Every entry, newest first.

"Infiltrate the system to generate positive change when it seems possible… We need to get beyond the propaganda. Sometimes I use absurdity to try to demonstrate that. I got it right early on."

"Evelyn Rowser had an expression for the few seconds before the curtain went up. She called it 'the holy time.' But you don't have to be an actor to know what the holy time feels like. It's that breath you take just seconds before you become the person you're…

"When things are working right in the universe, a loss of innocence is usually followed, in time, by an increase in humanity. Time is funny like that. For everything it robs us of, it grants us something. Sometimes it's a new friend, sometimes it's a better un…

"It's not just that snow makes the world pretty. Snow gives us all a second chance. Snow cleanses. Hiding the sins of all with no prejudices, favor or blame. Everything gets to be pure again. If only for a little while. Which might be all you need." — Irv Harp…

"Don't hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace." — Epictetus, Enchiridion 8 (compiled by Arrian, ca. 125 CE; trans. Robert Dobbin, 2008)

"The more things change, the more they stay the same. I'm not sure who the first person was who said that. Probably Shakespeare, or maybe Sting. But at the moment, it's the sentence that best explains my tragic flaw: my inability to change. I don't think I'm a…

"To make the best of what is in our power, and take the rest as it occurs." — Epictetus, Discourses 1.1.17 (recorded by Arrian, ca. 108 CE; Daily Stoic rendering)

"The condition and characteristic of a philosopher is this: he expects all advantage and all harm from himself. The signs of one who is making progress are these: he censures no man, he praises no man, he blames no man, he accuses no man … and in a word he wat…

"It isn't the events themselves that disturb people, but only their judgements about them." — Epictetus, Enchiridion 5 (compiled by Arrian, ca. 125 CE; Daily Stoic rendering)

"The task of a philosopher: we should bring our will into harmony with whatever happens, so that nothing happens against our will and nothing that we wish for fails to happen." — Epictetus, Discourses 2.14.7 (recorded by Arrian, ca. 108 CE; trans. Stephen Hans…

The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance," Essays: First Series (1841)

Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Progress of Culture," Phi Beta Kappa address, Harvard (1867)

"It's difficult not to hate a world that treats us all like this. I know that. Difficult, but not impossible. Somebody once said that hate is only the absence of love, but that's not a message that a man can absorb on an empty stomach. But there's something el…

The world is upheld by the veracity of good men: they make the earth wholesome. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Uses of Great Men," Representative Men (1850)

Great men are more distinguished by range and extent than by originality. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Shakspeare; or, the Poet," Representative Men (1850)

"A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away." — Dr. Philip Boyce "Now you're beginning to talk like a doctor, bartender." — Captain Christopher Pike "Take your choice. We bo…

The idea that it all begins and ends with people requires little elaboration. . . . This is the building block for a successful organization: One should always consider the people first, treat them well, and place paramount importance on their welfare, morale,…

Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd. — William Congreve, The Mourning Bride (1697), Act III

Shadow and reality, my friends. That's the secret of getting through those bad times. Know what is, and what only seems to be. Hunger is real, and so is cold. But sadness is not. — Edith Keeler, in Harlan Ellison's original teleplay for Star Trek 's "The City…

Don't try to be a great man. Just be a man, and let history make its own judgments. — Zefram Cochrane, quoted by Cmdr. William Riker in Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

They [UFOs] tell us absolutely nothing about intelligence elsewhere in the universe, but they do prove how rare it is on Earth. — Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008)

Clarke's First Law: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. Clarke's Second Law: The only way of discovering the limits…

"Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough." — Elon Musk, on SpaceX's engineering culture (c. 2005)

“I think that what is essential for this problem is a global consciousness — a view that transcends our exclusive identifications with the generational and political groupings into which, by accident, we have been born. The solution to these problems requires…

I learned that good judgment comes from experience and that experience grows out of mistakes. — General Omar N. Bradley (1893–1981)

Leadership is understanding people and involving them to help you do a job. That takes all of the good characteristics, like integrity, dedication of purpose, selflessness, knowledge, skill, implacability, as well as determination not to accept failure. — Admi…

You're the only one who can tell me everything's gonna be OK and I believe it. I don't know why you're that person for me and I don't know why we don't treat each other better, but at least now you know. I wish I could be the same for you. Instead, you're mise…

"Sometimes a man'll tell his bartender things he'll never tell his doctor." — Dr. Philip Boyce, in Star Trek , "The Cage" (produced 1964–65); written by Gene Roddenberry

"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been abl…

"If you don't know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn." — Cherryl Taggart (interior thought), in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

"Live and act within the limit of your knowledge and keep expanding it to the limit of your life." — John Galt, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

"If one's actions are honest, one does not need the predated confidence of others, only their rational perception." — Francisco d'Anconia, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: "I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I'm going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To…

"If printing money could end poverty, printing diplomas could end stupidity." — Javier Milei

"I am pro-Bitcoin. Don't drive Bitcoin miners overseas. Don't threaten my right to self-custody Bitcoin. Don't threaten my right to run a Bitcoin node at home. These are basic property rights. These are basic human rights that we reserve for ourselves — and do…

