It is not… Ayn Rand

It is not advisable, James, to venture unsolicited opinions. You should spare yourself the embarrassing discovery of their exact value to your listener.

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, 1957

US (Russian-born) novelist (1905 - 1982)

December 31st, 2006 - Posted in Ayn Rand | | 0 Comments

Retirement at… George Burns

Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five I still had pimples.

George Burns

US actor & comedian (1896 - 1996)

December 31st, 2006 - Posted in George Burns | | 0 Comments

Hope is a thing… Emily Dickinson

Hope is a thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without words And never stops at all.

Emily Dickinson

US poet (1830 - 1886)

December 31st, 2006 - Posted in Emily Dickinson | | 0 Comments

Please give me some… Edna St. Vincent Millay

Please give me some good advice in your next letter. I promise not to follow it.

Edna St. Vincent Millay, Letters, 1952

US poet (1892 - 1950)

December 30th, 2006 - Posted in Edna St. Vincent Millay | | 0 Comments

A conservative is a… Alfred E. Wiggam

A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time.

Alfred E. Wiggam

December 30th, 2006 - Posted in Alfred E. Wiggam | | 0 Comments

To be a hero or a… Simone Weil

To be a hero or a heroine, one must give an order to oneself.

Simone Weil

French social philosopher (1909 - 1943)

December 30th, 2006 - Posted in Simone Weil | | 0 Comments

The true secret of… Hannah Whitall Smith

The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right.

Hannah Whitall Smith, 1902

December 29th, 2006 - Posted in Hannah Whitall Smith | | 0 Comments

Give me an… Hawkeye and Trapper

Give me an incubator or give me death!

Hawkeye and Trapper, M*A*S*H

December 29th, 2006 - Posted in Hawkeye and Trapper | | 0 Comments

Perhaps, after all,… Oscar Wilde

Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it had merely been detected.

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 - 1900)

December 29th, 2006 - Posted in Oscar Wilde | | 0 Comments

It is very… Anne Tyler

It is very difficult to live among people you love and hold back from offering them advice.

Anne Tyler, Celestial Navigation, 1974

US novelist (1941 - )

December 28th, 2006 - Posted in Anne Tyler | | 0 Comments

Eternal vigilance… Wendell Phillips

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty–power is ever stealing from the many to the few.

Wendell Phillips

US abolitionist (1811 - 1884)

December 28th, 2006 - Posted in Wendell Phillips | | 0 Comments

They say that God… Emily Dickinson

They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of Him as somewhat of a recluse.

Emily Dickinson

US poet (1830 - 1886)

December 28th, 2006 - Posted in Emily Dickinson | | 0 Comments

Sleep is an… J.G. Ballard

Sleep is an eight-hour peep show of infantile erotica.

J.G. Ballard

December 27th, 2006 - Posted in J.G. Ballard | | 0 Comments

A judge is a law… H. L. Mencken

A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers.

H. L. Mencken

US editor (1880 - 1956)

December 27th, 2006 - Posted in H. L. Mencken | | 0 Comments

If you can spend a… Lin Yutang

If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live.

Lin Yutang

December 27th, 2006 - Posted in Lin Yutang | | 0 Comments

My passport photo… Anne Morrow Lindbergh

My passport photo is one of the most remarkable photographs I have ever seen — no retouching, no shadows, no flattery — just stark me.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

December 27th, 2006 - Posted in Anne Morrow Lindbergh | | 0 Comments

Freud is the father… Germaine Greer

Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It has no mother.

Germaine Greer

December 26th, 2006 - Posted in Germaine Greer | | 0 Comments

I have long since… Dorothy Day

I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions.

Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness, 1952

US editor & reformer (1897 - 1980)

December 26th, 2006 - Posted in Dorothy Day | | 0 Comments

There is nothing… Michel de Montaigne

There is nothing more notable in Socrates than that he found time, when he was an old man, to learn music and dancing, and thought it time well spent.

Michel de Montaigne

French essayist (1533 - 1592)

December 26th, 2006 - Posted in Michel de Montaigne | | 0 Comments

Baby: an alimentary… Elizabeth Adamson

Baby: an alimentary canal with a loud voice at one end and no responsibility at the other.

Elizabeth Adamson

December 26th, 2006 - Posted in Elizabeth Adamson | | 0 Comments

Red is grey and… Moody Blues

Red is grey and yellow white We decide which is right and which is an illusion.

Moody Blues, “Tuesday Afternoon”

December 25th, 2006 - Posted in Moody Blues | | 0 Comments

It is in vain to… Charlotte Bronte

It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.

Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, 1847

English novelist (1816 - 1855)

December 25th, 2006 - Posted in Charlotte Bronte | | 0 Comments

Eternity is not… Charlotte P Gilman

Eternity is not something that begins after you are dead. It is going on all the time. We are in it now.

Charlotte P Gilman

December 25th, 2006 - Posted in Charlotte P Gilman | | 0 Comments

People with bad… Mary McCarthy

People with bad consciences always fear the judgement of children.

Mary McCarthy

December 25th, 2006 - Posted in Mary McCarthy | | 0 Comments

Whoever does not… Unknown

Whoever does not love his work cannot hope that it will please others.

Unknown

Quotations by unknown authors

December 24th, 2006 - Posted in Unknown | | 0 Comments

A Hospital is no… Samuel Goldwyn

A Hospital is no place to be sick.

