![[Collected aphorisms]](images/new.gif)
Since you came to this page of quotations, you might also check out my ramblings at the aphorisms page which contains a collection of my thoughts. I would also encourage you to read some of my essays.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. - Lao Tzu
The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it. - Bertrand RussellEverything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. - Albert EinsteinWhether you believe you can, or whether you believe you can't, you're absolutely right. - Henry FordIt is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end - Ursula K. Le GuinThe danger from computers is not that they will eventually get as smart as men, but we will meanwhile agree to meet them halfway. - Bernard Avishai I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. - Stephen HawkingYou can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, "My God, you're right! I never would've thought of that!" - Sean Connery We take in a breath of air, possibly holding within our bodies for one brief moment a molecule that spun out from the stars we see all around us. Endlessly repeated, in and out, now more, now less. - Robert AlbrightSelfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. - Oscar Wilde I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet gone ourselves. - E. M. ForsterYou lose it if you talk about it. - Ernest HemingwayGenius, in truth, means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way. - William JamesComputers are useless. They can only give you answers. - Pablo Picasso It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision which the nature of the subject admits and not to seek exactness where only an approximation is possible. - AristotleIn real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be. - Hubert H. Humphrey Religion is a defense against the experience of God. - Carl G. JungOnce the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box. - Italian Proverb Internet is so big, so powerful and pointless that for some people it is a complete substitute for life. - Andrew BrownDiscovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought. - Albert Szent-Gyorgi Virtue is insufficient temptation. - George Bernard ShawBe not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many. - SpinozaMetaphysics is a restaurant where they give you a thirty thousand page menu, and no food. - Robert M. Pirsig Wear the old coat and buy the new book. - Austin PhelpsThe boys throw rocks at the frogs in jest. But the frogs die in earnest. - BionSome people are so opposed to murder that they'll kill anyone who commits it. - anti-capital punishment slogan The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny...' - Isaac AsimovIt is not the horse that draws the cart, but the oats. - Russian proverb Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. - B. F. SkinnerThe meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed. - Carl G. Jung It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. - KrishnamurtiOne's mind has a way of making itself up in the background, and it suddenly becomes clear what one means to do. - A. C. Benson Try the Ontological Argument on your mother and see what happens.... - Peter L. Heath Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right. - Isaac Asimov "Reality" is the only word in the English language that should always be used in quotes. - Unknown If you could see the you that I see, when I see you seeing me, you'd see yourself so differently - believe me. - Henry Rollins Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. - Plato When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you. - African proverb I don't want to achieve immortality through my work - I want to achieve immortality by not dying. - Woody Allen Money's only important when you don't have any. - Sting A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. - Winston S. Churchill The world is governed more by appearance than realities so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to know it. - Webster I have had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it. - Groucho MarxLife does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh. - George Bernard ShawWhat you were, and what you are to become, will always be with you. - QIt may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier. - Lazarus LongA government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take from you everything you have. - Gerald R. FordIt is no coincidence that in no known language does the phrase 'as pretty as an airport' exist. - Douglas Adams Interestingly, according to modern astronomers, space is finite. This is a very comforting thought - particularly for people who cannot remember where they left things. - Woody AllenDo not do unto others as you would they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same. - George Bernard Shaw Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy. - George Bernard ShawA government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. - George Bernard ShawThe mind is its own place, and in it self can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n. - John MiltonBlack as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love. - traditional Turkish description of good coffee It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - AristotleWar does not determine who is right - only who is left. - Bertrand RussellThe power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. - George Bernard ShawOne should not attempt to cross a chasm in two bounds. - Chinese proverb What a wonderful miracle, if only we could look through each other's eyes for an instant. - Henry David ThoreauEach moment is a place we've never been. - Mark Strand When the most important things in our life happen we quite often do not know, at the moment, what is going on. - C.S. LewisTreasure each other in the recognition that we do not know how long we will have each other. - Joshua Liebman There is not any memory with less satisfaction than the memory of some temptation we resisted. - James Branch CabellNatives who beat drums to drive off evil spirits are objects of scorn to smart Americans who blow horns to break up traffic jams. - Mary Ellen Kelly What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet. - William ShakespeareThere are people who strictly deprive themselves of each and every eatable, drinkable, and smokable which has in any way acquired a shady reputation. They pay this price for health. And health is all they get for it. How strange it is. It is like paying out your whole fortune for a cow that has gone dry. - Mark Twain You shouldn't say it is not good. You should say, you do not like it; and then, you know, you're perfectly safe. - James WhistlerNever give advice... A wise man won't need it; a fool won't heed it. - Unknown Life is:'trying things to see if