Here's a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If
you're alive, it isn't.
Richard Bach (b. 1936) American
writer Illusions (1977)
It is by not
always thinking of yourself, if you can manage it, that you might somehow be
happy. Until you make room in your life for someone as important to you as
yourself, you will always be searching and lost ...
Richard Bach (b. 1936) American
writer The Bridge Across Forever
You have given
your life to become the person you are today. Was it worth it?
Richard Bach (b. 1936) American
writer
That’s what
learning is, after all; not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how
we’ve changed because of it and what we take away from it that we never had
before, to apply to other games. Losing, in a curious way, is winning.
Richard Bach (b. 1936) American
writer The Bridge Across Forever
A soulmate is
someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we
feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be
completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for
who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter
what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own
paradise. Our soulmate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of
direction. Our soulmate is the one who makes life come to life.
Richard Bach (b. 1936) American
writer The Bridge Across Forever
Don’t be dismayed
at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting
again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.
Richard Bach (b. 1936) American
writer
Real love stories
never have endings.
Richard Bach (b. 1936) American
writer
By taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing over
it, he is superior.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English
philosopher, author, politician
There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and
that lost by not trying.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English
philosopher, author, politician
Why do birds sing in the morning? It's the triumphant shout: "We got
through another night!"
Enid Bagnold (1889-1981) English
writer
Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress
requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things.
Russell Baker (b. 1925) American
journalist, author, humorist
So there he is at last. Man
on the moon. The poor magnificent bungler! He can't even get to the office
without undergoing the agonies of the damned, but give him a little metal, a
few chemicals, some wire, and twenty or thirty billion dollars and, vroom!
there he is, up on a rock a quarter of a million miles up in the sky.
Russell Baker
(b. 1925) American journalist, author, humorist
Someone once said
that dancers work just as hard as policemen; always alert, always tense. But
see, policemen don’t have to be beautiful at the same time.
Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they
have never failed to imitate them.
James Baldwin (1924-1987) American
author Esquire, "The Precarious Vogue of Ingmar Bergman" (1960)
Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex, you thought of nothing else
if you didn't have it and thought of other things if you did.
James Baldwin (1924-1987) American
author Nobody Knows My Name, ch. 13 (1961)
I love
James Baldwin (1924-1987) American
author Notes of a Native Son (1955)
It is as absurd to say that a man can't love one woman all the time as it
is to say that a violinist needs several violins to play the same piece of
music.
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French
novelist
Marriage must continually vanquish the monster that devours everything,
the monster of habit.
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French
novelist Physiology of Marriage (1829)
The heart of a
mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French
novelist
Power is not revealed by striking hard or often, but by striking true.
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French
novelist The Physiology of Marriage (1829)
No, life is not fair. Not intrinsically. It's something we can try to make it, though. A goal we can aim for. You can choose to do so, or not. We have. I'm sorry you find us so repulsive for that.Iain M. Banks Player of Games
We forgive once we give up attachment to our wounds.
Russell Banks (b. 1940) American
writer
Women will always
fear war more than men, because they are mothers.
Natalya Baranskaya, Russian author
They say they
climb mountains because they are there. I wonder if it would astound them to
know that the very same reason is why the rest of us go around them.
S. Omar Barker
My initial response was to
sue her for defamation of character, but then I realized that I had no
character.
Charles Barkley, on hearing Tonya Harding proclaim herself "the
Charles Barkley of figure skating", 1994
These are my new shoes.
They're good shoes. They won't make you rich like me, they won't make you
rebound like me, they definitely won't make you handsome like me. They'll only
make you have shoes like me. That's it.
Charles Barkley
Television is the first truly democratic culture -- the first culture
available to everyone and entirely governed by what the people want. The most
terrifying thing is what people do want.
Clive Barnes (b. 1927) English
journalist, critic, writer New York Times (
In time they
couldn’t even fly after their hats. Want of practice they called it. But what
it really meant is that they no longer believed.
Sir James M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish playwright and
novelist Peter Pan.
Dreams do come
true..... You can have anything in life if you’re willing to sacrifice
everything else for it.
Sir James M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish playwright and
novelist
The life of every
man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and
his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he hoped to
make it.
Sir James M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish playwright and
novelist
If you have it [love], you don’t need to have anything else, and if you
don’t have it, it doesn’t matter much what else you have.
Facts aren't the truth. They only indicate where the truth may lie.