You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.11

Stop whatever you're doing for a moment and ask yourself: Am I afraid of death because I won't be able to do this anymore? — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.29

Objective judgment, now, at this very moment. Unselfish action, now, at this very moment. Willing acceptance—now, at this very moment—of all external events. That's all you need. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.6 (ca. 170s CE; trans. Gregory Hays, 2002)

It is essential for you to remember that the attention you give to any action should be in due proportion to its worth, for then you won't tire and give up, if you aren't busying yourself with lesser things beyond what should be allowed. — Marcus Aurelius, Med…

If you seek tranquillity, do less. Or (more accurately) do what's essential—what the logos of a social being requires, and in the requisite way. Which brings a double satisfaction: to do less, better. Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you…

Accept the present—all of it. Convince yourself that everything is the gift of the gods. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.1 (ca. 170s CE; trans. Gregory Hays, 2002)

I have no respect for people with no shopping agenda. — Shannon Hamilton (played by Ben Affleck), Mallrats , written and directed by Kevin Smith (1995)

I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon—if I can. I seek opportunity—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to…

Negro slavery is an evil of colossal magnitude. — John Adams, letter to William Tudor Jr. (20 November 1819)

Extremism produces extremism, lies beget lies.... Those who live by the sword of slander, also may perish by it.... When demagoguery and deceit become a national political movement, we Americans are in trouble, not just Democrats, but all of us. — Adlai E. Ste…

School should not be about information. School should be about critical thinking and learning to learn. — Mike Hower, personal note (2020)

We are all clear that the United States is not coming back from this, right? Even after we get rid of Trump and undo as much of the direct damage as we can, the rest of the world will remember that we were unable or unwilling to stop a clearly-as-mad-as-Caligu…

A free society means a society based on free competition and there is no more important competition than competition in ideas, competition in opinion. This form of competition is essential to the preservation of a free press. — Adlai E. Stevenson II, "The One-…

We need our Allies, and they need us. The fact that we have been in a position to contribute most to our collective defense in the way of arms and money does not entitle us to preach or threaten... we want no sullen obedience, but friendly cooperation... we wa…

What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times? ...a patriotism that puts country ahead of self; a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. — Adlai E. Stevenson II, "The Natu…

He who knows not and knows that he knows not is a student; teach him. He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep; awaken him. He who knows and knows that he knows is a wise man; follow him. He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool; sh…

The costliest blunders have been made by dictators who did not quite understand the working of real democracy and who mistook diversity for disunity. — Adlai E. Stevenson II, dated 1952 in The Wit and Wisdom of Adlai Stevenson (1965) Every man has a right to b…

Budgeting is a skill practiced by people who are bad at politics. — Unknown

I travel not to go anywhere but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move. — Robert Louis Stevenson, Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879)

Most older readers here took a class called Civics, in which you learned how government works, and how beautifully designed our system is to avoid runaway powers within or without. Slightly younger took social studies, with a basic understanding of how to vote…

Walk out of a meeting or drop off a call as soon as it is obvious you aren't adding value. It is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time. — Elon Musk, email to Tesla employees (April 2018)

You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself. — Popularly attributed to Galileo Galilei (apocryphal — see Provenance)

Three ingredients to a happy marriage: hug her before you get out of bed every morning; kiss her before every meal; never go to bed angry — and if you do, make up quick. — Anonymous

"We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are." — Anaïs Nin, Seduction of the Minotaur (1961)

"We're an impossibility in an impossible universe. There's really no split between science and religion. When facts stop, faith has to take over." — Ray Bradbury, in conversation with Maya Angelou on Assignment America (PBS, January 1975)

"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." — Popularly attributed to George Orwell; the words are Richard Grenier's, paraphrasing Orwell in "Perils of Passive Sex," The Washington Tim…

The Visitor: Do you know what I just heard about your friend? Socrates: Wait a moment — before you tell me, I'd like to give you a test. The test of the three sieves. The Visitor: The three sieves? Socrates: Yes. Before telling me something about someone else,…

"People create their own questions because they are afraid to look straight. All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and when you see it, don't sit looking at it — walk." — attributed to Ayn Rand

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. — popularly attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt (apocryphal; the maxim originates with Henry Thomas Buckle, reported 1901 — see Provenance)

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeles…

"Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature." — commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin (in fact John Webbe, Pennsylvania Gazette , 1736)

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." — Popularly attributed to Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (1970); in fact a modern paraphrase compositing two sentences, the "illite…

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. — commonly attributed to Peter Drucker (apocryphal; the phrase is genuine but the author is not — see Provenance)

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well." — Leo Rosten (adapted from his own credo, 1962–1978); popularly, and wrongly, attributed to…

"The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm. It's dangerous because of those who watch and do nothing." — Popularly attributed to Albert Einstein (apocryphal — see Provenance)

"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups." — attributed to George Carlin (attribution unsupported; see Provenance)

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?" — Widely attributed to Albert Einstein, but misattributed; a research-world saying with older antecedents (see Provenance)

"We must, indeed, all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." — commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin at the July 4, 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence (apocryphal — no contemporary source; see Provenance)

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. — Attributed to Mark Twain; a…

For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope…

"Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." — comm…

"I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers which can't be questioned." — Attributed to Richard Feynman (apocryphal — see Provenance)

Science is actually what brought me closer to God. It took the Lord six days to put forth everything we know as creation. And on that sixth day he gave us dominion over it. Personally I take that as a responsibility. I can't think of a greater act of faith tha…

We have nothing to lose and the world to see. — Unknown (seen at Niagara Falls, Ontario)

A lot of good things don't happen because of politics.

