Quotable Quotes - 3

The fire which enlightens is the same fire which consumes. -Henri Frederic
Amiel, philosopher and writer (1821-1881)

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. -William James,
psychologist (1842-1910)

You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements. -Norman Douglas, novelist (1868-1952)

Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking. -Nicolas de Chamfort, writer (1741-1794)

A man can't ride on your back unless it's bent. -Martin Luther King, Jr., civil-rights leader (1929-1968)

What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? -Ursula K. Le Guin, author (b. 1929)

When you battle with your conscience and lose, you win. -Henny Youngman, comedian and violinist (1906-1998)

Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is. -William James, psychologist and philosopher (1842-1910)

Some people with great virtues are disagreeable, while others with great vices are delightful. -Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld, moralist (1613-1680)

The artist brings something into the world that didn't exist before, and he does it without destroying something else. -John Updike, writer (1932-2009)

As the pain that can be told is but half a pain, so the pity that questions has little healing in its touch. -Edith Wharton, novelist (1862-1937)

To profess to be doing God's will is a form of megalomania. -Joseph Prescott, aphorist (1913-2001)

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. -Oscar Wilde, writer (1854-1900)

Poetry, indeed, cannot be translated; and, therefore, it is the poets that preserve the languages; for we would not be at the trouble to learn a language if we could have all that is written in it just as well in a translation. But as the beauties of poetry cannot be preserved in any language except that in which it was originally written, we learn the language. -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784)

Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived. -Oscar Wilde, writer (1854-1900)

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous. -Confucius, philosopher and teacher (c. 551-478 BCE)

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? -Epicurus, philosopher (c. 341-270 BCE)