Clarence Walker
Barron (1855-1928) American editor and publisher
An entire new continent can emerge from the ocean in the time it takes
for a Web page to show up on your screen. Contrary to what you may have heard,
the Internet does not operate at the speed of light; it operates at the speed
of the DMV.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist
Perhaps you are thinking: "But a tank costs several million dollars, not including floor mats. I don't have that kind of money." Don't be silly. You're a consumer, right? You have credit cards, right?Perhaps you are thinking: "Yes, but how am I going to pay the credit-card company?"Don't be silly. You have a tank, right? Dave Barry (b. 1947) American humorist
Gradually, without noticing it, you turn into a Republican and judge
everything on the basis of whether or not it will increase your taxes.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist
What happens if a big asteroid hits Earth? Judging from realistic
simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can
assume it will be pretty bad.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist
What I look forward to is continued immaturity followed by death.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist
I cannot overemphasize the importance of good grammar. What a crock. I
could easily overemphasize the importance of good grammar. For example, I could
say: "Bad grammar is the leading cause of slow, painful death in North
America," or "Without good grammar, the
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist "An Utterly
Absurd Look at Grammar"
Another possible source of guidance for teenagers is television, but
television's message has always been that the need for truth, wisdom and world
peace pales by comparison with the need for a toothpaste that offers whiter
teeth *and* fresher breath.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist "Kids Today:
They Don't Know Dum Diddly Do"
Puns are little 'plays on words' that a certain breed of person loves to
spring on you and then look at you in a certain self-satisfied way to indicate
that he thinks that you must think that he is by far the cleverest person on
Earth now that Benjamin Franklin is dead, when in fact what you are thinking is
that if this person ever ends up in a lifeboat, the other passengers will hurl
him overboard by the end of the first day even if they have plenty of food and
water.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist "Why Humor is
Funny"
Nothing is ever really buried in a meeting. An idea may *look* dead, but
it will always reappear at another meeting later on. If you have ever seen the
movie _Night of the Living Dead_, you have a rough idea how modern corporations
and organizations operate, with projects and proposals that everybody thought
were killed constantly rising from their graves to stagger back into meetings
and eat the brains of the living.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist Claw Your Way to the Top (1986)
A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice
person.
If there really is a God who created the entire universe with all of its
glories, and He decides to deliver a message to humanity, He WILL NOT use, as
His messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle.
No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too
seriously.
Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want
you to share yours with them.
The main accomplishment of almost all organized protests is to annoy
people who are not in them.
The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender,
religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we
ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental
illness."
When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual
who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that
individual is crazy.
You should not confuse your career with your life.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist Dave
Barry Turns 50, "Sixteen Things That it Took Me 50 Years to
Learn" (1998)
A Harris survey was released showing that 70 percent of men do not view
birth control as their responsibility. This resulted in the usual round of
male-bashing by the usual critics, who as usual failed to note the many areas
in which men take on MORE than their fair share of responsibility; such as
spider-killing, channel-changing, referee-critiquing, scratching, and traffic
gestures.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist Miami Herald, "A Year That Felt
Like a Century" (
Here’s
my proposal, which is based on the TV show Survivor: We put the entire Congress
on an island. All the food on this island is locked inside a vault, which can
be opened only by an ordinary American taxpayer named Bob. Every day, the
congresspersons are given a section of the Tax Code, which they must rewrite so
that Bob can understand it. If he can, he lets them eat that day; if he can’t,
he doesn’t.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist
I’m not
the only taxpayer who has no idea what he’s sending to the IRS. This year, only
28 percent of all Americans will prepare their own tax returns, according to a
voice in my head that invents accurate-sounding statistics.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist
Scientists
tell us that the fastest animal on earth, with a top speed of 120 ft/sec, is a
cow that has been dropped out of a helicopter.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist
He went
to an area that he called
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist
MAKE A
SIMPLE COMPASS
Here’s
a simple experiment that you might want to try if there is absolutely nothing
else going on in your life. All you need is a cork, a bar magnet, and a pail of
water. Simply attach your magnet to your cork, then drop it into the water, and
voilà (literally, “you have a compass”)—you have a compass. How does it work?
Simple. Notice that, no matter which way you turn the bucket, the cork always
floats on top of the water (unless the magnet is too heavy). Using this
scientific principle, early hardy mariners were able to tell at a glance
whether they were sinking!
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist
In the past
decade or so, the women’s magazines have taken to running home-handyperson
articles suggesting that women can learn to fix things just as well as men.
These articles are apparently based on the ludicrous assumption that men know
how to fix things, when in fact all they know how to do is look at things in a
certain squinty-eyed manner, which they learned in Wood Shop; eventually, when
enough things in the home are broken, they take a job requiring them to
transfer to another home.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist
Karate is a form
of martial arts in which people who have had years and years of training can,
using only their hands and feet, make some of the worst movies in the history
of the world.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist
Women often ask, "What do men *really* want, deep in their
souls?" The best answer -- based on in-depth analysis of the complex and
subtle interplay of thought, instinct, and emotion that constitutes the male
psyche -- is that, deep in their souls, men want to watch stuff go
"bang."
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American
humorist
People have criticized me because my security detail is larger than the
president's. But you must ask yourself: are there more people who want to kill
me than who want to kill the president? I can assure you there are.
Marion S. Barry, Jr. (b. 1936) American
politician Attributed
First, it was not a strip bar, it was an erotic club. And second, what
can I say? I'm a night owl.
Marion S. Barry, Jr. (b. 1936) American
politician Comment to
reporters after traffic accident (1988)
A man must properly pay the fiddler. In my case it so happened that a
whole symphony orchestra had to be subsidized.
John Barrymore (1882-1942) American
actor
Those who so glibly dismiss as "mere legal technicalities" the
procedural guarantees of the Constitution limiting law-enforcement activities
forget that nothing is more basic to civil liberty than freedom from arbitrary
arrest and imprisonment by policemen who are masters, not servants, of the law.
The most characteristic symbol of the police state is the ominous rap on the
door at night. Freedom from the fear of that rap is the basic condition for the
exercise of every other form of freedom.
Alan Barth (1906-1979) American
journalist The Rights of Free Men (1984)
. . . competence is
everything, transcends fear, replaces courage. Why do you need courage, when
you know you can win?
