Favourite quotations

Unknown:
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

———————-

V. Lenin?
A lie told often enough becomes the truth.
 
We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity.
D. T.
 
[h=1]You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.

- Pablo Neruda
[/h]
 
To be in hell is to drift ; to be in heaven is to steer. (GB Shaw, Man and Superman)

I tell you that as long as I can conceive something better than myself I cannot be easy unless I am striving to bring it into existence or clearing the way for it. That is the law of my life. That is the working within me of Life's incessant aspiration to higher organisation, wider, deeper, intenser self-consciousness and clearer self-understanding. (Shaw. Man and Superman)

Life is not so important as the duties of life. (John Randolph of Roanoke)

Men at some time are masters of their fate: / The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
(Julius Caesar. Shakespeare)

They were men enough to face the darkness. (Conrad. Heart of Darkness) [In context, that darkness is the darkness of the jungle, but also the darkness lurking in the depths of men's heart, the instincts of domination and cruelty ]

The mind that has conceived a plan of living should never lose sight of the chaos against which that pattern was conceived.
(Ralph Ellison. Invisible man)

Of things whereof we have no certain knowledge, we ought to regulate our assent and moderate our persuasion. (John Locke)

But one thing I am sure of : we live by our lights, we die by our lights, and whoever the high gods may be, we'll look them in the eye without apology. (Walker Percy. The Moviegoer)

The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see. (Winston Churchill)

They lived and laughed and loved and left. (James Joyce, Finnegans Wake)

It was in the reign of George III that the above-named personages lived and quarrelled ; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now. (W. M. Thackeray, The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon)
 
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

(William Ernest Henley. Invictus)
 
​“Et tu, Brute?”

Pronunciation:

———————

Meglio soli che male accompagnati.
(Better alone than in bad Company)
 
hrvclv said:
To be in hell is to drift ; to be in heaven is to steer. (GB Shaw, Man and Superman)

I tell you that as long as I can conceive something better than myself I cannot be easy unless I am striving to bring it into existence or clearing the way for it. That is the law of my life. That is the working within me of Life's incessant aspiration to higher organisation, wider, deeper, intenser self-consciousness and clearer self-understanding. (Shaw. Man and Superman)

Life is not so important as the duties of life. (John Randolph of Roanoke)

Men at some time are masters of their fate: / The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
(Julius Caesar. Shakespeare)

They were men enough to face the darkness. (Conrad. Heart of Darkness) [In context, that darkness is the darkness of the jungle, but also the darkness lurking in the depths of men's heart, the instincts of domination and cruelty ]

The mind that has conceived a plan of living should never lose sight of the chaos against which that pattern was conceived.
(Ralph Ellison. Invisible man)

Of things whereof we have no certain knowledge, we ought to regulate our assent and moderate our persuasion. (John Locke)

But one thing I am sure of : we live by our lights, we die by our lights, and whoever the high gods may be, we'll look them in the eye without apology. (Walker Percy. The Moviegoer)

The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see. (Winston Churchill)

They lived and laughed and loved and left. (James Joyce, Finnegans Wake)

It was in the reign of George III that the above-named personages lived and quarrelled ; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now. (W. M. Thackeray, The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon)
Click to expand...

They're all good, but these in particular speak to me:

Life is not so important as the duties of life. (John Randolph of Roanoke)

They were men enough to face the darkness. (Conrad. Heart of Darkness) [In context, that darkness is the darkness of the jungle, but also the darkness lurking in the depths of men's heart, the instincts of domination and cruelty

They lived and laughed and loved and left. (James Joyce, Finnegans Wake)

A few of my own. Yes, I keep a list. A tip from one of my prep school teachers. It's like a chart of my life experiences in some ways.

These are all from Camus:

"[FONT=&quot]Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend."[/FONT]

"[FONT=&quot]A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world."[/FONT]

"[FONT=&quot]The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants."[/FONT]

"[FONT=&quot]In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer."[/FONT]


@Johane,
I adore Neruda...

"
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way than this:

where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep. ”"

"“Only do not forget, if I wake up crying
it's only because in my dream I'm a lost child

hunting through the leaves of the night for your hands....”

Sonnet 11 is so beautiful, but perhaps too intimate for this forum...
 
