Adam Smith No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. It is but equity, besides, that they who feed, clothe, and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labour as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed, and lodged. +
Arthur Conan Doyle There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact. +
Arthur Schopenhauer Virtue cannot be taught, no more than genius; indeed, concepts are as unfruitful for it as for art and of use only as tools. +
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Belief is not the beginning of knowledge- it is the end.” +
Juvenal No man ever became extremely wicked all at once. +
Sophocles All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride. +
Henry Hazlitt Today is already the tomorrow which the bad economist yesterday urged us to ignore. +
Ludwig von Mises The thesis of etatism that the members of the government and its assistants are more intelligent than the people, and that they know better what is good for the individual than he himself knows, is pure nonsense. +
Tacitus The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates. +
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel I have the courage to be mistaken. +
Carl Sagan Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another. +
John F. Kennedy The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived and dishonest--but the myth--persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. +
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Where is the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is? +
Juvenal Who will Guard the Guardians, or Who watches the watchers. +
Sophocles Of evils current upon earth The worst is money. Money 'tis that sacks Cities, and drives men forth from hearth and home; Warps and seduces native innocence, And breeds a habit of dishonesty. +
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe One should not search for anything behind the phenomena. They themselves are the message. +
Aldous Huxley The surest way to work up a crusade in favor of some good cause is to promise people they will have a chance of maltreating someone. To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior 'righteous indignation' — this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats. +
Arthur Schopenhauer The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice. +
Cicero Love is the attempt to form a friendship inspired by beauty. +
Socrates Are you not ashamed of caring so much for the making of money and for fame and prestige, when you neither think nor care about wisdom and truth and the improvement of your soul? +
Adam Smith The prudent man always studies seriously and earnestly to understand whatever he professes to understand, and not merely to persuade other people that he understands it; and though his talents may not always be very brilliant, they are always perfectly genuine +
Ralph Waldo Emerson What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say. +
Victor Hugo To put everything in balance is good, to put everything in harmony is better. +
Lao Tzu When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everyone will respect you. +
Adam Smith It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all the wealth of the world was originally purchased; +
Aristotle The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently; but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life--knowing that under certain conditions it is not worth while to live. He is of a disposition to do men service, though he is ashamed to have a service done to him. To confer a kindness is a mark of superiority; to receive one is a mark of subordination... He does not take part in public displays... He is open in his dislikes and preferences; he talks and acts frankly, because of his contempt for men and things... He is never fired with admiration, since there is nothing great in his eyes. He cannot live in complaisance with others, except it be a friend; complaisance is the characteristic of a slave... He never feels malice, and always forgets and passes over injuries... He is not fond of talking... It is no concern of his that he should be praised, or that others should be blamed. He does not speak evil of others, even of his enemies, unless it be to themselves. His carriage is sedate, his voice deep, his speech measured; he is not given to hurry, for he is concerned about only a few things; he is not prone to vehemence, for he thinks nothing very important. A shrill voice and hasty steps come to a man through care... He bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of his circumstances, like a skillful general who marshals his limited forces with the strategy of war... He is his own best friend, and takes delight in privacy whereas the man of no virtue or ability is his own worst enemy, and is afraid of solitude. +
Friedrich Nietzsche Those who have a why to live can bear almost any how. +
Mark Twain Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. +
Seneca There will come a time when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them... Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come, when memory of us will have been effaced. +
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Nothing is more disgusting than the majority: because it consists of a few powerful predecessors, of rogues who adapt themselves, of weak who assimilate themselves, and the masses who imitate without knowing at all what they want. +
John Dewey A problem well put is half solved. +
Frederick S. Perls Don't push the river, it flows by itself. +
John Locke But what if he neglect the care of his soul? I answer: What if he neglect the care of his health or of his estate, which things are nearlier related to the government of the magistrate than the other? Will the magistrate provide by an express law that such a one shall not become poor or sick? Laws provide, as much as is possible, that the goods and health of subjects be not injured by the fraud and violence of others; they do not guard them from the negligence or ill-husbandry of the possessors themselves. No man can be forced to be rich or healthful whether he will or no. Nay, God Himself will not save men against their wills. +
Adam Smith All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind. +
Carl von Clausewitz peace is maintained by the equilibrium of forces, and will continue just as long as this equilibrium exists, and no longer. +
John Maynard Keynes The commonest virtues of the individual are often lacking in the spokesmen of nations; a statesman representing not himself but his country may prove, without incurring excessive blame—­as history often records—­vindictive, perfidious, and egotistic. +
François de La Rochefoucauld No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong. +
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him. +
John Maynard Keynes There is a danger of expecting the results of the future to be predicted from the past. +
Arthur Schopenhauer The middle ages showed us the results of thinking without experimentation, our present century shows us what experimentation without thinking leads to. +
Montesquieu It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of maturer age are already sunk into corruption. +
Bruce Lee To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion, to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. +
Arthur Schopenhauer What every one most aims at in ordinary contact with his fellows is to prove them inferior to himself. +
Søren Kierkegaard People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use. +
Kurt Vonnegut Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, It might have been. +
Ludwig von Mises He who is unfit to serve his fellow citizens wants to rule them. +
George S. Patton If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking. +
Abraham Lincoln I'm a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn't have the heart to let him down. +
Cicero The aim of a ship's captain is a successful voyage; a doctor's, health; a general's, victory. So the aim of our ideal statesman is the citizens' happy life--that is, a life secure in wealth, rich in resources, abundant in renown, and honorable in its moral character. That is the task which I wish him to accomplish--the greatest and best that any man can have. +
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Man is not born to solve the problem of the universe, but to find out what he has to do; and to restrain himself within the limits of his comprehension. +