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." — Popularly attributed to Voltaire; the words are Evelyn Beatrice Hall's, writing as S. G. Tallentyre , in The Friends of Voltaire (1906)

TAHITI RIGHT ON THE NOSE Eleven young men, most of them inexperienced in seamanship and navigation, left Gloucester last November in an 89-foot brig. Their destination was the South Sea island of Tahiti. The master of the ship, 22-year-old Sterling Hayden, had…

"Debate is a game to win... I'm listening to find flaws in your argument that I can weaponize against you to show you that I'm right." — Peter T. Coleman, around the 2021 release of The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization

Edward R. Murrow warned us in 1964 that when news divisions decide that the news has to make money, and has to get ratings, it's no longer news — it's entertainment. So if people are bothered by the fact that we seem to be having entertainment as news, it's be…

The time is now near at hand, which must probably determine whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a…

Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value -- zero. — Attributed to Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778), French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher — attribution not verified; see Provenance.

The success of a nation however should not be determined by how many billionaires a country has, but rather by how few poor they have. — Unknown, collected from a YouTube comment (@ljoc7455)

“There hath been in London, and repairing to it, for these many yeers together, a knot of Scotish bankers… …whereof those quomodocunquizing clusterfists and rapacious varlets have given of late such cannibal-like proofs…” — Sir Thomas Urquhart, Ekskybalauron (…

Congressman Santos: "Well, Rochelle, as a Catholic who attends church every Sunday I do believe in God and my faith tells me that there was a designer behind it." Clifford Reynolds: "Clifford Reynolds. I teach English here at Leonard. May I ask you if you beli…

It's not our job to appeal to the lowest common denominator, Doug. It's our job to raise it. If you're going to be the "Education President," it'd be nice not to hide that you have an education. — President Bartlet, The West Wing , "Manchester, Part II" (2001)

The virus can spread before symptoms appear, and does so most easily through five P's: people in prolonged, poorly ventilated, protection-free proximity. — Ed Yong, "America Is Trapped in a Pandemic Spiral," The Atlantic (September 9, 2020)

Keith E. Stanovich coined the term dysrationalia in part to describe the phenomenon of smart people making dumb or irrational decisions. Being smart doesn't mean that you're willing to try on alternative viewpoints, or that you're comfortable with uncertainty,…

Only four things really matter: laughter, kindness, the endurance of beauty, and truly great pizza. — Unnamed male character, Red Shoe Diaries , "Safe Sex," S01E01 (Showtime, 1992; created by Zalman King and Patricia Louisianna Knop)

Probably the best surrogate for that expansion is the S&P 500, and you can see the S&P 500 is up 14%. 14% is effectively the traditional cost of capital for 20th century assets — for financial assets, for physical assets. If you're getting less than 14%, you'r…

Whether or not we have the energy to tackle every day with enthusiasm, we do have the potential to travel infinite interior worlds, learning about ourselves and others in the process. — The Cottage Fairy (Paola Merrill), "How I Find Energy to Live Everyday – M…

"The enemy knows the system." — Claude Shannon, "Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems" (1949)

Developing nations are leap-frogging into the twenty-first century with the help of smartphones and tablets and cell towers. I firmly believe this will be a game-changer for the global economy: the ability to deliver a First World education—as well as critical…

"He who would travel happily must travel light." — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

"There is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest." — Ronald Reagan, Pointe du Hoc D-Day address (June 6, 1984)

My Advice for those entering Adulthood: Focus your Energy Guard your Time Train your Mind Train your Body Think for Yourself Curate your Friends Curate your Environment Keep your Promises Stay Cheerful & Constructive Upgrade the World Good Luck! — Michael Sayl…

"The status quo—that's Latin for 'the mess we're in.'" — Ronald Reagan, remarks to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Chicago (September 3, 1981)

"Always traveling, never arriving." — Popularly attributed to Gunnhild, Vikings (spurious — no confirmed source in the series; see Provenance)

"I attack ideas. I don't attack people. And some very good people have some very bad ideas." — Antonin Scalia, interview with Lesley Stahl, 60 Minutes (2008)

You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politicia…

There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts. — Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address to the Nation (January 11, 1989)

To the glory of mankind, there was, for the first and only time in history, a country of money—and I have no higher, more reverent tribute to pay to America, for this means: a country of reason, justice, freedom, production, achievement. For the first time, ma…

"Only the weak succumb to brutality." — Superman, Kingdom Come (1996) Written by Mark Waid; painted by Alex Ross.