Samuel Goldwyn

US (Polish-born) movie producer (1882 - 1974)

December 24th, 2006 - Posted in Samuel Goldwyn | | 0 Comments

What saves a man is… Antoine de Saint-Exupery

What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. It is always the same step, but you have to take it.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

French writer (1900 - 1944)

December 24th, 2006 - Posted in Antoine de Saint-Exupery | | 0 Comments

Every man wants a… Helen Rowland

Every man wants a woman to appeal to his better side, his nobler instincts, and his higher nature — and another woman to help him forget them.

Helen Rowland

(1876 - 1950)

December 24th, 2006 - Posted in Helen Rowland | | 0 Comments

We have not lost… George Bernard Shaw

We have not lost faith, but we have transferred it from God to the medical profession.

George Bernard Shaw

Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 - 1950)

December 23rd, 2006 - Posted in George Bernard Shaw | | 0 Comments

Curiosity killed… Steven Wright

Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect.

Steven Wright

US comedian and actor (1955 - )

December 23rd, 2006 - Posted in Steven Wright | | 0 Comments

As if you could… Henry David Thoreau

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.

Henry David Thoreau

US Transcendentalist author (1817 - 1862)

December 23rd, 2006 - Posted in Henry David Thoreau | | 0 Comments

To love deeply in… Madame Swetchine

To love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others.

Madame Swetchine

December 23rd, 2006 - Posted in Madame Swetchine | | 0 Comments

The world is… George Bernard Shaw

The world is populated in the main by people who should not exist.

George Bernard Shaw

Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 - 1950)

December 22nd, 2006 - Posted in George Bernard Shaw | | 0 Comments

We have too many… Abigail Adams

We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.

Abigail Adams, letter to John Adams, 1774

US wife of John Adams 1764 (1744 - 1818)

December 22nd, 2006 - Posted in Abigail Adams | | 0 Comments

The poet judges not… Walt Whitman

The poet judges not as a judge judges but as the sun falling around a helpless thing.

Walt Whitman

US poet (1819 - 1892)

December 22nd, 2006 - Posted in Walt Whitman | | 0 Comments

It is really asking… Lillian Bell

It is really asking too much of a woman to expect her to bring up her husband and her children too.

Lillian Bell

December 22nd, 2006 - Posted in Lillian Bell | | 0 Comments

The murals in… Peter De Vries

The murals in restaurants are on a par with the food in museums.

Peter De Vries

December 21st, 2006 - Posted in Peter De Vries | | 0 Comments

No good deed goes… Clare Booth Luce

No good deed goes unpunished.

Clare Booth Luce, in H. Faber, The Book of Laws, 1980

US diplomat, dramatist, journalist, & politician (1903 - 1987)

December 21st, 2006 - Posted in Clare Booth Luce | | 0 Comments

True friendship is… Marie de Rabutin-Chantal

True friendship is never serene.

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal

December 21st, 2006 - Posted in Marie de Rabutin-Chantal | | 0 Comments

Changing husbands… Kathleen Norris

Changing husbands is only changing troubles.

Kathleen Norris

December 21st, 2006 - Posted in Kathleen Norris | | 0 Comments

Miami Beach is… Lenny Bruce

Miami Beach is where neon goes to die.

Lenny Bruce

(1923 - 1966)

December 20th, 2006 - Posted in Lenny Bruce | | 0 Comments

One never notices… Marie Curie

One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.

Marie Curie, letter to her brother, 1894

French (Polish-born) chemist & physicist (1867 - 1934)

December 20th, 2006 - Posted in Marie Curie | | 0 Comments

I am the only… R. Buckminster Fuller

I am the only guinea pig I have.

R. Buckminster Fuller

US architect & engineer (1895 - 1983)

December 20th, 2006 - Posted in R. Buckminster Fuller | | 0 Comments

What a pity, when… Margot Asquith

What a pity, when Christopher Colombus discovered America, that he ever mentioned it.

Margot Asquith

December 20th, 2006 - Posted in Margot Asquith | | 0 Comments

Kill one man and… Jean Rostand

Kill one man and you are a murderer. Kill millions and you are a conqueror. Kill all and you are a God.

Jean Rostand

(1894 - 1977)

December 19th, 2006 - Posted in Jean Rostand | | 0 Comments

What you will do… Judy Grahn

What you will do matters. All you need is to do it.

Judy Grahn, Another Mother Tongue: Gay Words, Gay Worlds, 1984

December 19th, 2006 - Posted in Judy Grahn | | 0 Comments

Love is an… Robert Frost

Love is an irresistable desire to be irresistably desired.

Robert Frost

US poet (1874 - 1963)

December 19th, 2006 - Posted in Robert Frost | | 0 Comments

Most people ignore… Adrian Mitchell

Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people.

Adrian Mitchell

December 19th, 2006 - Posted in Adrian Mitchell | | 0 Comments

If the world were a… Rita Mae Brown

If the world were a logical place, men would ride sidesaddle.

Rita Mae Brown

US author and social activist

December 18th, 2006 - Posted in Rita Mae Brown | | 0 Comments

Where you used to… Edna St. Vincent Millay

Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling into at night. I miss you like hell.

Edna St. Vincent Millay, Letters, 1952

US poet (1892 - 1950)

December 18th, 2006 - Posted in Edna St. Vincent Millay | | 0 Comments

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