William Barton, Acts of Conscience
The test and use of a man's education is that he finds pleasure in the
exercise of his mind.
Jacques Barzun (b. 1907)
French-American historian and educator
Saturday Evening Post, "Science vs
the Humanities" (
I know it's difficult for you to understand this now,
Pete. But you've got the majority of your life ahead of you … and one day
you'll find that these high school years will be a tiny, distant memory.
The scars, of course, are yours to keep forever.
Tom Batiuk (contemp.) American
cartoonist Funky Winkerbean (
One of the most lasting pleasures you can experience is the feeling that
comes over you when you genuinely forgive an enemy — whether he knows it or
not.
The fellow who says he'll meet you halfway usually thinks he's standing on
the dividing line.
The greatest weakness of most humans is their hesitancy to tell others
how much they love them while they're still alive.
You aren’t immortal. You’re
just real, real old; there’s a difference.
Peter S Beagle, The Folk of the Air
Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad with power;
The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small;
The bee fertilizes the flower it robs;
When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.
Charles Beard (1874-1948) American
historian Summary of human
history, in reply to George S. Counts
Perennial: Any plant which, had it lived, would have bloomed year after
year.
Henry N. Beard (contemp.) American
writer and humorist Gardening: A Gardener's Dictionary, with
Roy McKie (1982)
Be daring, be different, be
impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative
vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves
of the ordinary.
Sir Cecil
Beaton
You've achieved success in your field when you don't know whether what
you're doing is work or play.
We cannot expect you to be with us all the time, but perhaps you could be
good enough to keep in touch now and again.
Sir Thomas
Beecham To a musician during
a rehearsal
There are two golden rules
for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn't give a
damn what happens in between.
Sir Thomas
Beecham
If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever
enough to be crows.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American
clergyman and orator
The dog was created especially for children. He is the god of frolic.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American
clergyman and orator
The most
important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American
clergyman and orator
Ignorance is the womb of monsters.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American
clergyman and orator
Young love is a
flame; very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and
flickering. The love of the older and disciplined heart is as coals, deep
burning, unquenchable.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American
clergyman and orator
Mirth is God's medicine. Everybody ought to bathe in it. Grim care,
moroseness, anxiety -- all this rust of life ought to be scoured off by the oil
of mirth. It is better than emery. Every man ought to rub himself with it.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American
clergyman and orator
I value kindness to human
beings first of all, and kindness to animals. I don't respect the law; I have a
total irreverence for anything connected with society except that which makes
the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper, and old men and women
warmer in the winter, and happier in the summer.
Brendan Behan
It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing,
but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.
Robert Benchley (1889-1945) American
humorist quoted in _Robert
Benchley_ (Nathaniel Benchley), ch. 1 (1955)
A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three
times before lying down.
Robert Benchley (1889-1945) American
humorist
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
Life’s a lot more fun if you
interpret everything as a portent of evil.
Mike Benedetto
It is within the
experience of everyone that when pleasure and pain reach a certain intensity
they are indistinguishable.
While
William J. Bennett (b. 1943) American politician, moralist
The Dallas Morning
News Moral clarity isn't simplistic: We need a way to discern what ends we
ought to pursue (
William J. Bennett (b. 1943) American politician, moralist
Speech at the
Heritage Foundation,
Happiness is like a cat--if you coax it or call it, it will avoid you; it
won't come. But if you pay no attention to it and go about your business, you
will find it rubbing against your legs and jumping into your lap.
William J. Bennett (b. 1943) American
politician, moralist Commencement
Address,
I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don't deserve that
either.
Jack Benny (1894-1974) American
comedian [b. Benjamin Kubelsky]
Attributed
It is difficult
for me to comprehend the fact that some people actually do not consider all
uses of explosives to be recreational.
Ragnar Benson
Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago.
Bernard Berenson (1865-1959)
Lithuanian-American art critic and historian Notebook (1892)
I have
no regrets. I wouldn't have lived my life the way I did if I was going to worry
about what people were going to say.
Ingrid Bergman
It is impossible that a man who is false to his friends and neighbours
should be true to the public.
Bishop George
Berkeley (1685-1753) Irish philosopher, Anglican cleric Maxims Concerning Patriotism (1750)
I don't care if you burn.
Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) French
actress When Oscar Wilde
asked, "Do you mind if I smoke?" (Attributed)
In a culture whose
fundamental premise is that
Don Berry
When your mother
dies... that is when you know everybody dies.
Jean Beskrone
If we fight a war and win it
with H-bombs, what history will remember is not the ideals we were fighting for
but the methods we used in accomplishing the end. These methods will be compared to the warfare
of Ghengis Khan, who ruthlessly slaughtered every last inhabitant of
Hans Betha
Childhood is measured out by
sound and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.
John Betjemen
To others we are not ourselves but a performer in their lives, cast for a
part we do not even know that we are playing.
Elizabeth Bibesco (1897-1945)
Rumanian-English writer Haven (1951)
The weak have one weapon: the
errors of those who think they are strong.
George Bidault
CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things the way they are,
and not as they ought to be.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?)
American writer and journalist
The Devil's Dictionary
DISTANCE, n. The only thing that the rich are willing for the poor to
call theirs, and keep.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?)