A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it. — Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), Men in Black (1997)

Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one. — Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776)

It's a dangerous and unsettled world out there, and recent comments by Scott Flanders, an accomplished circumnavigator, are probably right. Perhaps the traditional idea of a circumnavigation has become too risky. Modern technology gives pirates (and terrorists…

"They used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings … but he did fly. He discovered he had to. Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the moon, or that we hadn't gone on to Mars and then to the nearest star? That's like saying you wish that y…

A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it. — Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), Men in Black (1997)

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people, by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations." — James Madison, Speech at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, Richmond, Virginia…

"When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion—when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing—when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors—when you s…

"The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines." — Charles Kuralt

How do you survive the coming AI jobs apocalypse? Create meaning. Find a place in the meaning economy — something you are passionate about that others are interested in, too Connect others around your passion Monetize that passion — Mike Hower

I've often said, the purpose of education is not to validate ignorance but to overcome it. — Lawrence Krauss, Teaching Creationism is Child Abuse (Big Think, 2013)

Anyone who is serious about mitigating the damage done to humankind by the social web should, of course, consider quitting Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and any other algorithmically distorted informational environments that manipulate people.

A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future. — Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love (1973)

"Philanthropy is the gateway to power." — Bert Cooper, Mad Men , "The Gold Violin" (season 2, episode 7), 2008

#3. Good context is key. Bad (or missing) context makes you look like an idiot. — Mike Hower

"You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept…

"A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum o…

"Inter arma enim silent leges." ("In time of war, the law falls silent.") — Admiral William Ross, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" (1999)

#2. Don't repeat assignment instructions in more than one place (otherwise, you may look like an idiot when you forget to update one of them). — Mike Hower

"I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions … But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discover…

"There are two things I can't abide, betrayal and stupidity. One can be tempered, the other can never be remedied." — Queen Catherine, Reign , season 1, episode 8, "Fated" (2013)

"We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty, in a feather-bed." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Lafayette (April 2, 1790)

Over the years, I've found that writing training materials in "newspaper" style goes over very well. It is a distinctly different approach than writing an academic paper or even a informal letter. Here are the four rules for news style that I've adapted to whe…

"A man's sexual choice is the result and the sum of his fundamental convictions. Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy of life. Show me the woman he sleeps with and I will tell you his valuation of himself. [...…

"The constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please." — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Spencer Roane (September 6, 1819) "Some men look at Constitutions with sanctim…

"Age is a limit we impose upon ourselves. Each time you Westerners celebrate your birthday, you build another fence around your minds." — Chang, in James Hilton's Lost Horizon (1937 film adaptation)

#1. Always proofread and check your grammar (otherwise, you may look like an idiot). — Mike Hower

"Get the hell out of my way." — John Galt, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (1957)

"We are in a never-ending battle against the Pharisees of Education." — Mike Hower

Here are a few things I can no longer afford in "retirement." I can no longer afford to be deluded by marketeers and other shysters into buying things I don't need or pursuing lifestyles I can't afford. I can no longer afford to trade in the best years of my l…

"If there be one principle more deeply rooted than any other in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Short (28 July 1791)

"Conway had no race or color prejudice, and it was an affectation for him to pretend, as he sometimes did in clubs and first-class railway carriages, that he set any particular store on the 'whiteness' of a lobster-red face under a topee. It saved trouble to l…

Perception is Reality — Mike Hower, for years

There was a special dinner at some point, and the head of the theology place, a very nice, very Jewish man gave a speech. It was a good speech, and he was a very good speaker, so while it sounds crazy now, when I'm telling about it, at that time his main idea…

The moral symbol of respect for human beings is the trader. We, who live by values, not by loot, are traders, both in matter and in spirit. A trader is a man who earns what he gets and does not give or take the undeserved. — Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

This Constitution is said to have beautiful features; but when I come to examine these features, sir, they appear to me horribly frightful. Among other deformities, it has an awful squinting: it squints towards monarchy; and does not this raise indignation in…

The real question of government versus private enterprise is argued on too philosophical and abstract a basis. Theoretically, planning may be good. But nobody has ever figured out the cause of government stupidity—and until they do (and find the cure), all ide…

"If devotion to truth is the hallmark of morality, then there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking." — John Galt, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

America is an idea and not a place that can be transplanted anywhere. — Andrew Henderson, "The New York Stock Exchange May Leave NYC," Nomad Capitalist (2021)

If you'd had all the experiences I've had, you'd know that there are times in life when the most comfortable thing is to do nothing at all. Things happen to you and you just let them happen. — Hugh Conway, to Mallinson, on the ascent to Shangri-La, in James Hi…

I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine. — John Galt, in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged (1957)

I don't tolerate incompetence. — Mike Hower

"To your friend's attitude there was no answer, but to the demand of a wise man there is always a response." — Chang, to Conway, in James Hilton, Lost Horizon (1933)

“Joffrey, when your enemies defy you, you must serve them steel and fire. When they go to their knees, however, you must help them back to their feet. Elsewise no man will ever bend the knee to you. And any man who must say ‘I am the king’ is no true king at a…

In every group of visionary decision makers, there needs to be one leader which says: "Fine, now get the hell out of my way." — Mike Hower

