There is all the difference in the world between the criminal’s avoiding the public eye and the civil disobedience’s taking the law into his own hands in open defiance. This distinction between an open violation of the law, performed in public, and a clandestine one is so glaringly obvious that it can be neglected only by prejudice or ill will.
—Hannah Arendt (German-American Political Theorist)
Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die.
—Voltaire (French Philosopher, Author)
They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they’d make up their minds.
—Wilt Chamberlain (American Sportsperson)
The decay of logic results from an untroubled assumption that the particular is real and the universal is not.
—C. S. Lewis (Irish-born Author, Scholar)
Worship is a way of seeing the world in the light of God.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel (American Jewish Rabbi)
The artist belongs to his work, not the work to the artist.
—Novalis (German Romantic Poet)
Never forget that your life passes as swiftly as a flash of lightening or a wave of your hand, while you have the opportunity to practice, don’t waste a moment: devote all your energy to the spiritual path.
—Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (Tibetan Buddhist Teacher)
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
—Abbie Hoffman (American Political Activist)
There are some things which cannot be learned quickly, and time, which is all we have, must be paid heavily for their acquiring. They are the very simplest things and because it takes a man’s life to know them the little new that each man gets from life is very costly and the only heritage he has to leave.
—Ernest Hemingway (American Author)
I don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.
—Warren Buffett (American Investor)
Pride is increased by ignorance; those assume the most who know the least.
—John Gay (English Poet, Dramatist)
Self-interest is the most powerful force in the world. People in unethical, predatory, and nonsense jobs will do mental gymnastics to convince themselves they’re doing the right thing. Those who criticize the behavior of “greedy Wall Street bankers” underestimate their tendency to do the same thing if offered an eight-figure salary.
—Morgan Housel (American Financial Journalist, Investor)
A great statesman is he who knows when to depart from traditions, as well as when to adhere to them.
—John Stuart Mill (English Philosopher, Economist)