Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organisation of hatreds.
Henry Adams 1838 - 1918
1838 - 1918
Entire Collection
What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.
1934 - 1996
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1990 Update)
Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. The library connects us with the insights and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all of our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species. Public libraries depend on voluntary contributions. I think the health of our civilisation, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.
1934 - 1996
Cosmos (1980)
How can I help seeing what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four.' 'Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane.'
1903 - 1950
Orwell, G. (1949). Nineteen eighty-four. London: Secker & Warburg.
The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries but between authoritarians and libertarians.
George Orwell 1903 - 1950
1903 - 1950
He begins working calculus problems in his head as soon as he awakens. He did calculus while driving in his car, while sitting in the living room, and while lying in bed at night.
Cited on her divorce complaint form when separating from Richard Feynman
Cited on her divorce complaint form when separating from Richard Feynman
A cup of tea would restore my normality.
Douglas Adams 1952 - 2001
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ‘‘Fit the Fifth’’ (radio program) (1978)
1952 - 2001
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ‘‘Fit the Fifth’’ (radio program) (1978)
God is a lie, we made him up for money!
Spoken my a crazed priest Television show 'Rick and Morty' S3 E6 (2017)
Spoken my a crazed priest Television show 'Rick and Morty' S3 E6 (2017)
He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.
Douglas Adams 1952 - 2001
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ‘‘Fit the Fifth’’ (radio program) (1978)
1952 - 2001
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ‘‘Fit the Fifth’’ (radio program) (1978)
Science replaces private prejudice with public, verifiable evidence.
Richard Dawkins born 1941
born 1941
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
1940 - 2021
Often missattributed to Mark Twain. http://quoteinvestigator.com/
I have never understood this liking for war. It panders to instincts already catered for within the scope of any respectable domestic establishment.
Alan Bennett born 1934
born 1934
His doubts are better than most people’s certainties.
Philip Yorke 1690 - 1764
On ‘Dirleton’s Doubts’, in James Boswell ‘The Life of Samuel Johnson’ : Knowles, E. (1999). The Oxford dictionary of quotations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
1690 - 1764
On ‘Dirleton’s Doubts’, in James Boswell ‘The Life of Samuel Johnson’ : Knowles, E. (1999). The Oxford dictionary of quotations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses.
Carl Sagan 1934 - 1996
1934 - 1996
Every hero becomes a bore at last.
Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 - 1882
1803 - 1882
Modern science has been a voyage into the unknown, with a lesson in humility waiting at every stop. Many passengers would rather have stayed home.
1934 - 1996
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
I don't care for my other books, now, but I dote on this one as Adam used to dote on a fresh new deformed child after he was 900 years old and wasn't expecting any more surprises.
1835 - 1910
Regarding his Autobiography Letter to William D. Howells, 17 June 17 1906
Philosophy is to science what pornography is to sex.
Steve Jones born 1944
born 1944
I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.
Vincent van Gogh 1853 - 1890
1853 - 1890
I feel within me a peace above all earthly dignities, a still and quiet conscience.
William Shakespeare 1564 - 1616
Used in 'Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy' (2017). With thanks to C-Lee
1564 - 1616
Used in 'Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy' (2017). With thanks to C-Lee
If your dreams don't scare you they aren’t big enough.
Muhammad Ali 1942 - 2016
1942 - 2016
Magic is the only honest profession. A magician promises to deceive you and he does.
Karl Germain 1878 - 1959
1878 - 1959
In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.
Ivan Illich 1926 - 2002
1926 - 2002
I remember when our whole island was shaken with an earthquake some years ago, there was an impudent mountebank who sold pills which (as he told the country people) were very good against an earthquake.
Joseph Addison 1672 - 1719
1672 - 1719