Right Attitudes

The essential ingredient in politics is timing.
—Pierre Trudeau (Canadian Statesman)

I think innocence is something that adults project upon children that’s not really there.
—Donna Tartt (American Novelist)

An orator without judgment is a horse without a bridle.
—Theophrastus (Greek Philosopher)

Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.
—Anne Bradstreet (American Poet)

I think isolation is one of the greatest problems, an ever-growing obstacle to political solidarity.
—Elfriede Jelinek (Austrian Author)

Seek not to follow in the footsteps of men of old; seek what they sought.
—Matsuo Basho (Japanese Poet)

If one benefits tangibly from the exploitation of others who are weak, is one morally implicated in their predicament? Or are basic rights of human existence confined to the civilized societies that are wealthy enough to afford them? Our values are defined by what we will tolerate when it is done to others.
—William Greider (American Journalist)

Good men prefer to be accountable.
—Michael Edwardes (British Business Executive)

It is at night that faith in light is admirable.
—Edmond Rostand (French Dramatist)

It is necessary to relax your muscles when you can. Relaxing your brain is fatal.
—Stirling Moss (English Motor-Racing Driver)

Freedom, morality, and the human dignity of the individual consists precisely in this; that he does good not because he is forced to do so, but because he freely conceives it, wants it, and loves it.
—Mikhail Bakunin (Russian Anarchist)

Pray to God, at the beginning of all thy works, that so thou mayest bring them all to a good ending.
—Xenophon (Ancient Greek Philosopher)

When you put your hand to the plow, you can’t put it down until you get to the end of the row.
—Alice Paul (American Suffragist)

You can either grow old gracefully or begrudgingly. I chose both.
—Roger Moore (English Actor)

Gardening is the art that uses flowers and plants as paint, and the soil and sky as canvas.
—Elizabeth Murray (American Artist)

Beginnings are apt to be shadowy and so it is the beginnings of the great mother life, the sea.
—Rachel Carson (American Biologist)

The richest man in the world is not the one who still has the first dollar he ever earned. It’s the man who still has his best friend.
—Martha Mason (American Memoirist)

The politician who never made a mistake never made a decision.
—John Major (British Head of State)

Nothing is impossible for those who act after wise counsel and careful thought.
—The Thirukkural (Indian Tamil Literary Classic)

Don’t worry about being effective. Just concentrate on being faithful to the truth.
—Dorothy Day (American Journalist Reformer)

It’s afterwards you realize that the feeling of happiness you had with a man didn’t necessarily prove that you loved him.
—Marguerite Duras (French Novelist, Playwright)

So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.
—Baha’u’llah (Persian Religious Leader)

Science is all those things which are confirmed to such a degree that it would be unreasonable to withhold one’s provisional consent.
—Stephen Jay Gould (American Paleontologist)

Constancy is the complement of all other human virtues.
—Giuseppe Mazzini (Italian Revolutionary)

I could prove God statistically.
—George Gallup (American Statistician)

Life flows on within you and without you.
—George Harrison (English Singer)

Intuition isn’t mystical.
—James D. Watson (American Biologist)

Our culture has become something that is completely and utterly in love with its parent. It’s become a notion of boredom that is bought and sold, where nothing will happen except that people will become more and more terrified of tomorrow, because the new continues to look old, and the old will always look cute.
—Malcolm Mclaren (British Impresario, Musician)

Thou shalt not get found out is not one of God’s commandments; and no man can be saved by trying to keep it.
—Leonard Bacon (American Preacher, Writer)

Half uttered praise is to the curious mind, as to the eye half veiled beauty is more precious than the whole.
—Joanna Baillie (Scottish Dramatist, Poet)

Life is a means of extracting fiction.
—Robert Stone (American Novelist)

Let no one think that real gardening is a bucolic and meditative occupation. It is an insatiable passion, like everything else to which a man gives his heart.
—Karel Capek (Czech Novelist)