# Notable Quotes (Nonreligious) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457 "2017-10-21T18:39:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/61 "2017-10-24T04:14:29Z")
_There must be an ideal world, a sort of mathematician’s paradise where everything happens as it does in textbooks._ – Bertrand Russell ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/62 "2017-10-24T04:21:25Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you want. Also: _Experience is something you don’t get until just after you needed it._ My entry: _He who laughs lasts._ ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/63 "2017-10-24T12:32:06Z")
Be excellent to each other. - Bill S. Preston, Esq. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/64 "2017-10-24T16:24:04Z")
“Door (n.): Something a dog is always on the wrong side of.” - Mark Twain ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/65 "2017-10-24T17:10:07Z")
“No one can guarantee the actions of another.” _—Spock_ ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/66 "2017-10-24T17:34:00Z")
You can’t bluff a man who isn’t paying attention. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/67 "2017-10-24T17:38:28Z")
“Vulcans never bluff.” _—Spock_ ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/68 "2017-10-24T18:22:09Z")
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it.” - Abraham Lincoln ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/69 "2017-10-24T19:00:04Z")
> [@jerez](#): > > _O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what can be changed, and the wisdom to know the one from the other._ “Oh Lord, please give me the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what can be changed, and a big pile of money.” ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/70 "2017-10-24T19:33:01Z")
“Those who exchange liberty for security deserve neither.” _Benjamin Franklin_ ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/71 "2017-10-24T21:13:40Z")
“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” - Thomas Jefferson ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/72 "2017-10-24T21:19:41Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > “If you’re running away from something, never ever look behind you, 'cause whatever it is, **it’s catching up!** ” > > _—Soupy Sales_ I like Satchel Paige’s version better: “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.” My personal favorite: Today not possible, tomorrow possible. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/73 "2017-10-24T21:24:57Z")
“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.” _—Abraham Lincoln_ “Women. Can’t live with 'em…”\* _—Norm Peterson_ \*Yes, I know that’s only the first half of the quote, but it’s the one that matters. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/74 "2017-10-24T21:27:10Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > “Oh Lord, please give me the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what can be changed, and a big pile of money.” “Anyone who says money can’t buy happiness doesn’t know where to shop.” _—Eunice “Lovey” Howell_ ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/75 "2017-10-25T04:09:44Z")
“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.” --James Branch Cabell > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” - Thomas Jefferson He wrote that in 1787. Here’s what he wrote 20 years later. > [@](#): > > It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more completely deprive the nation of its benefits, than is done by its abandoned prostitution to falsehood. Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. Letter to John Norvell (11 June 1807) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.038\_0592\_0594/?sp=2&st=text](https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.038_0592_0594/?sp=2&st=text) ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/76 "2017-10-25T04:12:52Z")
“One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool.” --George Orwell, “Notes on Nationalism” ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/77 "2017-10-25T05:29:15Z")
Another Satchel Paige quote: “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?” One of my favorites and especially now, as I am looking down the barrel of my 75th. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/78 "2017-10-25T05:55:23Z")
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/79 "2017-10-25T07:17:47Z")
More from Satchel Paige: “Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man got to be common.” “Don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.” “Not to be cheered by praise, not to be grieved by blame, but to know thoroughly one’s own virtues or powers are the characteristics of an excellent man.” ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457/80 "2017-10-25T07:25:58Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > “If you are in a fair fight, you didn’t plan it very well.” Along the same lines: “If violence isn’t your last resort, you didn’t resort to enough of it.” - From the fictional “70 Maxims of Highly Effective Mercenaries” of Schlock Mercenary. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notable-quotes-nonreligious/799457.md?page=5)