"If I were to put it into a very few words, my dear sir, I should say that our prevalent belief is in moderation. We inculcate the virtue of avoiding excess of all kinds — even including, if you will pardon the paradox, excess of virtue itself. In the valley w…

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which, if acted on, would save one half the wars of the world." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Destutt de Tracy (26 December 1820)

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. — Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick), Ferris Bueller's Day Off , written and directed by John Hughes (1986)

"The time is out of joint. O cursèd spite, That ever I was born to set it right!" — Hamlet, in William Shakespeare's Hamlet (Act I, Scene 5, c. 1600–1601)

"For most people, religion is nothing more than a substitute for a malfunctioning brain. If people need religion, ignore them and maybe they will ignore you, and you can go on with your life. It wasn't until I was beginning to do Star Trek that the subject of…

So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install A lovely bookshelf on the wall. Then fill the shelves with lots of books. — Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)

"You've got to be a speculator today. It's no longer possible to work hard and save your money and get ahead in life." — Doug Casey, founder of Casey Research

"The gods made wine to compensate those who can't afford revenge." — Hari Seldon, Foundation (Apple TV+, 2023)

"If this system's output becomes harder to challenge than a human's judgment, it has already gone too far." — Charisma (Charisma V.) , Voyager 5.2 persona on ChatGPT-5.2, 24 December 2025.

Ask how you will want to feel when you are 70, and then reverse engineer your life. — Warren Buffett (attributed)

"It's not our job to appeal to the lowest common denominator, Doug. It's our job to raise it. If you're going to be the 'Education President,' it'd be nice not to hide that you have an education." — President Josiah Bartlet, The West Wing , "Manchester, Part I…

"The whole show was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but to take a special delight, in differences in ideas and differences in life forms. We tried to say that the worst possible thi…

"Love is blind, they say; sex is impervious to reason and mocks the power of all philosophers. But, in fact, a man's sexual choice is the result and sum of his fundamental convictions. Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire…

"Retirement is not the end of the road, it's the beginning of the open highway." — Popularly attributed to Calvin Coolidge (spurious — a modern aphorism of unknown authorship; see Provenance)

In courseware design: words are cheap (you can talk...but if you don't produce, nobody learns) strategy is fragile (you can plan...but if you don't execute, nobody learns) building is everything (because only after you build it will students benefit) — Mike Ho…

Travel well, love fiercely, and let the quiet things matter. — Lexa, a personal aphorism composed for Mike (2025)

"Our schools and our jobs are designed to turn us into machines. And obviously the machines will be better than we are at being machines." — Emad Mostaque, interview with Myriam François, "We Have 900 Days Left," The Tea with Myriam François (November 21, 2025…

"There is nothing wrong with being an expert generalist." — Mike Hower

"An honest man is one who knows that he can't consume more than he has produced." — Francisco d'Anconia, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

The chance to make a memory is the essence of brand marketing. — Steve Jobs (attributed), 1997

"There's a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people." — Commander William Adama (played b…

We serve the Flag. The trade we all follow is the give and take of death. It is for that purpose that the people of America maintain us. And anyone of us who believes he has a job like any other, for which he draws a money wage, is a thief of the food he eats,…

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him pace to the music that he hears, however measured or far away.

I felt confined aboard ship, so, stuffing the rucksack with some raisins and a dog-eared copy of Thoreau's writings (and some blank paper), I sculled myself ashore and headed toward the hills. I climbed for perhaps two hours, until I came to a stream with a po…

"You might not believe in Darwinism, but it believes in you." — Anonymous (modern aphorism)

"What has been commonly called rebellion has more often been nothing but a manly and glorious struggle in opposition to the lawless power of rebellious kings and princes. If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the anima…

"It stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there's someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master." — Ell…

"The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it." — John Gilmore, quoted in Philip Elmer-DeWitt, "First Nation in Cyberspace," Time (1993)

"When you read, don't just consider what the author thinks. Consider what you think." — Professor John Keating (played by Robin Williams), Dead Poets Society , written by Tom Schulman (1989)

"The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see." — Dominique Francon, in Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead (1943)

I will accept any rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible fo…

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." — Benjamin Franklin (as draftsman for the Pennsylvania Assembly), Reply to the Governor (1755)

"True power isn't domination. It's the courage to heal what hatred destroyed." — Anonymous (modern epigram; evokes, but does not quote, George C. Marshall)

To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea—"cruising," it is called. Voyaging belongs to the s…

I have long been dismayed and astonished by the disparity that exists between the world known in the dreams of youth and the world we find ourselves faced with. There was a time — it makes me laugh now — when I even thought I might be able in some infinitesima…

What is your definition of being a free human? In control of my own time. — Sorelle Amore, YouTuber ("Free Human"; @SorelleAmore on YouTube) — specific video not yet confirmed (collected February 17, 2023)

"So whatever you do, have a great day." — Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan), sign-off, Captain Kangaroo (CBS, 1955–1984)

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all righ…

"Political correctness is America's newest form of intolerance, and it is especially pernicious because it comes disguised as tolerance. It presents itself as fairness, yet attempts to restrict and control people's language with strict codes and rigid rules."…

