More of my favorite quotes

Erich Vieth | December 22, 2009 | Comments (0)

I love good quotes. There’s a novel in every sentence. Some of them are explosive. I collect them from many sources, though I see many of them on my homepage, which is set for The Quotations Page. Here are my favorite quotes that I’ve collected over the past few months:

-If you would cure anger, do not feed it. Say to yourself: ‘I used to be angry every day; then every other day; now only every third or fourth day.’ When you reach thirty days offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the gods.
Epictetus (55 AD – 135 AD)

-Life is a series of things you’re not quite ready for.
Rob Hopkins, of the Post Carbon Institute

-An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today.
Laurence J. Peter (1919 – 1988)

-The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 – 2006)

-The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make a criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal . . . If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.
Malcolm X Speaks, p.93

-As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.
Voltaire

-The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an oracle, is inborn in us.
Paul Valery (1871 – 1945), 1895

-Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.
Gail Godwin

-Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense.
Carl Sagan (1934 – 1996)

-It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
Voltaire (1694 – 1778)

-About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment.
Josh Billings (1818 – 1885)

-What if the price of machines that think is people who don’t?
George Dyson

-I count religion but a childish toy, and hold there is no sin but ignorance.
–Christopher Marlowe, English playwright

-Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.
Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970)

-The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.
Friedrich Hegel

-Parting is all we need to know of hell.
Emily Dickinson

-There are some that only employ words for the purpose of disguising their thoughts.
Voltaire (1694 – 1778), Dialogue, XIV, “Le Chapon et la Poularde” (1766)

-He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)

-Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.
William Dement, in Newsweek, 1959

-There are few nudities so objectionable as the naked truth.
Agnes Repplier (1855 – 1950)

-Man is the only animal whose desires increase as they are fed; the only animal that is never satisfied.
Henry George (1839 – 1897)

Recent Comments

Karl on …Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others…
It's just a simple common human SOP when it comes to dealing with differing worldviews that are considered to be irreconcilable unless one or the other can agree to some common shared authoritarian point of view.The Koran inspired by Mohammed does contain much good, but Muslims admit it is their preference to keep people in line through fear. They... »
Karl on …Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others…
Tony,I meant no personal affront to you in any way, if that is how it was perceived please forgive my choice of words and the apparent tone conveyed. My point was to say that before a parent lets a child "freely" decide a worldview different than their own there would likely be some times where the child might very well question the "love" of tha... »
Mark Tiedemann on …Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others…
Karl,Rather than hash this out, personal anecdote to personal viewpoint, let me refer you to Jon Krakauer's excellent book "Under the Banner of Heaven."You assume, though, that the agony was mine. It was not. I saw what I described, though it was not directed at me. (My parents had a rough departure and certainly some of that bled over into my ... »
Tony Coyle on Refusing to recognize marriage
Bravo!I may borrow that! My own 'longtime companion' and I lived together for over 7 years before getting married in a civil ceremony (15 minutes at the registry office, with two neighbors as witnesses) just over fifteen years ago (so we've now been together over 22 years as a co-habiting couple).The label only made a difference in how other people... »
Tony Coyle on …Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others…
Mark, Beck wishes he could be as influential as Fr. Coughlin. That old priest (young at the time!) was influential because he had his own ideas, and especially at the outset, his ideas resonated strongly with the zeitgeist which garnered him popularity, a national audience, and a position of influence among many otherwise disparate groups.Beck is ... »
Tony Coyle on …Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others…
KarlOne of my oldest colleagues is a bishop in the Mormon Church - I like him as a person, and he does a good job. We've spoken from time to time about his church work and it does include the, to him upsetting but necessary, act of exclusion for 'apostacy' - leave if you wish, but if you do, you're gone!Mark has spoken from time to time about his u... »
Karl on …Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others…
Mark,I hear you saying you know from personal experience and the experience of others that the Christians of the Church of Latter Day Saints do not let their children "freely" choose in matters of there own faith. There will be those who will disagree with you and there will be those who agree with you. Does the proportion matter -no- to you it w... »
Mark Tiedemann on …Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others…
Glenn Beck wants to be a contemporary Father Conklin. Those of you who don't know who that was, Google it, do your own research. »
Mark Tiedemann on …Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others…
Karl writes:---"Mormanism has morality and Mormanism lets others including their own children decide freely what they will concerning its beliefs and doctrines."The hell they do. The price for deciding that Joseph Smith was a charlatan and another path might be "better" is extreme ostracism. There is no acceptance within the group for deviation. ... »
Tony Coyle on …Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others…
Not to put words into Karl's mouth, but from an outsider's perspective what I see is that Mormons are simply less odious to Evangelical Christians than those brown-skinned people. Any port in a storm, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend.From Karl's previous posts, I believe he is being honest in his comment. I do not get the same vibe of honest... »
Tony Coyle on …Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others…
Re: "Glenn Beck" and the religious right. I think his "free pass" is simply more evidence of their astounding ability to compartmentalize.He exudes right-wing talking points that resonate strongly with them, so they accept those talking points, and Beck by association.You'll note that until the recent LoveFest at the Lincoln Memorial, Beck rarely ... »
Karl on …Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others…
Mormanism has morality and Mormanism lets others including their own children decide freely what they will concerning its beliefs and doctrines.Mormanism has actually shown an initial degree of an ability to change beliefs that may have become doctrines that appear to be out of line with much of the rest of Christianity.Mormanism in its current for... »
Erich Vieth on …Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others…
And how does Glen Beck get a "free pass" from the Christian Right, even though he is a Mormon? »
Tony Coyle on …Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others…
I wonder if they understand that their "Christian" (presumably evangelical, according to the url on the poster) services are funding the Mormon Church?A few years ago, such behavior would have been decried as vehemently as funding for Islam! »
Erich Vieth on Not the end of Iraq combat operations
At least the AP recognizes that Obama's claim about "end of combat" is a lie:http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45&aid=190064 »
Erich Vieth on …Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others…
Posters like this are purportedly popping up all around "ground zero." http://i.imgur.com/hCltS.jpg »
Erich Vieth on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
. . . and to read a good book on natural selection . . . in this blog's dungeon! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA (evil laugh). [Tony nods, approvingly] »
Tony Coyle on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Like I said, Erich, you're too nice. For such high crimes, most blogs have a dungeon. »
Erich Vieth on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
I'm tempted to begin a new "policy" from today forward. Those disparaging the scientific theory of evolution by natural selection must, in order to deserve a reply (other than a copy and paste of this comment) must, in their own words, describe the basic elements of the theory and at least a few of the many types of evidence supporting the theory. ... »
Erich Vieth on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
When I'm nice (or not) it's always for Machiavellian reasons. »
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