American writer and journalist
The Devil's Dictionary
There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable, and praiseworthy ...Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist The Devil's Dictionary
Being instated as an
archangel, Satan made himself multifariously objectionable and was finally
expelled from Heaven. Halfway in his descent he paused, bent his head in
thought a moment and at last went back. "There is one favor that I should
like to ask," said he.
"Name it."
"Man, I understand, is about to be created. He will need laws."
"What, wretch! You, his appointed adversary, charged from the dawn of
eternity with hatred of his soul - you ask for the right to make his
laws?"
"Pardon; what I have to ask is that he be permitted to make them
himself."
It was so ordered.
Ambrose Bierce
(1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
Certain old men
prefer to rise at dawn, taking a cold bath and a long walk with an empty
stomach and otherwise mortifying the flesh. They then point with pride to these
practices as the cause of their sturdy health and ripe years; the truth being
that they are hearty and old, not because of their habits, but in spite of
them. The reason we find only robust persons doing this thing is that it has
killed all the others who have tried it.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?)
American writer and journalist
Marriage: the
state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two
slaves, making in all two.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?)
American writer and journalist
The most potent
weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.
Steven Biko
Nature never makes any blunders; when she makes a fool she means it.
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American
humorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings: His Sayings
(1865)
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love
yourself.
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American
humorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
We have
probed the earth, excavated it, burned it, ripped things from it, buried things
in it . . . That does not fit my definition of a good tenant. If we were
here on a month-to-month basis, we would have been evicted long
ago.
Rose Elizabeth
Bird
We Have Been
Here Before
“I have been here
before!” I asserted,
In a nook on a
neck of the
I once in a
crisis was punished by
And you smiled. I
remember your smile.
The past made a
promise, before it
Began to begin to
be gone.
This limited
gamut brings you again. Damn it,
How long has this
got to go on?
Morris Bishop
When you say that you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you
have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.
Otto von Bismark (1815-1898) Prussian
statesman
The less people know about
how sausages and laws are made, the better they’ll sleep at night.
Otto von Bismark
(1815-1898) Prussian statesman
I think most Americans do not understand the Constitution. It's all
because each one of them believes that the Constitution prohibits that which
they think should be prohibited, and permits that which they think should be
permitted.
Hugo Black (1886-1971) US
Supreme Court Justice (1937-71) Newsweek,
interview (
It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.
William Blake (1757-1827) English
poet, mystic, artist
You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.
William Blake (1757-1827) English
poet, mystic, artist
Those who restrain desire do
so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.
William Blake (1757-1827) English
poet, mystic, artist
A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.
William Blake (1757-1827) English
poet, mystic, artist "Auguries of
Innocence," l.53 (1803)
The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.
The lust of the goat is the bounty of God.
The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God.
The nakedness of a woman is the work of God.
William Blake (1757-1827) English
poet, mystic, artist "The
Marriage of Heaven and Hell" (1790 - 1793)
People hear that
I am a horror writer and they think that I must be a monster, but actually I
have the heart of a small child. I keep it in a jar on my desk.
Robert Bloch (author of Psycho)
Peace is not the absence of struggle, it is the absence of *uncertainty*.
Anthony Bloom,
Metropolitan of Sourozh (b. 1914) English writer, Orthodox cleric
You have to choose where you
look, and in making that choice you eliminate entire worlds.
Barbara Bloom, American artist
From 1945 to the end of the
century, the
William Blum,
I learned to trust my
obsessions. It is surely a great calamity for a human being to have no
obsessions.
Robert Bly
It’s a hundred
and six miles to
Hit it!
I didn't uderstand NASCAR until I met some NASCAR fans. You talk to a couple of NASCAR fans and you'll see where a shiny car driving in a circle would fascinate them all day. I can make fun of NASCAR fans because if they chase me, I just turn right.
Alonzo Bodden (b. 1962) American
comedian
I think "immoral" is probably the wrong word to use. I prefer
the word "unethical."
Ivan Boesky (b. 1937) American
investment banker, inside trader
In every kind of
adversity, the bitterest part of a man’s affliction is to remember that he once
was happy.
Of course I don't believe in it. But I understand that it brings you luck
whether you believe in it or not.
Niels Bohr (1885-1962) Danish
physicist Attrib., when asked why
he had a horseshoe on his wall.
MORE: You'd be a fine teacher. Perhaps even a great one.
RICH: And if I was, who would know it?
MORE: You, your pupils, your friends, God. Not a bad public,
that.
Robert Bolt (1924-1935) English
dramatist A Man for All Seasons (1966)
I remember buying a set of black plastic dishes once, after I saw an ad
on television where they actually put a blowtorch to them and they emerged
unscathed. Exactly one week after I bought them, one of the kids brought a
dinner plate to me with a large crack in it. When I asked what happened to it,
he said it hit a tree. I don't want to talk about it.
Erma Bombeck (1927-1996) American
humorist
People shop for a bathing suit with more care than they do a husband or
wife. The rules are the same. Look for something you'll feel comfortable
wearing. Allow for room to grow.
Erma Bombeck (1927-1996) American
humorist
When your mother asks, "Do you want a piece of advice?" it's a
mere formality. It doesn't matter if you answer yes or no. You're going to get
it anyway.
Erma Bombeck (1927-1996) American
humorist
The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with
ONLY a loaf of bread are three billion to one.