they work' - Ray BradburyMediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius. - Arthur Conan Doyle If at first you don't succeed, well, so much for skydiving. - Victor O'ReillyBeware of all enterprises that require new clothes. - Henry David Thoreau Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person. - Mark TwainIf it turns out that there is a God, I don't think that he's evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he's an underachiever. - Woody Allen Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go. - Oscar WildeThere are no facts, only interpretations. - Friedrich Nietzsche We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing. - R. D. LaingWe choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. - Kahlil Gibran Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be. - Kahlil GibranThe pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple. - Oscar Wilde The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is. - George Bernard ShawPrinciples have no real force except when one is well-fed. - Mark Twain One should respect public opinion insofar as it is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny. - Bertrand Russell This isn't right. This isn't even wrong. - Wolfgang Pauli You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. - Plato Some people need to sit in the sand before they make a good impression. - Robert Albright No matter where you go, there you are. - Buckaroo Bonzai Force yourself to relax. - David Gerrold Never gie advice: the wise don't need it, and the foolish won't heed it. - Unknown Why did the self-aware being look in the mirror? Because it was lonely. - Greg Bear We don't perceive anything; we conceive it. Money will buy you a pretty good dog, but it won't buy the wag of his tail. - Unknown Every word is a preconceived judgment. -Friedrich Nietzsche How blessworthy to be useful. How wearying to be used. - Robert Silverberg (The World Inside) The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts. - Bertrand Russell Look in the mirror, and don't be tempted to equate transient domination with either intrinsic superiority or prospects for extended survival. - Stephen Jay Gould Life is too important to take seriously. - Corky Siegel People have one thing in common: they are all different. - Unknown It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others. - John Andrew Holmes If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. - Anatole France Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. - Plato There are no rules for great souls: rules are only for people who have merely the talent that can be acquired. - Delacroix Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one. - A.J. Liebling You are forgiven for your happiness and your successes only if you generously consent to share them. - Albert Camus When the rich make war it's the poor that die. - Jean-Paul Sartre In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. - Orson Scott Card I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive. - Joseph Campbell Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word solitude to express the glory of being alone. - Paul Johannes Tillich Often, the surest way to convey misinformation is to tell the strict truth. - Mark Twain As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. - Albert Einstein To Dare is to risk losing your foothold for a moment, Not to Dare is to risk losing yourself. - Soren Kierkegaard I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations - one can either do this or do that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it - you will regret both. - Soren Kierkegaard Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do. An odd moment in the afternoon. - Jean-Paul Sartre It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself. - Johann Sebastian Bach If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done. - Ludwig Wittgenstein If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all. - John Cage I don't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. - John Cage He [Sir Stafford Cripps] has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire. - Sir Winston Churchill Appealing workplaces are to be avoided. One wants a room with no view, so imagination can meet memory in the dark. - Anne Dillard I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. - Albert Einstein Listen, or your tongue will make you deaf. - Native American Proverb To use the same words is not a sufficient guarantee of understanding; one must use the same words for the same genus of inward experience; ultimately one must have one's experiences in common. - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question. - Eugene Ionesco I am not young enough to know everything. - Oscar Wilde Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is. - Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut There were things on the walls. Like the patterns in the room behind, many were impossible to focus on directly, too different from anything in human perception to convey meaning to the brain. The eye perceived them blankly, drawing no conclusions. - C.L. Moore, Doorway into Time If we decide we really want health, security, freedom from pain, we must be willing to exchange our individuality for it. The use of any tool implies a loss of freedom.... When man started using a hand ax he lost the freedom to climb and walk on all fours, but more important, he lost the freedom not to use the hand ax. - John Sladek I find that humans can be divided only into two meaningful categories: Decent Humans and Sonsofbitches; both types appear to be evenly distributed among all shapes, colors, sizes and nationalities. - Keith Laumer ...atoms, which keep eternal silence, for atoms have no history, are all equal to each other, whether they come from the strongest stars of from dead planets, or intelligent beings, both good and evil, because matter is the same throughout the Universe and no one need have fear of it. - Stanislaw Lem Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, "This is the real me," and when you have found that attitude, follow it. - William James People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use. - Soren Kierkegaard When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. - Helen Keller Man is not the sum of what he has but the total of what he does not yet have, of what he might have. - Jean Paul Sartre We have no need to teach pure motives to the mind. All that is necessary to make the mind pure is to undo the negative conditioning to which it has been subjected; then we will be left with pure, unconditioned awareness. - Eknath Easwaran What concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are. - Epicetus The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays. - Soren Kierkegaard It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question. - Decouvertes