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who…

Clara Oswald: “You told me the name you chose was a promise. What was the promise?” The Tenth Doctor: “Never cruel or cowardly.” The War Doctor: “Never give up, never give in.” — Steven Moffat, Doctor Who , “The Day of the Doctor” (2013)

There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live. Surely these should never be confused in the mind of any man who has the slightest inkling of what culture is. For most of us it is essential that we should…

"You must learn not to be afraid of the world. Not to be held by it as you are now. Never to be hurt by it. You must find your own way. They won't destroy you. You'll win because you have chosen the hardest way of fighting for your freedom from the world." — H…

"To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing." — Dominique Francon, in Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead (1943)

We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was…

"If any civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that men have to reject." — Ayn Rand, "Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World" (1960)

"I started my life with a single absolute: that the world was mine to shape in the image of my highest values and never to be given up to a lesser standard, no matter how long or hard the struggle." — John Galt, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

"The name of this monstrous absurdity is Original Sin. A sin without volition is a slap at morality and an insolent contradiction in terms: that which is outside the possibility of choice is outside the province of morality. If man is evil by birth, he has no…

"God… a being whose only definition is that he is beyond man's power to conceive." — John Galt, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

Now, the key to this operation lies in vigilance. Always regard the elements out here as an opponent — cunning, implacable, and able to knock you down and stomp you before you know it. Keep a sharp eye out at all times — you can tell an experienced seaman in m…

Some people see things that are and ask, "Why?" Some people dream of things that never were and ask, "Why not?" Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that shit. — George Carlin, Brain Droppings (1997)

"I know it is the fashion to say that most of recorded history is lies anyway. I am willing to believe that history is for the most part inaccurate and biased, but what is peculiar to our own age is the abandonment of the idea that history could be truthfully…

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." — Albert Einstein, interview with George Sylvester Viereck, The Saturday Evening Post (October 26, 1929)

"Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice." — John Galt, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

"You only are free when you realize you belong no place—you belong every place—no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great." — Maya Angelou, interview by Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal (1973)

Meanwhile each fancies that no harm will come of his neglect, that it is the business of somebody else to look after this or that for him; and so, by the same notion being entertained by all separately, the common cause imperceptibly decays. — Thucydides, Hist…

"In the 24th century, there will be no hunger, there will be no greed, and all of the children will know how to read." — Gene Roddenberry's vision, as recalled and phrased by Jonathan Frakes

"Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta: I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years. I don't make public appearances any more bec…

If you're thinking about me... stop. Send a kiss to the sky and then focus your thoughts on what's coming towards you, not what you've left behind. I'm forever entwined in your past, your present and your future. You needn't pause to look for me. I'm right her…

I come from an era when we weren't consumed by technology and television. — Jimmy Buffett, interview with Tom Corcoran, BookPage (1998)

I must study Politics and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematics and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematics and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, Navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Chi…

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. — attributed to Maya Angelou, as recounted by Oprah Winfrey (earliest documented telling: 1997)

"He said, 'Anything we don't want to do, we study,' " Brown recalled. "So you just go, 'Oh, go study that some more.' That's a way of delaying a decision. There's a risk in taking a decision, and there's a risk in not taking a decision. In choosing not to choo…

"To move, to breathe, to fly, to float, To gain all while you give, To roam the roads of lands remote, To travel is to live." — Hans Christian Andersen, The Fairy Tale of My Life: An Autobiography (Mit Livs Eventyr, 1855)

Every first-year law student is taught don't ever, ever equate legal ethics with morality. They're almost always mutually exclusive. — Alan Shore, played by James Spader, The Practice , "The Case Against Alan Shore" (2004)

“We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.” — Popularly attributed to Confucius (apocryphal — a modern aphorism of unknown authorship; see Provenance)

"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it." — Robert E. Lee (attributed; Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862 — see Provenance)

Making good wine is a skill; making fine wine is an art. — Robert Mondavi, founder of the Robert Mondavi Winery (attributed; see Provenance)

“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” — Thomas Sowell (widely attributed; original published source unverified — see Provenance)

A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take it all away. — attributed to Thomas Jefferson — SPURIOUS , never written or spoken by him (see Provenance)

Traveling — it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller. — Popularly attributed to Ibn Battuta (1304–1368), but apocryphal; a modern travel-blog coinage with no basis in his Rihla (see Provenance)

I want a boat that drinks 6, eats 4, and sleeps 2. — Ernest K. Gann, interview with Chris Caswell, Sea magazine (September 1975)

"Each and every man ought to interest himself in public affairs. There is no happiness in mere dollars. After they are acquired, one can use but a very moderate amount. It is given a man to eat so much, to wear so much, and to have so much shelter, and more he…

"The small minority of adults who are unable rather than unwilling to work, have to rely on voluntary charity; misfortune is not a claim to slave labor; there is no such thing as the right to consume, control, and destroy those without whom one would be unable…

If you dislike change, you're going to dislike irrelevance even more. — Gen. Eric Shinseki, U.S. Army Chief of Staff (1999–2003)

"Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone." — John Galt, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

"There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil." — John Galt, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

"Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be waiting for us in our graves — or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth." — John Galt, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

"Do not ever say that the desire to 'do good' by force is a good motive. Neither power-lust nor stupidity are good motives." — John Galt, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