Erma Bombeck (1927-1996) American
humorist
Marriage has no guarantees. If that's what you're looking for, go live
with a Sears battery.
Erma Bombeck (1927-1996) American
humorist
When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would
not have a single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything you
gave me."
Erma Bombeck (1927-1996) American
humorist
My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch on
fire or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one cares. Why should you?
Erma Bombeck (1927-1996) American
humorist
No one ever died from sleeping in an unmade bed. I have known mothers who
remake the bed after their children do it because there's a wrinkle in the
spread or the blanket is on crooked. This is sick.
Erma Bombeck (1927-1996) American
humorist
Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the _Titanic_ who waved off
the dessert cart.
Erma Bombeck (1927-1996) American
humorist
It
requires more courage to suffer than to die.
Napoleon
Bonaparte (1769-1821)
Never interrupt your
enemy when he is making a mistake.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
Glory is fleeting, but
obscurity is forever.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis.
Margaret Wander
Bonnano (contemp.) American writer
I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several
weeks.
Daniel Boone (c.1734-1820)
American pioneer Attrib.
Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest
summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and
should have.
Louis E. Boone (contemp.) American
business writer
We easily forget that smog is the price of freedom of our streets from
manure, and from the flies and diseases it brought.
Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914) American
historian, educator, writer
Celebrity-worship and hero-worship should not be confused. Yet we confuse
them every day, and by doing so we come dangerously close to depriving
ourselves of all real models. We lose sight of the men and women who do not
simply seem great because they are famous but are famous because they are
great. We come closer and closer to degrading all fame into notoriety.
Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914) American
historian, educator, writer
The Image, ch. 2, "From
Hero to Celebrity: The Human Pseudo-event" (1961)
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance -- it is the illusion
of knowledge.
Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914) American
historian, educator, writer
Truth is like a well-known whore. Everyone knows her, but it is
embarrassing to encounter her on the street.
Wolfgang Borchert (1921-1947) German
writer
The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is
by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause
accidents.
Nathaniel S.
Borenstein (b. 1958) American research scientist, programmer, writer Programming
As If People Mattered (1991)
Any life, no matter how long and complex it may be, is made up of a
single moment -- the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he
is.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)
Argentine writer
If I had my life
to live over, I’d try to make more mistakes next time.I would relax, I would
limber up, I would be crazier than I’ve been on this trip.I know very few
things I’d take seriously any more. I’d certainly be less hygienic... I would
take more chances, I would take more trips, I would scale more mountains, I
would swim more rivers, and I would watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice
cream and fewer beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary
ones. Oh, I’ve had my moments, and if I had to do it all over again, I’d have
many more of them, In fact I’d try not to have anything else, just moments, one
after another, instead of living so many years ahead of my day. If I had it to
do all over again, I’d travel lighter, much lighter than I have. I would start
barefoot earlier in the spring, and I’d stay that way later in the fall. And I
would ride more merry-go-rounds, and catch more gold rings, and greet more
people and pick more flowers and dance more often. If I had it to do all over
again - but you see, I don’t.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)
Argentine writer
While money cannot buy happiness, the advantages of poverty have been
greatly exaggerated.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)
Argentine writer
I have always imagined that
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)
Argentine writer El Hacedor, "Poema de los
Dones" (1960)
The belief that there is only one truth and that oneself is in possession
of it seems to me the deepest root of all evil that is in the world.
Max Born (1882-1970) German
physicist
The greatest weakness of all is the great fear of appearing weak.
Bishop Jacques
Bénigne Bossuet (1627-1704) French cleric, preacher
I am about to --
or I am going to -- die; either expression is used.
Dominique Bouhours, French grammarian, dying words
Art is the only thing that
can go on mattering once it has stopped hurting.
Elizabeth Bowen
(1899-1973) Irish author
Experience isn't interesting till it begins to repeat itself -- in fact,
till it does that, it hardly is experience.
Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973) Irish
author The Death of the Heart (1938)
HAN: You said you wanted to be around when I made a
mistake, well, this could be it, sweetheart.
LEIA: I take it back.
Leigh Brackett (1915-1978) American
writer The Empire Strikes Back (with Lawrence Kasdan) (1980)
LEIA: Why, you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking
nerf-herder!
HAN: Who's scruffy-looking?
Leigh Brackett (1915-1978) American
writer The Empire Strikes Back (with Lawrence Kasdan) (1980)
If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd
never have a friendship. We’d never go into business, because we'd be cynical.
Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build
your wings on the way down.
Ray Bradbury (b. 1920) American
writer, futurist
We are the miracle of force
and matter making itself over into imagination and will. Incredible. The Life
Force experimenting with forms. You for one. Me for another. The Universe has
shouted itself alive. We are one of the shouts.
Ray Bradbury
(b. 1920) American writer, futurist G.B.S. - Mark V
[My stories] run up and bite me on the leg—I respond by writing down
everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and
runs off.
Ray Bradbury (b. 1920) American
writer, futurist
The Stories of Ray
Bradbury, Introduction, "Drunk and in Charge of a Bicycle" (1980)
Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to
death.
Omar Bradley (1893-1981) American
general
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
Justice Louis
Brandeis (1856-1941)
Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty
when the government's purposes are beneficial. Men born to freedom are
naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The
greater dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal,
well-meaning but without understanding.
Justice Louis
Brandeis (1856-1941) US Supreme Court (1916-39)
Olmstead v.
