# Great quotes... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 8, 2001, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047 "2001-01-08T20:38:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![B\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@B\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B_P)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/1 "2001-01-08T20:38:37Z")
What are some of the great quotes you’ve heard through your life. Something that has always stuck with you in your head. Or maybe it was something that you read and just really hit home with you or maybe even inspired you and it changed your life. Don’t limit your search to just books - it could even have been something that you saw in a movie. If you can, please include where you heard it and who said it. ---
**Author:** ![nikjohns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@nikjohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikjohns)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/2 "2001-01-08T20:44:40Z")
The axe never remembers; the log never forgets. Not sure who said it, I saw it on an office wall. ---
**Author:** ![tevya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tevya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tevya)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/3 "2001-01-08T20:47:33Z")
“Off to MPSIMS” –Manhatten ---
**Author:** ![Tiburon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e36b37/32.png) [@Tiburon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiburon)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/4 "2001-01-08T21:49:35Z")
Some of the best ones I’ve heard: About 3-4 weeks ago, I saw a woman on television talking about people telling lies. And she said something along the lines of, “The more intolerant you are of lies, the more accepting you must be of human frailties.” It struck me as very true. Another was said by Oprah, I think. I’m not a huge Oprah fan but this made sense to me: “You are responsible for your life. You can’t keep blaming other people for your dysfunction. Life is really about moving on.” I don’t think anyone said this (other than myself) - but I always tell myself to never let pride get in the way of an apology. Also, as far as dating goes…I always say that I don’t compete with issues or addictions. Another was said to me by my mentor during a service project I was doing. She said, “You are responsible for what you understand.” Tibs. ---
**Author:** ![caircair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@caircair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caircair)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/5 "2001-01-08T21:49:47Z")
“Only Connect. That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and life will be exaulted, and human love will reach its height. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die.” From E.M. Forster’s book, HOWARD’S END. First heard it from my then-boyfriend, said it was his favorite quote of all time. We used it for the Unity Candle lighting at our wedding. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/6 "2001-01-08T23:48:45Z")
While thumbing through a book of quotes (Oxford, I assume, though its 800 km away at the moment so I can’t check), and i came across this one: “I sit beside my lonely fire, and pray for wisdom yet- For calmness to remember, or courage to forget” -Aïdé Also, I really like: “Il y a des millions d’années que les fleurs fabriquent des épines. Il y a des millions d’années que les moutons mangent quand même les fleurs. Et ce n’est pas sérieux de chercher à comprendre pourquoi elles se donnent tant de mal pour se fabriquer des épines qui ne servent j’aimais à rien? Ce n’est pas important, la guerre des moutons et des fleurs?” - _Le Petit Prince_, Antoine de Saint-Éxupéry Although, honestly, I love that whole book… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/7 "2001-01-09T00:05:20Z")
The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.’-George Bernard Shaw Androcles And The Lion “The universe doesn’t give first warnings or second chances” Marriage resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they cannot be separated; often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who comes between them." I CLOSE with a troubling quotation from Emerson. Toward the end of “Experience,” one of his most skeptical and disillusioned essays, Emerson made a remarkable statement about evil: “We believe in ourselves as we do not believe in others. We permit all things to ourselves, and that which we call sin in others is experiment for us.” My sources are unreliable, but their information is fascinating. – Ashleigh Brilliant - UC Berkeley ‘street’ philosopher “Tis with our judgements as our watches: None go just alike, yet each believes his own.” Alexander Pope (1688…1744) “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second,by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” Confucius Blooms the laurel which belongs To the valiant chief who fights; I see the wreath, I hear the songs Lauding the Eternal Rights, Victors over daily wrongs: Awful victors, they misguide Whom they will destroy, And their coming triumph hide In our downfall, or our joy: Speak it firmly, – these are gods, All are ghosts beside. Ralph Waldo Emerson Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence. Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision. “To believe in the possibility of liberation,” says Tufts University’s Lee Edelman, “is to believe there is a trapped identity struggling to get out. But it’s not a matter of liberating something that is repressed; it’s a matter of inventing ways of becoming something that has not been. It’s less a matter, in that sense, of coming out than of coming into\_\_and one can’t know in advance what that will be.” The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. John Stuart Mill “Information is gushing toward your brain like a firehose aimed at a teacup.” \_ Dogbert The subatomic world, where particles are not solid objects so much as smears of probability, may seem counterintuitive, even illogical. “It’s not burnt. It’s Cajun!” - Christopher A. Evans Motto of the Bomb Squad: If you see us running, you better catch up. Mandarin Rejection Notice: We have read your manuscript with boundless delight. If we were to publish your paper, it would be impossible for us to publish any work of lower standard. And as it is unthinkable that in the next thousand years we shall see its equal, we are, to our regret, compelled to return your divine composition, and to beg you a thousand times to overlook our short sight and timidity. Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/8 "2001-01-09T00:25:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tevya \* > \*\*“Off to MPSIMS” > > –Manhatten \*\* Ooh! My favorite. Now if I can just get the history books to spell my name correctly… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/9 "2001-01-09T00:30:08Z")
> [@](#): > > _The chessboard is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance._ --Thomas Henry Huxley > [@](#): > > _Believe those who seek the truth; doubt those that find it._ --Andre Gide > [@](#): > > _Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans._ --John Lennon ---
**Author:** ![Totoro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Totoro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totoro)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/10 "2001-01-09T00:33:42Z")
“It’s just until your father pays off his desecration of a priceless artifact… I never thought I’d have to say that again…” ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/11 "2001-01-09T00:34:50Z")
See the sig. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/12 "2001-01-09T02:18:08Z")
An aphorism from my grandfather, have never heard it from anyone else, but it’s hard wired into my psychic. “When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you do is stop digging” ---
**Author:** ![Upham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Upham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Upham)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/13 "2001-01-09T02:26:30Z")
“HEY! Get your hands outta your pants when you’re talking about my sister!” And just one other classic “If it’s the end of the world, then you’re in trouble” Upham ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/14 "2001-01-09T02:31:38Z")
but, uh, did you have to salt the earth so nothing would ever grow again? “heheheh… yeah” ---
**Author:** ![Ell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@Ell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ell)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/15 "2001-01-09T02:32:31Z")
Heard through a closed door: “Owww! Michael, your belt is sticking in to me” “That’s not my belt” ---
**Author:** ![hypergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/49beb7/32.png) [@hypergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hypergirl)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/16 "2001-01-09T02:33:36Z")
I want to fuck you like an animal I want to feel you from the inside I want to fuck you like an animal My whole existence is flawed. Nine Inch Nails - Closer God is dead and no one cares If there is a hell I’ll see you there. Nine Inch Nails - Heresy ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/17 "2001-01-09T02:55:12Z")
“This is a dark ride.” Sign on the office wall, the John Larroquette show. ---
**Author:** ![SuperNelson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@SuperNelson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNelson)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/18 "2001-01-09T04:13:20Z")
On Democracy: “In a democracy, people usually get the kind of government they deserve.” - Adlai Stevenson. “Those who will give up essential liberty to secure a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” - Benjamin Franklin “Ignorance is a renewable resource.” -P.J. O’Rourke ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/19 "2001-01-09T04:51:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SuperNelson \* > \*\*On Democracy: > > “In a democracy, people usually get the kind of government they deserve.” - Adlai Stevenson. > > “\*\* I always thought this was Will Rogers. Another from Will on democracy… (slightly paraphrased) '…for the last 150 years we have had every type of horse theif imaginable for president and not one of them, despite all of his best efforts, has been able to destroy the country yet." And then from ‘A Fans Notes’ by Fredrick Exely “She had a body that was like a swift unexpected blow to the stomach.” ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047/20 "2001-01-09T05:18:17Z")
Duty done is the fireside of the soul. Unknown Democracy is the worst possible form of government, except for all the others. Churchill The only thing worse than being popular is _not_ being popular. Wilde Only when the last tree has been cut, the last fish caught, the last buffalo shot and the last river run dry will the white man realize that he cannot eat money. Chief Seattle America has the finest politicians that money can buy. Will Rogers [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-quotes/49047.md?page=2)