The quotations thread

[Bijo]

This thread is intended to display existing (famous/known) quotes from whoever you want/like, or generally unknown people, or anonymous people. So, let's go, eh?!
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All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. -- Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642)

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened. -- Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly. -- Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you'll never find it. -- C. P. Snow (1905 - 1980)

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. -- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

We hate some persons because we do not know them; and we will not know them because we hate them. -- Charles Caleb Colton (1780 - 1832)

Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom. -- Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use. -- Søren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855)

Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes. -- Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

It is nobler to declare oneself wrong than to insist on being right - especially when one is right. -- Friedrich Nietzsche

Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche

Why are our days numbered and not, say, lettered? -- Woody Allen

It is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light, and certainly not desirable, as one's hat keeps blowing off. -- Woody Allen

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. -- Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. -- James Branch Cabell (1879 - 1958)

[Csargo]

Look at the sig man

[Sasaki Kojiro]

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo"--Rapaport

[AntiochusIII]

I can't explain how tempted I am right now to spam the whole thing with DESU. So have this balloon instead:

[Cronos Impera]

"The ink of scholars transforms into the blood of idiots and viceversa.(see revolutions, wars and hooliganism)" Myself
"They are a mob of idiots, but neverless they are a mob" Alexandru Lapusneanul
"If you don't want me, I want you" Alexandru Lapusneanul
"Culture means power, power means money, money means survival" Myself
"

[drone]

"My advice to you, is to start drinking heavily".
John Blutarsky

[Kralizec]

It's good for an uneducated man to read a book of quotes - Winston Churchill (paraphrased)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Just messing with you

[Bijo]

It's good for an uneducated man to read a book of quotes - Winston Churchill (paraphrased)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Just messing with you

Yeah, I know that one. What about an educated man who has lost inspiration? ;)

[Fisherking]

Hay! Not a bad idea for a thread you know.

Here are a couple I have been saving…especially the first….like when someone agrees with you…

I was very sorry when I found out that your intentions were good and not what I supposed they were.
Sitting Bull

There are things they tell us that sound good to hear, but when they have accomplished their purpose they will go home and will not try to fulfill our agreements with them.
Sitting Bull


And a few more

It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.
Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)

On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.
Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)

Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate; now what's going to happen to us with both a Senate and a House?
Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)

There ought to be one day-- just one-- when there is open season on senators.
Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)

There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.
Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
Will Rogers (1879 - 1935),

[dacdac]

I love Patton (greatest general of modern times) so here we go:

A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.

When a man is lying in a shell hole, if he just stays there all day, a German will get to him eventually. The hell with that idea. The hell with taking it. My men don't dig foxholes. I don't want them to. Foxholes only slow up an offensive. Keep moving. And don't give the enemy time to dig one either.

I don't want to get any messages saying, "I am holding my position." We are not holding a Goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living hell out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like s*** through a tin horn!

If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.

Just drive down that road until you get blown up.-Instructions to reconnaissance troops

May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't.

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.

The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill their blood. Shoot them in the belly. When you put your hand into a bunch of goo that a moment before was your best friend's face, you'll know what to do.

Only a New Orleans pimp would carry a pearl-handled pistol. These are ivory.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Camping is nature's way of promoting the motel business. -Dave Barry

I realize that I'm generalizing here, but as is often the case when I generalize, I don't care. -Dave Barry

It was Public Art, defined as art that is purchased by experts who are not spending their own personal money. -Dave Barry

As Americans we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful, and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government. -Dave Barry

And the classic...

"Any opinion [Sasaki] gives on the matter is suspicious"--Crazed Rabbit

CR

[Quietus]

1) "Can you explain why blue looks blue?" - Francis Crick

2) "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind" - Redemption Song (live in Germany 1980) by Bob Marley.

3) "Only a fool, lean upon, lean upon his own misunderstanding, oh yeah." - Forever Loving Jah by Bob Marley.

4) "I am that I am, I am, I am, I am." - I Am That I Am by Peter Tosh.

[Caius]

Veni,Vidi,Vici.Gaius Julius Cesar

[ajaxfetish]

Well, in lieu of having a bunch of excellent quotations stored away in my mind or on a personal list somewhere, I'll just bust out my Franklin Day Planner and see what ones I like. Here goes.