Fear of serious injury alone cannot justify oppression of free speech and
assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to
free men from the bondage of irrational fears.
Justice Louis
Brandeis (1856-1941)
The real measure of a day's heat is the length of a sleeping cat.
Charles J. Brady
Documentation is like sex:
when it is good, it is very, very good; and when it is bad, it is better than
nothing.
Dick Brandon (contemp.) American
computer scientist and writer
Most people would rather defend to the death your right to say it, than
listen to it.
Love is growing
old together, contentedly. Sharing a sunset as you’ve shared your lives. Happy
that your worlds are entwined.
Jan Brazill
There are no simple answers because there are no simple questions. If you
think you're seeing a simple question, it's not the question that's simple.
Robert
"Bobbo" Bredt (contemp.)
Conversation (c. 1982)
A cat isn't fussy - just so long as you remember he likes his milk in the
shallow, rose-patterned saucer and his fish on the blue plate. From which he
will take it, and eat it off the floor.
Arthur Bridges
I don't understand you. You don't understand me. What else do we have in
common?
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist
It's not easy taking my problems one at a time when they refuse to get in
line.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist
Life may have no meaning. Or even worse, it may have a meaning of which I
disapprove.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist
The time for action is past! Now is the time for senseless bickering!
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist
What's the good of being forgiven, if I have to promise not to do it
again?
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist
I either want less corruption, or more chance to participate in it.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist Pot-Shots
Inform all the troops that communications have completely broken down.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist
Pot-Shots
My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist
Pot-Shots
Please don't lie to me, unless you're absolutely sure I'll never find out
the truth.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist Pot-Shots
Try to relax and enjoy the crisis.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist
Pot-Shots
My life has a superb cast but I can't figure out the plot.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist
Pot-Shots, #0144
Why is everybody behaving as if there were no reason to panic?
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist
Pot-Shots, #0305
I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist Pot-Shots,
#0433
To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, and call whatever you hit
the target.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist Pot-Shots,
#0572
If you can't learn to do it well, learn to enjoy doing it badly.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist
Pot-Shots, #0702
I don't have any solution, but I certainly admire the problem.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist Pot-Shots,
#0759
I have abandoned my search for truth, and am now looking for a good
fantasy.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist Pot-Shots,
#0826
It’s possible that my whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a
warning to others.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist
Pot-Shots, #0843
My sources are unreliable, but their information is fascinating.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist Pot-Shots,
#1085
By doing just a little every day, I can gradually let the task completely
overwhelm me.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist Pot-Shots,
#1149
Life is the only game in which the object of the game is to learn the
rules.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist Pot-Shots,
#1409
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at
once.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist Pot-Shots,
#1520
All I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist Pot-Shots,
#2503
I could do without many
things with no hardship... you are not one of them.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist
Sometimes I make a mental note, but then forget where I put it.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933)
Anglo-American writer, epigramist, cartoonist Pot-Shots,
#2836
The one function that TV news performs very well is that, when there is
no news, we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were.
David Brinkley (b. 1920) American
broadcast journalist
You can only
maintain an immensely gothic attitude for so long before either killing
yourself or beginning to feel like a poser.
Poppy Z Brite
ELWOOD: Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years,
Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it.
Oscar Brodney (b. 1905) American
screenwriter
No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of
power.
Jacob Bronowski (1908-1974)
Polish-English humanist and mathematician
Encounter (Jul. 1971)
But he that dares not grasp the thorn
Should never crave the rose.
Anne Brontë (1820-1849) English
novelist, poet "The Narrow
Way" (1848)
Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To
attack the first is not to assail the last.
Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) English
novelist, poet Jane Eyre (1847)
I've dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and
changed my ideas: they've gone through and through me, like wine through water,
and altered the color of my mind.
Emily Brontë (1818-1848) English
novelist
Humor is just another defense against the universe.
Mel Brooks (b. 1926) American
comedic actor, writer, producer [b. Melvyn Kaminsky]
Look, I really don't want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if
you're alive, you've got to flap your arms and legs, you've got to jump around
a lot, you've got to make a lot of noise, because life is the very opposite of
death.
Mel Brooks (b. 1926) American
comedic actor, writer, producer [b. Melvyn Kaminsky]
Evil will always
win, because good is dumb.
Mel Brooks (b. 1926) American
comedic actor, writer, producer [b. Melvyn Kaminsky] Spaceballs, spoken by Dark Helmet
Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the
small ones.
Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) American
clergyman, hymnist
The true way to be humble is not to stoop till thou art smaller than
thyself, but to stand at thy real height against some higher nature that will
show thee what the real smallness of thy greatness is.
Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) American
clergyman, hymnist
Whenever people say "we mustn't be sentimental," you can take
it they are about to do something cruel. And if they add, "we must be
realistic," they mean they are going to make money out of it.
Brigid Brophy (b. 1929)
Anglo-Irish writer, novelist, playwright
Unlived Life
Appeasers believe that if you keep on throwing steaks to a tiger, the
tiger will turn vegetarian.
Heywood Broun (1888-1939) American
journalist, author
Americans have a lazy habit of defining themselves in terms of what they are
against rather than what they believe in.
A. Whitney Brown (b. 1952) American
comic actor, writer
I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I
hate plants.
