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Great Quotes - Post your Favorite Quotations

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I love quotes:)

Here's a few:

"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioned ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor." -Henry David Thoreau

"How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book."-Henry David Thoreau

"Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well." -Voltaire

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"Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country." - George S. Patton, 1944

"This above all,--to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." - William Shakespeare, Hamlet, I.iii.78-80

...and also from the Bard:

"What a peice of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!" - Hamlet, II.ii.309-314

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This came in a Tuesday Tip from Dr. Zimmerman, but HE didn't give the original source for the quote, so I can't.

"I watched them tearing a building down, a gang of men in a busy town.

With a ho-heave-ho and a lusty yell they swung a beam and the sidewall fell.

I asked the foreman, "Are those men skilled, and the men you'd hire if you had to build?"

He gave a laugh, said "No, indeed; just common labor is all I need.

I can easily wreck in a day or two what builders have taken a year to do."

I thought to myself as I went by way, "Which of these roles have I tried to play?

Am I a builder who works with care, measuring life by the rule and square?

Am I shaping my deeds to a well-made plan, patiently doing the best I can?

Or am I a wrecker, who walks the town content with the labor of tearing down?"

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"Government proposes, bureaucracy disposes. And the bureaucracy must dispose of government proposals by dumping them on us." (P. J. O'Rourke)

"Destiny. A tyrant’s authority for crime and a fool’s excuse for failure." (Ambrose Bierce)

"To an ordinary human being, love means nothing if it does not mean loving some people more than others." (George Orwell)

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". . . my work, which I've done for a long time, was not pursued in order to gain the praise I now enjoy, but chiefly from a craving after knowledge, which I notice resides in me more than in most other men. And therewithal, whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, so that all ingenious people might be informed thereof. "

Antony van Leeuwenhoek. Letter of June 12, 1716

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( I hope no one minds if I add more. I am an avid quote collector :thumbsup: )

"If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you."- Fyodor Dostoevsky

"An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come." -Victor Hugo

"That's the way things come clear. All of a sudden. And then you realize how obvious they've been all along." -Madeleine L'Engle

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I found this in Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary in reference to priests who get rich by taking advantage of those who have faith in them:

"Tremble, lest the day of reason arrive."-Voltaire

I think now it has a greater application to the welfare state and all it's dependants, or maybe I just like thinking it about irrational people in general.

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I'm in college, and my family has high expectations of me, so I may find this a lot funnier than most of you.

"just in case we forget that

weareheretogetagoodfoundationsowecangotocollegeliveuptoourpotentialgetagoodjoblivehappilyeverafteran

dgotoDisneyWorld we have Job Day." -(Speak)

But this is my personal favourite:

"First person: I'm getting a degree from a university.

Second person: Oh! and what are you going to do with that?

First person: I'm going to teach it tricks and make it jump through little hoops of fire." -anonymous

~Aurelia :nuke:

Edit:I can't get the "& #39;" to delete, I don't know what it is, just ignore it.

[Edit by CF: Fixed it.]

Edited by Capitalism Forever
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In Robert A. Heilein's book "Time Enough For Love," he has a couple of sections that are nothing but quotes... Of him, of course. Here are a few of my favorites:

"Any priest or shaman must be presumed guilty until proven innocent.

...

"Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.

...

"One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.

...

"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 right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck."

...

"You live and learn. Or you don't live long.

...

"Does history record any case where the majority was right?

...

"The greatest productive force is human selfishness.

...

"A committee is a life form with six or more legs and no brain."

There were a lot more, but these are my favorites. It was a good book.

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In Robert A. Heilein's book "Time Enough For Love," he has a couple of sections that are nothing but quotes... Of him, of course.

Really, Heinlein! Is this the same guy who writes all the sci. fi. novels? If so, I had only given him a cursoury look. Hmph, I should look again. Thanks!

~Amanda :lol:

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That's him! Heinlein is widely recognized as the greates science-fiction writer of all time. He won the Hugo Award for the best science-fiction novel of the year four times, which remains an unmatched achievement.

"Time Enough for Love" was considered to be his greatest and most ambitious work, although my personal favorite is "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," which tells the story of a Libertarian uprising on a lunar colony against the fully globalized federation on Earth. It was here that he coined the slogan: "TANSTAAFL!" or "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!"

I have not read it, but he also wrote "Starship Troopers," which was made into a movie (not very good) a few years back starring the oh-so-sexy Denise Richards.

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"Lose your way eleven times,

Find your way for twenty;

Profit's nine, very fine,

You've a horn of plenty!"  Me

"Don't complain of the rain

And, when in pain,

Don't complain again."  Me

"Love yourself your whole life through

And lovely things will come to you."  Me

Perfect!

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"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. " -George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

"Patriotism is supporting your country all of time, and your government when it deserves it." -Mark Twain

"The meek shall inherit the Earth. The rest of us will go to the stars." - Free Capitalist (well, he told this to me, but said he found it some Objectivist article or when talking to a person.)

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"The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say."

-Bilbo Baggins

in "The Fellowship of the Ring"

by J.R.R. Tolkien

"The noble soul has reverence for itself"

-Friedrich Nietzsche

> "Violence never settles anything."

> "So? I'm sure the city fathers of Carthage would be glad to know that"

-Lt-Col. DuBois

Starship Troopers

by Robert A. Heinlein

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"For every action there is an equal and opposite government program." -- Bob Wells

"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats." -- Howard Aiken

"What is a committe? - A group of the unwilling, picked from the unfit, to do the unnecessary." -- Richard Harkness

"Those who welcome death have only tried it from the ears up." -- Wilson Miznr

"The road to truth is long, and lined the entire way with annoying bastards." -- Alexander Jablokov

"What if you were an idiot, and what if you were a member of Congress? But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." -- Albert Einstein

(Not sure about the validity of the last one.)

Edited by blacktower
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