthiest and the mightiest can kill the illiterate, the ill, the poor and the hungry, but they cannot kill ignorance, illness, poverty or hunger”

- Fidel Castro

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Froggy-san

· #12 · Aug 27, 2009

The quote that I govern almost everything I do by actually comes from a Quaker Oats commercial:

"Because it's the right thing to do." - Wilford Brimley

Froggy-san

· #13 · Aug 27, 2009

Lars said:
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
-- Edmund Burke

Can't remember what movie it was in but I remember the line exactly:

"They say that evil prevails when good men do nothing. What they should have said was 'Evil prevails.'"

EDIT: I remember now... Lord of War was the movie. The old memory synapsis weren't firing at full steam... Need more rum!

Lichen Software

· #14 · Aug 27, 2009

Lazarus Long AKA Robert Heinlein

I fell in love with Heinlein's books but really really enjoyed Lazarus Long. Following are some quotes.

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits.

Always store beer in a dark place.

Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor.

Get a shot off fast. This upsets him long enough to let you make your second shot perfect.

If it can't be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion. It has long been known that one horse can run faster than another — but which one? Differences are crucial.

If you don't like yourself, you can't like other people.

Never appeal to a man's "better nature." He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.

and one of my favourites:

Peace is an extension of war by political means. Plenty of elbow room is pleasanter — and much safer.

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Lichen Software

· #15 · Aug 27, 2009

And My Favourite

Couldn't find it in the quotes so it may not be perfect:

If one is having an argument with one's wife and one should find out that one is right ... One should apologize immediately

Rps

· #16 · Aug 27, 2009

One of my favourites comes from the tv show Cheers:

" How's a beer sound Norm",

"I don't know Coach, I usually quaff them down before they get a word in"

MLeh

· #17 · Aug 28, 2009

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Lichen Software

· #18 · Aug 28, 2009

MLeh said:
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Very true. You find that out when the chips are down. You also find your friends that you did not know existed.

MacDoc

· #19 · Aug 28, 2009

Tanstaafl

Griz

· #20 · Aug 28, 2009

Froggy-san said:
"Because it's the right thing to do." - Wilford Brimley

Wilford was clearly a card=-carrying member of the Universal Life Church...

I like alot of Bertrand Russell's quotes.

Also, of course the ever famous Tolkien quote:

"Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends."

Somewhat beaten to death, but still of value.

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