A. Whitney Brown (b. 1952) American
comic actor, writer
Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of
hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother
Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.
H. Jackson (Jack)
Brown, Jr. (contemp.) American writer Life's Little Instruction Book (1991)
Having more money
does not insure happiness. People with ten million dollars are no happier than
people with nine million dollars.
The baby rises to its feet,
takes a step, is overcome with triumph and joy - and falls flat on its face. It
is a pattern for all that is to come! But learn from the bewildered baby. Lurch
to your feet again. You’ll make the sofa in the end.
My
lesbianism is an act of Christian charity. All those women out there are
praying for a man, and I'm giving them my share.
Rita Mae Brown (b. 1944) American
author, playwright
For you to be successful,
sacrifices must be made. It’s better that they are made by others but failing
that, you’ll have to make them yourself.
Rita Mae Brown
(b. 1944) American author, playwright
Morals are private. Decency is public.
Rita Mae Brown (b. 1944) American
author, playwright Starting from Scratch: A Different Kind of Writer's Manual (1988)
Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.
Sam W. Brown, Jr. (b. 1943) American
activist, academic, diplomat Washington Post (
There is another man within me that's angry with me.
Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) English
physician and author Religio Medici, II.7 (1643)
Men get opinions as boys learn to spell: by reiteration chiefly.
Elizabeth Barrett
Browning (1806-1861) English poet Aurora Leigh, Bk. VI (1857)
Take away the right to say "fuck" and you take away the right
to say, "Fuck the government."
Lenny Bruce (1925-1966) American
comic
Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of
the people.
Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) Italian
philosopher The Heroic Furies
Perhaps this is one of the most disarming of human traits: our sheer,
dogged capacity for disbelief.
Stephanie Brush (b. 1954) American
humorist, columnist "And Into
the Tunnel"
I'd rather go through trauma than discomfort, which may be my whole
problem.
Steven Brust (b. 1955) American
writer, systems programmer "A
Dream of Passion" (1986)
No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will
seriously cramp his style.
Steven Brust (b. 1955) American
writer, systems programmer Jhereg
(1983)
Everything is normal. It's just that some normal things are weirder than
other normal things.
Steven Brust (b. 1955) American
writer, systems programmer Teckla (1987)
What
had I learned in this lifetime? That’s it’s always the good guys against the
bad guys, and you can never tell who the good guys are, so you settle for
killing the bad guys.
Steven Brust (b. 1955) American
writer, systems programmer Teckla (1987)
I sometimes wonder if my entire adult life has been spent in an effort to
avoid dirty dishes. One could, I suppose, have worse goals.
Steven Brust (b. 1955) American
writer, systems programmer Teckla (1987)
Life is a tragedy
for those who feel, a comedy for those who think.
Philosophers are capable of almost endless enjoyment of mutual
misunderstanding.
Lyman Bryson (1888-1959) American
academic, educator
The error of youth is to believe that intelligence is a substitute for
experience, while the error of age is to believe experience is a substitute for
intelligence.
Lyman Bryson (1888-1959) American
academic, educator
They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made
them feel.
Put yourself in Hamlet’s shoes. Suppose
you were a prince, and you came back from college to discover that your uncle
had murdered your father and married your mother, and you fell in love with a
beautiful girl and mistakenly murdered her father, and then she went crazy and
drowned herself. What would you do?
Go back for a masters?
I learned early to understand that there is no such condition in human
affairs as absolute truth. There is only truth as people see it, and truth,
even in fact, may be kaleidoscopic in its variety. The damage such perception
did to me I have felt ever since ... I could never belong entirely to one side
of any question.
Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) American
writer My Several Worlds (1954)
There were many ways of
breaking a heart. Stories were full of hearts being broken by love, but what
really broke a heart was taking away its dream - whatever the dream might be.
Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) American
writer The Patriot (1939)
I profoundly believe it takes a lot of practice to become a moral slob.
William F. Buckley,
Jr.
(b. 1925) American writer, editor
I won't insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe
what you just said.
William F. Buckley,
Jr.
(b. 1925) American writer, editor
There is this difference
between depression and sorrow -- sorrowful, you are in great trouble because
something matters so much; depressed you are miserable because nothing really
matters.
J.E. Buckrose
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of
the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
Buddha (c.563-483 BC)
Indian mystic, philosopher [b. Siddharta Gautama]
Your life and my
life flow into each other as wave flows into wave, and unless there is peace
and joy and freedom for you, there can be no real peace or joy or freedom for
me. To see reality--not as we expect it to be but as it is--is to see that
unless we live for each other and in and through each other, we do not really
live very satisfactorily; that there can really be life only where there really
is, in just this sense, love.
Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat
Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your
wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue
the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last
toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back
-- in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what
you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.
Frederick Buechner
Somebody once
said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities:
integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other
two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without
the first, you really want them to be dumb and lazy.
Warren Buffet
The masses bother
me not because they are basically stupid, but because they push their stupidity
into my life.
Charles Bukowski (1920-1994)
German-American author, poet
I never wake up
before
Charles Bukowski (1920-1994)
German-American author, poet
Some people never go crazy.
What truly horrible lives they must lead.
Charles Bukowski (1920-1994)
German-American author, poet
You begin saving the world by saving one person at a time; all else is
grandiose romanticism or politics.
Charles Bukowski (1920-1994)
German-American author, poet
Tales of Ordinary Madness,
"Too Sensitive" (1967)
Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword.