There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy--Robert Louis Stevenson

Beauty is no quality in things themselves: it exists merely in the mind which contemplates them--David Hume

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday--Don Marquis

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact--George Eliot

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly--Thomas Paine

When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, it should be rejected--Luc, Marquis de Vauvenargues

Getting people to like you is only the other side of liking them--Norman Vincent Peale

Ajax

[pevergreen]

Off the calander in front of me

I am never afraid of what I know - Anna Sewell
When I was in school, I cheated on my metaphysics exam: I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me. - Woody Allen

[Beirut]

"Me fail English? That's unpossible."

Ralph Wiggum

[Bava]

No quotations thread without Lord Byron:


A man of eighty has outlived probably three new schools of painting, two of architecture and poetry and a hundred in dress.

A mistress never is nor can be a friend. While you agree, you are lovers; and when it is over, anything but friends.

I am about to be married, and am of course in all the misery of a man in pursuit of happiness.

I have a great mind to believe in Christianity for the mere pleasure of fancying I may be damned.

I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone.

In solitude, where we are least alone.

Society is now one polished horde, formed of two mighty tries, the Bores and Bored.

There is something pagan in me that I cannot shake off. In short, I deny nothing, but doubt everything.

What is fame? The advantage of being known by people of whom you yourself know nothing, and for whom you care as little.

Yet, Freedom! yet thy banner, torn, but flying, streams like the thunderstorm against the wind.

[Bijo]

"Man hath intelligence, emotion, instinct, and desires aplenty: how unfortunate."


"When flowers are around, look for a coffin.... if you have time left, look for a corpse."


"Power doth people not change; it merely unmasks them."


"If one multiplies humanity's goodness by 100, th'outcome'd still equal 0. Or it would equal a negative number of course... perhaps -100 000."


"I will find one good, virtuous, peaceful, well-minded, intelligent human being, when pigs can fly, when hell freezes, when God shows Himself, when my ***hole learns how to chew gum."


"If there really is a God, he's either not so almighty, or he's a plain sadist."


"No political system is good, whether democracy, communism, and so forth: it's still led by humans."


"As far as I know, death is the only easy sure direct way to achieve peace."


"God has done a poor job of creating humans, a poor job of creating nature. Look at it and tell me with a straight truthful face He cares about us."


"God is like a Lemmings Commander: He sometimes, too, makes painful mistakes."

[Fisherking]

Did those quotes come from the suicide hotline?

[Rodion Romanovich]

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Oscar_Wilde/

Some favorites from the first page:
"A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her. "

"I am not young enough to know everything. "

"I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability. "

"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months. "

"If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you. "

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures. "

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone elses opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. "

"Music makes one feel so romantic - at least it always gets on one's nerves - which is the same thing nowadays. "

"One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation. "

"One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards. "

[Louis VI the Fat]

Veni,Vidi,Vici. Gaius Julius Cesar

Vidi, Vici, Veni - I saw, I conquered, I came.


Louis VI the Fat.

[Randarkmaan]

Stalin (for all his brutality) does have some very good quotes/sayings:

"The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic"

"Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?"

Rumored to be said after receiving a report about Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky's inappropriately large number of female lovers.

"Quantity is quality"
or
"Quantity has a quality all its own"

There are also some good ones from Warhammer 40k (the board game)

"There are some who question your right to order millions of people to death, what they do not understand is that you have no right to let those people live"

"A small mind is easily filled with faith"

"Blessed is the mind too small for doubt"

Ofcourse there are others, but I don't want to make a long post, now do I?

[Bijo]

Did those quotes come from the suicide hotline?

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

My personal favourite quotation is the one from the front of "For Whom the Bell Tolls";

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."-John Donne.

[Yun Dog]

"Farewell, Australia! you are a rising child, and doubtless some day will reign a great princess in the South; but you are too great and ambitious for affection, yet not great enough for respect. I leave your shores without sorrow or regret. "

Charles Darwin on Australia in "The Origin of the species"