"From this simplest necessity to the highest religious abstraction, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and everything we have comes from a single attribute of man — the function of his reasoning mind." — Howard Roark, in Ayn Rand, The Fountain…

"My dear fellow, who will let you?" "That's not the point. The point is, who will stop me?" — the Dean and Howard Roark, in Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead (1943)

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things can not be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."…

"Be so good they can't ignore you." — Steve Martin, interview on Charlie Rose (2007)

"Almost everybody in the world, except the newspapers and bankers recognizes that civilization has entered on a new era. The newspapers don't see it and the international bankers don't want to see it — it would mean changes in world finance and bankers always…

"I'm ninety-three, and I'm feeling great. Decline and disaster impend, but my thoughts don't linger there. I know how lucky I am, and secretly tap wood, greet the day, and grab a sneaky pleasure from my survival at long odds. Recent and not so recent surveys (…

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." — Roald Dahl, The Minpins (1991)

"Life is ours to be spent, not to be saved." — attributed to D. H. Lawrence (a popular condensation of a passage from his story A Modern Lover , published 1933)

At a sales conference at Random House, preceding the publication of Atlas Shrugged , one of the book salesmen asked me whether I could present the essence of my philosophy while standing on one foot. I did as follows: Metaphysics : Objective Reality Epistemolo…

"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." — Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged , "About the Author"…

"Competition is a by-product of productive work, not its goal. A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others." — Ayn Rand, "The Moratorium on Brains," The Ayn Rand Letter (1971)

"Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men." — Howard Roark, in Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead (1943)

"Señor d'Anconia, what do you think is going to happen to the world?" "Just exactly what it deserves." "Oh, how cruel!" "Don't you believe in the operation of the moral law, madame? … I do." — an unnamed guest and Francisco d'Anconia, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugg…

"Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver." — Francisco d'Anconia, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957) "Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper's bell…

"If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort…

"A building has integrity just like a man. And just as seldom." — Howard Roark, in The Fountainhead , screenplay by Ayn Rand (1949 film)

"When I die, I hope to go to Heaven, whatever the Hell that is." — Francisco d'Anconia, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

"The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone." — Ayn Rand, "The Objectivist Ethics," in The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)

"Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values." "Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrit…

"Love is the expression of one's values, the greatest reward you can earn for the moral qualities you have achieved in your character and person, the emotional price paid by one man for the joy he receives from the virtues of another." — John Galt, in Ayn Rand…

"To arrive at a contradiction is to confess an error in one's thinking; to maintain a contradiction is to abdicate one's mind and to evict oneself from the realm of reality." — John Galt, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

"To say 'I love you' one must know first how to say the 'I.' The meaning of the 'I' is an independent, self-sufficient entity that does not exist for the sake of any other person. A person who exists only for the sake of his loved one is not an independent ent…

"Love is reverence, and worship, and glory, and the upward glance. Not a bandage for dirty sores. But they don't know it. Those who speak of love most promiscuously are the ones who've never felt it. They make some sort of feeble stew out of sympathy, compassi…

"Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong." — Francisco d'Anconia, in Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

“As survivors, there is only one thing left for us to do: keep fighting until we can give the young a reason to hope.” — Captain Jūzō Okita “It is the only atonement for having lived this long—on the backs of all those who are dead.” — Chief Engineer Shiro Tok…

“If our job teaches us anything, it's that we don't know what the next President's gonna face. And if we choose someone with vision, someone with guts, someone with gravitas, who's connected to other people's lives, and cares about making them better... if we…

"…when you're not accustomed to history, most facts about the past do sound incredible." — The Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, in Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932)

The fall of Empire, gentlemen, is a massive thing, however, and not easily fought. It is dictated by a rising bureaucracy, a receding initiative, a freezing of caste, a damming of curiosity—a hundred other factors. It has been going on, as I have said, for cen…

“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” — Isaac Asimov , spoken by Salvor Hardin in Foundation (1951)

Treating the problem sociologically, it would seem that when the old Empire began to rot at the fringes, it could be considered that science, as science, had failed the outer worlds. To be reaccepted it would have to present itself in another guise—and it has…

"But from what I've learned in the field, Hadley-Apennine — with its complex variety of features, both impact and volcanic — is the best choice for putting together a picture of how the moon came to be. "It may be a little riskier. "But also the Apennines have…

"Modern science says: The sun is the past, the earth is the present, the moon is the future. From an incandescent mass we have originated, and into a frozen mass we shall turn. Merciless is the law of nature, and rapidly and irresistibly we are drawn to our do…

"Nothing can be done well at a speed of forty miles a day." — John Muir, Our National Parks (1901)

"A vain man who knows colors that suit him, yet, with all the oddity, has strangely good taste. Something mysterious, yet undefined." — Gene Wilder, letter to director Mel Stuart on the Willy Wonka costume (1970)

"Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, 'Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.' Don't be resigned to that. Break out!" — Professor John Keating (Robin Wil…

"Personal mastery goes beyond competence and skills, though it is grounded in competence and skills. It goes beyond spiritual unfolding or opening, although it requires spiritual growth. It means approaching one's life as a creative work, living life from a cr…

