I collect quotes (who doesn’t?). Really, it’s a good hobby. It’s cheap and often interesting. When they are really good quotes, it’s like a novel condensed to a mere sentence.
The first two of this set are about one of my favorite topics, rampant materialism. The others all relate closely to one another, but only if you have a wild imagination or if you think of a very broad topic like “meaning of life.” Without further ado:
Who is content with nothing possesses all things.
— Nicolas Boileau Despreaux
Wealth is the number of things one can do without.
— Feodor Dostoyevsky
The trouble is that you think you have time.
— Zen Master
Observe your enemies, for they first find out your faults.
— Antisthenes
A hole is nothing at all, but you can break your neck in it.
— Austin O’Malley
War is when the government tells you who the bad guy is. Revolution is when you decide that for yourself.
–Anonymous
Never mistake motion for action.
— Ernest Hemingway
A good conscience is a soft pillow.
–anon
Every day people are straying from the church and going back to God.
–Lenny Bruce, comedian (1926-1966)
The love of one’s country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?
–Pablo Casals, cellist (1876-1973)
A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.
— Saul Bellow
Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.
-Marcus Tullius Cicero, statesman, orator, and writer (1006-43 BCE)
Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.
–William Dement (Sleep Researcher)
We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
–Albert Einstein
Adventure is the result of poor planning.
— Col. Blatchford Snell
The mind is not a single organ but a system of organs.
–Steven Pinker
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
–Douglas Adams (1952 – 2001)
No answer is also an answer.
–American Indian Proverb, Hopi
I tried to post this before but my computer hiccupped. Let me try it again. I came across your site when I was doing some research for a post I'm doing on the psychology of superstition. So maybe your category of 'snake oil' isn't too far off. Thanks for the quotes–I'll add them to my collection. You have an ecclectic group of contributors. When you all get together it's got to be a jamming time! G.
Grace: Thanks for visiting. Your last sentence is intriguing. Most of us haven't met each other in person. It's really a shame. Perhaps we ought to set a time and place to allow that to occur. Many of our contributors are from the St. Louis area, but we have other writers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, California, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Germany and India. Thanks for planting that seed . . .