Every Night and every Morn
Some to Misery are born.
Every Morn and every Night
Some are born to Sweet Delight,
Some are born to Endless Night.
(William Blake - Auguries of Innocence)

And yet I quickly might arrive
Where my extended soul is fixed;
But Fate does iron wedges drive,
And always crowds itself betwixt.
(A. Marvell)

How far that little candle throws its beams:
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
(Shakespeare - Merchant of Venice)

While there is one untrodden tract
For intellect or will,
And men are free to think and act,
Life is worth living still.
(Alfred Austin)

For this is Wisdom; to love, to live
To take what fate, or the Gods may give.
To ask no question, to make no prayer,
To kiss the lips and caress the hair,
Speed passion's ebb as you greet its flow
To have, - to hold - and - in time, - let go!
(Laurence Hope - The Teak Forest)

A baby is God's opinion that life should go on.
(C. Sandburg. Remembrance Rock)
 
Don't argue with an idiot, they bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.
 
hrvclv said:
Every Night and every Morn
Some to Misery are born.
Every Morn and every Night
Some are born to Sweet Delight,
Some are born to Endless Night.
(William Blake - Auguries of Innocence)

And yet I quickly might arrive
Where my extended soul is fixed;
But Fate does iron wedges drive,
And always crowds itself betwixt.
(A. Marvell)

How far that little candle throws its beams:
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
(Shakespeare - Merchant of Venice)

While there is one untrodden tract
For intellect or will,
And men are free to think and act,
Life is worth living still.
(Alfred Austin)

For this is Wisdom; to love, to live
To take what fate, or the Gods may give.
To ask no question, to make no prayer,
To kiss the lips and caress the hair,
Speed passion's ebb as you greet its flow
To have, - to hold - and - in time, - let go!
(Laurence Hope - The Teak Forest)

A baby is God's opinion that life should go on.
(C. Sandburg. Remembrance Rock)
Click to expand...

I too vacillate between believing in fate and in man's control of his own destiny. :)
 
Ten John Donne poems everyone should read, especially lovers. Pretty good for a priest...pretty good for anyone.

https://interestingliterature.com/2016/02/23/10-john-donne-poems-everyone-should-read/

If I had to pick a favorite it would probably be his valediction of his wife Anne on her passing. The following is more famous, however.

He is always a master at fusing the physical and the metaphysical, erotic and spiritual imagery.

"Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die."
 
Angela said:
I too vacillate between believing in fate and in man's control of his own destiny. :)
Click to expand...

Yes... it all depends who/what you are faced with. Remember your Shakespeare. Sometimes, values and virtues will make a difference :

"- Claudius : What shall stay you? - Laertes : My will, not all the world's." (Hamlet)

But when Fate strikes, life is no more than "a tale told by an idiot [...] signifying nothing." (Macbeth)

All you can do then is "Shut up and hold on" (not Shakespeare, this time. Just a personal motto I caught a glimpse of on the licence plate of an automobile somewhere in New Mexico years ago)
 
hrvclv said:
Yes... it all depends who/what you are faced with. Remember your Shakespeare. Sometimes, values and virtues will make a difference :

"- Claudius : What shall stay you? - Laertes : My will, not all the world's." (Hamlet)

But when Fate strikes, life is no more than "a tale told by an idiot [...] signifying nothing." (Macbeth)

All you can do then is "Shut up and hold on" (not Shakespeare, this time. Just a personal motto I caught a glimpse of on the licence plate of an automobile somewhere in New Mexico years ago)
Click to expand...

Shut up and hold on may become my new motto. :)

Sounds like a Clint Eastwood saying.
 
Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.

Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.


- Benjamin Franklin -

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The End
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Not the most favourite but has to be the most 'shortsighted'. "Peace for our time" 30th Sept 1938 by Neville Chamberlain, shortly before the most deadliest war in history began, within a year of this statement, with over 60,000,000 deaths
 
"If you find something very difficult to achieve yourself, don't imagine it impossible- for anything possible and proper for another person can be achieved as easily by you"

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.19

This comes from a book I was given, entitled "The Daily Stoic". It has a lot of great quotes. Notably, many are from Marcus Aurelius:

https://books.google.com/books/abou...ver&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false
 
“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.”
― Robert Frost
 
General Sir Charles Napier (conqueror and Governor of Sindh)

Napier opposed suttee, or sati. This was the custom of burning a widow alive on the funeral pyre of her husband. Sati was rare in Sindh during the time Napier stayed in this region. Napier judged that the immolation was motivated by profits for the priests, and when told of an actual Sati about to take place, he informed those involved that he would stop the sacrifice. The priests complained to him that this was a customary religious rite, and that customs of a nation should be respected. As recounted by his brother William, he replied:

"Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs"
 
"There is no such thing as society: there are individual men and women, and there are families."
Margaret Thacher
 
Just another thing that old white men got right.

John Adams on our legal system:

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From "A Few Good Men":

"It doesn't matter what I believe; it only matters what I can prove."
 
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