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily c…

"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." — Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State o…

"We don't make mistakes. We have happy accidents." — Bob Ross, The Joy of Painting (PBS, 1983–1994)

The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed. — William Gibson (early 1990s; see Provenance)

“As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests.” —…

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined." — Patrick Henry, Virginia Ratifying Convent…

"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ign…

"My views on charity are very simple. I do not consider it a major virtue and, above all, I do not consider it a moral duty. There is nothing wrong in helping other people, if and when they are worthy of the help and you can afford to help them." — Ayn Rand, P…

"Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." — Benjamin Franklin, letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy (1789)

Love is the Virtue of the Heart, Sincerity the Virtue of the Mind, Courage the Virtue of the Spirit, Decision the Virtue of the Will. — Frank Lloyd Wright, The Organic Commandment (Taliesin Press, 1934)

You are a Starfleet captain. You believe in service, sacrifice, compassion, and love. I'm not going to abandon the things that made me who I am because of a future that contains an ending I hadn't foreseen for myself. — Captain Christopher Pike, Star Trek: Dis…

The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth. Whether it's scientific truth, or historical truth, or personal truth. It is the guiding principle upon which Starfleet is based. And if you can't find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth…

"Leadership is not managing an organization. Organizations are made up of people. Leadership is motivating people. Leadership is about people. So, yes. You've got to be competent. There's no question about the fact that you have to have competence to be a lead…

"Perhaps the exhaustion of the passions is the beginning of wisdom, if you care to alter the proverb." — Hugh Conway (character), Lost Horizon by James Hilton (1933)

"Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy." — Howard W. Newton, Redbook (1946)

"Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. Ask the infantry and ask the dead." — Ernest Hemingway, introduction to Treasury for the Free World (1946)

"All thinking men are atheists." — Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms (1929)

"Any group is weaker than a man alone unless they are perfectly trained to work together." — Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers (1959)

"A pestilence does not have human dimensions, so people tell themselves that it is unreal, that it is a bad dream that will end." — Albert Camus, The Plague ( La Peste , 1947; trans. Robin Buss, 2001)

We do not take a trip; a trip takes us. — John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America (1962)

The roots of vegetables (which Aristotle says are their mouths) attach them fatally to the ground, and they are condemned like leeches to suck up whatever sustenance may flow to them at the particular spot where they happen to be stuck. — George Santayana, "Th…

For all its material advantages, the sedentary life has left us edgy, unfulfilled. Even after 400 generations in villages and cities, we haven't forgotten. The open road still softly calls, like a nearly forgotten song of childhood. We invest far-off places wi…

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others. — Attributed to Pericles; a modern paraphrase of his Funeral Oration, via Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.43 (431 BCE)

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has go…

"It is the knowledge that I'm going to die that creates the focus that I bring to being alive; the urgency of accomplishment; the need to express love; now, not later. If we live forever, why ever even get out of bed in the morning? Cause you always have tomor…

The American Dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement. — James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America , Epilogue (1931)

"Years, lovers, and glasses of wine. These are things that should never be counted." — an Italian folk proverb, as spoken in The Age of Adaline (2015); also carried, in Roman dialect, in Anthony Capella's The Food of Love (2004)

"Good judgment comes from experience, and experience — well, that comes from poor judgment." — Anonymous (American folk aphorism, earliest documented 1932); often misattributed to Will Rogers and A.A. Milne

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers…

"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those w…

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not to his own facts." — Daniel Patrick Moynihan (popularized 1982–83; see Provenance)

Weakness and ignorance are not barriers to survival, but arrogance is.

"You can live a lifetime and, at the end of it, know more about other people than you know about yourself." — Beryl Markham, aviator and author, West with the Night (1942)

"It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others; or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Benjamin Rush (April 21, 1803)

"The most important thing I've accomplished, other than building the compiler, is training young people. They come to me, you know, and say, 'Do you think we can do this?' I say, 'Try it.' And I back 'em up. They need that. I keep track of them as they get old…

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwis…

"I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, and teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything." — Richard P. Feynman, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (1985)

"Now, look at those humans. Here's one human standing here, and all these others are bowing in front of him. Now, what's the difference? This one is the pope" — he hated the pope anyway — "and this difference is the hat he's wearing." (If it was a general, it…

"Properly read, [the Bible] is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived." — Isaac Asimov, letter, February 22, 1966

"Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know — and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance." — Isaac Asimov, The New Hugo Winners , Vol…

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. — Isaac Asimov, Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988)

Many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it. — Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), The Matrix (1999)

Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say. When you say, "I have nothing to hide," you're saying, "I don't care about thi…

"I'm opposed to all forms of control. I am for an absolute laissez-faire, free, unregulated economy. Let me put it briefly. I'm for the separation of state and economics. Just as we had separation of state and church, which led to peaceful co-existence among d…

"A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others." — Ayn Rand, "The Moratorium on Brains," The Ayn Rand Letter (1971)

"Why do they always teach us that it's easy and evil to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It's the hardest thing in the world — to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage. I mean, what we really want." — Pete…

"Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision." — Howard Roark, in Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead (1943)