I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
Bertrand Russell 1872 - 1970
1872 - 1970
Entire Collection
Individuality seems to be Nature's whole aim - and she cares nothing for individuals.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 - 1832
Gross, J. (1983). The Oxford book of aphorisms. Oxford University Press.
1749 - 1832
Gross, J. (1983). The Oxford book of aphorisms. Oxford University Press.
Quick, ask a teenager while they still know it all.
Read on a bumper sticker
Read on a bumper sticker
I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle.
1775 - 1817
‘Pride and Prejudice’ Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
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)
You don’t have a soul, Doctor. You are a soul. You have a body, temporarily.
1923 - 1996
A Canticle for Leibowitz
I am convinced that there are genuine and valid levels of perception available with cannabis (and probably with other drugs) which are, through the defects of our society and our educational system, unavailable to us without such drugs. Such a remark applies not only to self-awareness and to intellectual pursuits, but also to perceptions of real people, a vastly enhanced sensitivity to facial expression, intonations, and choice of words which sometimes yields a rapport so close it's as if two people are reading each other's minds.
Carl Sagan 1934 - 1996
1934 - 1996
A generous and elevated mind is distinguished by nothing more certainly than an eminent degree of curiosity.
Samuel Johnson 1709 - 1784
1709 - 1784
Right...is the child of law: from real laws come real rights; but from imaginary laws, from laws of nature, fancied and invented by poets, rhetoricians, and dealers in moral and intellectual poisons, come imaginary rights, a bastard brood of monsters.
Jeremy Bentham 1748 - 1832
1748 - 1832
One man is as good as another until he has written a book.
Benjamin Jowett 1817 - 1893
1817 - 1893
It was just like some ancient electricity-powered computer; it didn't matter how fast, error-free, and tireless it was, it didn't matter how great a labour-saving boon it was, it didn't matter what it could do or how many different ways it could amaze; if you pulled its plug out, or just hit the off button, all it became was a lump of matter; all its programs became just settings, dead instructions, and all its computations vanished as quickly as they'd moved. It was, also, like the dependency of the human-basic brain on the human-basic body; no matter how intelligent, perceptive and gifted you were, no matter how entirely you lived for the ascetic rewards of the intellect and eschewed the material world and the ignobility of the flesh, if your heart just gave out... That was the Dependency Principle; that you could never forget where your off switches were located, even if it was somewhere tiresome.
1954 - 2013
Excession
Don't worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.
Attributed to Miles Davis
Attributed to Miles Davis
There was silence deep as death, And the boldest held his breath For a time.
1777 - 1844
'Battle of the Baltic', st. 2, on the Battle of Copenhagen (1801)
Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.
Samuel Johnson 1709 - 1784
1709 - 1784
Revenge is not always sweet: once it is consummated we feel inferior to our victim.
1911 - 1995
History & Utopia (1960)
Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.
1903 - 1950
Orwell, G. (1949). Nineteen eighty-four. London: Secker & Warburg.
It [the Pyramids] seems to have been erected only in compliance with that hunger of imagination which preys incessantly upon life, and must be always appeased by some employment...I consider this mighty structure as a monument of the insufficiency of human enjoyments.
Samuel Johnson 1709 - 1784
1709 - 1784
A monologue is not a decision.
Clement Attlee 1883 - 1967
1883 - 1967
There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point… The truly adult view, by contrast, is that our life is as meaningful, as full and as wonderful as we choose to make it.
born 1941
The God Delusion
Language is fossil poetry.
Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 - 1882
1803 - 1882
I’ll try to be around and about. But if I’m not, then you know that I’m behind your eyelids, and I’ll meet you there.
Terence McKenna 1946 - 2000
1946 - 2000
Penetrating so many secrets, we cease to believe in the unknowable. But there it sits nevertheless, calmly licking its chops.
H. L. Mencken 1880 - 1956
1880 - 1956
Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. 1809 - 1894
on Samuel Francis Smith : Knowles, E. (1999). The Oxford dictionary of quotations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
1809 - 1894
on Samuel Francis Smith : Knowles, E. (1999). The Oxford dictionary of quotations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
With leaden foot time creeps along While Delia is away.
Richard Jago 1715 - 1781
1715 - 1781
We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!
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)