Insolence is not logic; Epithets are the arguments of malice.
~ R.G. Ingerson
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Quotes
Democracy
The polis or gathering place for governing, the root of our modern politics, was nothing but a physical space that designated and enabled the conversational space required for true self-governing. The capacity for talking together constituted the foundation for democracy, far more fundamental than voting. As one ancient Greek philosopher noted, “When voting started, democracy ended.”
~ Peter M. Senge
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Missionaries
Every man is a missionary, now and forever, for good or for evil, whether he intends or designs it or not.
~ Chalmers
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Questions
The only question that really matters, the only question whose correct answer can exert a civilizing influence on the future specialist, is the question asked by Buddha and Jesus, by Lao-Tsu and Socrates, by Job and Aeschylus, and Chaucer and Shakespeare and Dostoevsky, by every philosopher, every mystic, every great artist: Who am I and what, if anything, can I do about it?
~ Aldous Huxley
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Well-composed
A well-composed song strikes the mind and softens the feelings, and produces a greater effect than a moral work, which convinces our reason, but does not warm our feelings, nor effect the slightest alteration in our habits.
~ Napoleon
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Noticing
All the technique in the world doesn’t compensate for the inability to notice.
~ Elliott Erwitt
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Art
The noblest art is that of making others happy.
~ P.T. Barnum
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Silence
The path to all great things passes through silence.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
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Unnecessary
Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself… It has no survival value; Rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.
~ C.S. Lewis
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Communication
A man would have no pleasures in discovering all the beauties of the universe, even in heaven itself, unless he had a partner to whom he might communicate his joys.
~ Cicero
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Hardship
You normally have to be bashed about a bit by life to see the point of daffodils, sunsets and uneventful nice days.
~ Alain de Botton
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Perfectionism
Perfectionism is not as much the desire for excellence, as it is the fear of failure couched in procrastination.
~ Dan Miller
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Feelings
Let everything happen to you: Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
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Possessions
You can’t have everything.
Where would you put it?
~ Steven Wright
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Mystery
I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick
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Ingenuity
Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
~ George S. Patton
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Exceptional
The squeaky wheel may get the most oil, but it’s also the first to be replaced.
~ Marilyn vos Savant
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Humor
What a strange world this would be if we all had the same sense of humor.
~ Bern Williams
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Learn something
No day in which you learn something is a complete loss.
~ David Eddings
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Attention
The most sincere compliment we can pay is attention.
~ Walter Anderson
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