Quotes to inspire and reflect

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it.

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.

If there is one basic element in our Constitution, it is civilian control of the military

When you betray somebody else, you also betray yourself.

It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.

Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius.

Life is a disease; and the only difference between one another is the stage of the disease at which he lives.

Each religion, by the help of more or less myth which it takes more or less seriously, proposes some method of fortifying the human soul and enabling it to make its peace with its destiny.

If you want to know your true opinion of someone, watch the effect produced in you by the first sight of a letter from him.

This is no time to act like a gentleman. I am a cad and shall react like one.

Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer: there is nobility in preserving it coolly and proudly through long youth, until at last, in the ripeness of instinct and discretion, it can be safely exchanged for fidelity and happiness.

But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.

It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English -- up to fifty words used in correct context -- no human being has been reported to have learned dolphinese.

You should never bet against anything in science at odds of more than about 10-12 to 1.

All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.

In all things it is a good idea to hang a question mark now and then on the things we have taken for granted.

The important thing is not to stop questioning.

The great virtue of my radicalism lies in the fact that I am perfectly ready, if necessary, to be radical on the conservative side.

The discovery of this strange society was a curiously refreshing thing; to realize that there were ten new trades in the world was like looking at the first ship or the first plough. It made a man feel what he should feel, that he was still in the childhood of the world. G. K.

There are two kinds of people, those who finish what they start and so on.

Nature, whose sweet rains fall of just and unjust alike, will have clefts in the rocks where I may hide, and secret valleys in whose silence I may weep undetected. She will hang the night with stars so that I may walk abroad in the darkness without stumbling, and send the wind over my footprints so that none may track me to my hurt: she will cleanse me in great waters, and with bitter herbs make me whole.

Personally I rather look forward to a computer program winning the world [chess] championship. Humanity needs a lesson in humility.

We are survival machines - robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes.

I could not say I believe. I know! I have had the experience of being gripped by something that is stronger than myself, something that people call God.

You can never get the smell of smoke out. Like the smell of failure in life.

I have lived some thirty years on this planet and I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors.

Doing abominations is against the law, particularly if the abominations are done while wearing a lobster bib.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DOE Unbearably lovely music is heard as the curtain rises, and we see the woods on a summer afternoon. A fawn dances on and nibbles slowly at some leaves. He drifts lazily through the soft foliage. Soon he starts coughing and drops dead.

Thought: why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only for food: frequently there must be a beverage.

To be conservative at 20 is heartless and to be a liberal at 60 is plain idiocy.

All Bibles are man-made. Thomas A.

A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone.

If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?

The peasants of the Asturias believe that in every litter of wolves there is one pup that is killed by the mother for fear that on growing up it would devour the other little ones.

Trapped, like a trap in a trap.

God is the immemorial refuge of the incompetent, the helpless, the miserable. They find not only sanctuary in His arms, but also a kind of superiority, soothing to their macerated egos; He will set them above their betters

Anyone who has got a book collection and a garden wants for nothing.

If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything.

Politics is no exact science.

A man does not sin by commission only, but often by omission.

A candour affected is a dagger concealed.

To stand up -- or be setup?

To refrain from imitation is the best revenge.

A little flesh, a little breath, and a Reason to rule all - that is myself.

Where life is possible at all, a right life is possible; life in a palace is possible; therefore, even in a palace a right life is possible.

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.

I call that a scumhead.