Edward George
Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) English novelist and politician
Video games, not parents, are to blame for many of these teenage crimes.
I'm certain it was Frogger that taught my son to jaywalk.
John Bumbry (contemp.) systems
analyst
If all the gold
in the world were melted down into a solid cube it would be about the size of
an eight room house. If a man got possession of all that gold -- billions of
dollars worth -- he could not buy a friend, character, peace of mind, clear
conscience or a sense of eternity.
If we have been
pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from
the hand of the same master.
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) Italian artist and architect
The
greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it,
but that it is too low and we reach it.
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) Italian artist and architect
It is well for people who think to change their minds occasionally in
order to keep them clean. For those who do not think, it is best to at least
rearrange their prejudices once in a while.
Luther Burbank (1849-1926) American
horticulturist
The people no longer believe in principles, but will probably
periodically believe in saviors.
Jacob Christoph
Burckhardt (1818-1897) Swiss historian
The state is never so efficient as when it wants money.
Anthony Burgess (1917-1993) English
novelist
If in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or
acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead.
Gelett Burgess (1866-1951) American
humorist and illustrator
It is much more
comfortable to be mad and know it, than to be sane and have one’s doubts.
G. B. Burgin British author
Never despair; but if you do, work on in despair.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) British
statesman and orator
Nobody makes a greater mistake then he who does nothing because he could
only do a little.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) British
statesman and orator
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) British
statesman and orator Attributed
The use of force alone is temporary. It may subdue for a moment; but it
does not remove the necessity of subduing again; and a nation is not governed
which is perpetually to be conquered.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) British
statesman and orator Speech on
Conciliation with
Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement;
and he betrays instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) British
statesman and orator Speech to
the electors of
There is, however, a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) British
statesman and orator
Observations on a
Late Publication, "The
No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and
reasoning as fear.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) British
statesman and orator On the Sublime and Beautiful, Part II,
Sec. 2 (1756)
When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one
by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) British
statesman and orator Thoughts on the Cause of the Present
Discontents (1770)
Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong,
because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward
with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism.
Dr. David M. Burns (contemp.) American
medical professor
Actually, it only takes one drink to get me loaded. Trouble is, I can't
remember if it's the thirteenth or fourteenth.
George Burns (1896-1996) American
comedian
I'd rather be a failure at something I enjoy than a success at something
I hate.
George Burns (1896-1996) American
comedian
Nature does not care whether the hunter slays the beast or the beast the
hunter. She will make good compost of both, and her ends are prospered
whichever succeeds.
John Burroughs (1837-1921) American
naturalist Birds
& Poets, ch. 2 (1877)
A cat's rage is beautiful,
burning with pure cat flame, all its hair standing up and crackling blue
sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering.
William S. Burroughs
All Faith is
false, all Faith is true:
Truth is the shattered mirror strown
In myriad bits; while each believes
His little bit the whole to own.
Sir Richard Francis
Burton (1821-1890) British explorer and orientalist The
Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1880)
All poets are mad.
Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy
The majority of
us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most
likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor. But
that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people
waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our
compassion, our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely
because we took the time to share what we had to give. Too often we
underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word a listening ear, an
honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential
to turn a life around. It’s overwhelming to consider the continuous
opportunities there are to make our love felt.
Leo F. Buscaglia
(1924-1998)
Just as
George H. Bush (b. 1924) US
President (1989-92) Comment at
State Dinner for Polish PM Tadeusz Mazowiecki (
The function of the expert is not to be more right than other people, but
to be wrong for more sophisticated reasons.
Dr. David Butler (b. 1930) British
psephologist The Observer (1969)
Half the vices that the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in
them and require moderate use rather than total abstinence.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English
novelist, satirist, scholar
Christ and The Church: If he were to apply for a divorce on the grounds
of cruelty, adultery and desertion, he would probably get one.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English
novelist, satirist, scholar Notebooks (1912)
The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with
him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself,
too.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English
novelist, satirist, scholar Notebooks (1912)
The
oldest books are still only just out to those that have not read them.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English
novelist, satirist, scholar
There are two great rules in life, the one general and the other particular.
The first is that every one can in the end get what he wants if he only tries.
This is the general rule. The particular rule is that every individual is more
or less of an exception to the general rule.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English
novelist, satirist, scholar
Notebooks, Quoting Butler’s
friend and biographer, Henry Festing Jones (1912)
The most important service
rendered by the press is that of educating people to approach printed matter
with distrust.
Samuel Butler
(1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
Any
fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie
well.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English
novelist, satirist, scholar
The country that
draws a broad line between its fighting men and its thinking men will find its
fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards.
Sir William F. Butler
Never raise your hands to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.
Red Buttons (b. 1919) American
comic
Old is when your wife says "Let's go upstairs and make love,"
and you answer, "Honey, I can't do both."
Red Buttons (b. 1919) American
comic
I have seen the sea when it
is stormy and wild; when it is quiet and serene; when it is dark and moody. And
in all its moods, I see myself.
Martin Buxbaum
The first duty to children is
to make them happy. If you have not made them so, you have wronged them. No
other good they may get can make up for that.
Charles Buxton
He who is only just is cruel. Who on earth could live were all judged
justly?
George Gordon, Lord
Byron
(1788-1824) English poet
The weak alone repent.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet