# Your Favorite Big Ideas summed up in small quotes... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 31, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-big-ideas-summed-up-in-small-quotes/601418 "2011-10-31T19:52:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-big-ideas-summed-up-in-small-quotes/601418/61 "2011-11-03T00:03:48Z")
> [@Trom](#): > > “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” - Samuel Housing (maybe) That should be Johnson not housing. Didn’t notice autocorrect… ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-big-ideas-summed-up-in-small-quotes/601418/62 "2011-11-03T05:50:21Z")
“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” ~ Will Rogers ~ ---
**Author:** ![Rala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Rala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rala)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-big-ideas-summed-up-in-small-quotes/601418/63 "2011-11-03T06:00:39Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > From that famous and deep thinker/cowboy Curly Washburn (played by Jack Palance) in the movie City Slickers. Its the secret to being happy in life. Something to the effect of: > > “Its that one thing. Figure out that one thing and you’ll be happy” > > But, that “one thing” may or may not be a specific thing. It may well be totally different for different people…its your personal thing and you need to figure it out. Jack Palance: Do you know what the secret of life is? One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean shit. Billy Crystal: Yeah, but what’s that one thing? Jack Palance: That’s what you’ve got to figure out. [quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:53, topic:601418”] I’ve never heard that before. I like it! My father used to tell me, “Good musicians can still make mistakes, but they keep on going and cover skillfully.” [/QUOTE] Absolutely. My conductor always says “If you’re going to make a mistake, make it with confidence, and odds are the audience won’t even notice. Playing with hesitation spoils the whole piece.” ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-big-ideas-summed-up-in-small-quotes/601418/64 "2011-11-03T06:13:49Z")
“If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generations of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact, or whatever you wish to call it) that **all things are made of atoms—little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another**. In that one sentence, you will see, there is an enormous amount of information about the world, if just a little imagination and thinking are applied.” -Richard Feynman ---
**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:** [November 3, 2011, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-big-ideas-summed-up-in-small-quotes/601418/65 "2011-11-03T06:18:09Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > “Life is what happens while you are making other plans.” ~~John Lennon Nitpick: “Life’s what happens to you while you’re making other plans.” (Allen Saunders, in 1957.) A few more that I’ve appreciated: - The person who has a right to boast seldom feels the need to. The empty barrel makes the biggest noise. - People may not remember what you said, and they may not remember what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel. - You can’t sling mud without losing ground. - Of all the manifestations of power, restraint is the most impressive. - Words unspoken are seldom regretted. - Perhaps the greatest wisdom is the knowledge of one’s own ignorance. (John Steinbeck) - In politics and seduction you can get away with almost anything, provided you do it slowly enough. (Colin Fletcher) - Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge. (Charles Darwin) - You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers; You can tell whether he is wise by his questions. (Naguib Mahfouz) - Knowledge talks. Wisdom listens. - Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. (Bertrand Russell) - Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. - Take what you can use, and let the rest go by. (Ken Kesey) - He who laughs, lasts. - The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated. (Gandhi) - It doesn’t make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who’s dead. (Joseph Heller) . ---
**Author:** ![brittekland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-big-ideas-summed-up-in-small-quotes/601418/66 "2011-11-03T07:53:55Z")
“A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.” - Jean de La Fontaine ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-big-ideas-summed-up-in-small-quotes/601418/67 "2011-11-03T09:00:09Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > “Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” ~ Will Rogers ~ Always loved this one. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-big-ideas-summed-up-in-small-quotes/601418/68 "2011-11-03T14:39:39Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > A kind of odd one that has held true so far: > > “It could be worse; you could be on fire.” Another, from Terry Pratchet: "Give a man a fire, and he’s warm for an hour. Set a man on fire, and he’s warm for the rest of his life!" [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-big-ideas-summed-up-in-small-quotes/601418.md?page=3)