QUOTES by Voltaire, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, John Wayne

JOHN WAYNE: May 26 1907 - June 11 1979

Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.

I've always followed my father's advice. He told me, first to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddamn sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble.

Life's tough. Its even tougher if you're stupid.

If you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.

Talk low, talk slow, and don't talk too much.

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. Its perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.


VOLTAIRE: November 21 1694 - May 30 1778

[I always find it interesting, when reading quotes, articles, etc from someone who lived long ago, to imagine their words and their frame of mind, their reasons for thinking that way, in context with the time they lived in and the events of that time; then I like to compare how accurately or inaccurately the same words may fit with the world today - often you see how timeless things really are - and compare the events of their day with those of today. Sometimes its a mere slip of thought that quickly blows away; but sometimes the parallels and/or the changes, and so on, can really stir up some interesting ideas and show the way to fascinating life lessons. Its hard to describe what I mean, but I'm sure many others do the same, and that some won't be interested in such things, and the rest, the ones I write of this for, will try it and then you'll see what I mean. I have a hard time describing it without writing a small book on it, so I'll stop here. -JasWolfhawk]

A clergyman is one who feels himself called upon to live without working at the expense of the rascals that work to live.

A multitude of laws in a country is, like a great number of physicians, a sign of weakness and malady. +++
+++ [This is one of the sayings I was speaking of above - one of my main complaints in this country today is that our elected representatives make WAY too many laws - many to protect us from ourselves, because they know what is best for us. This is strictly and directly opposed to our Constitution and the ideas and ideals of our Founding Fathers and the many who died fighting for our FREEDOM. Laws are meant to be GUIDELINES to be USED WITH COMMON SENSE, for the purpose of protecting us from others that would do us harm. As for the individual, the only thing of his/hers that this nation's government is supposed to protect is our LIBERTY, our right to pursue happiness as long as its not at the expense of others. We all will die. Til then, we each have the right to live in a way that makes us happy. What use is a long life if its so restricted you cannot enjoy it? Okay here I go again. You see what I mean, and I'll go on with the quotes now.]

A witty saying proves nothing.

All sects are different, because they come from men. Morality is everywhere the same, because it comes from God.

As long as people believe in absurdities, they will continue to commit atrocities.

As long as there are fools and rascals, there will be religions.

Common sense is not so common.

Do well and you will have no need for ancestors.

Doctors are men who prescribe medicines of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less in human beings of which they know nothing.
'
Doubt is not a pleasant condition but certainty is an absurd one.

England has 42 religions and only 2 sauces. (Ha ha)

Every man is guilty of all the good he DID NOT do.

God created sex. Priests created marriage.

God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.

God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.

God is always on the side of the big battalions. [Well I guess so, since all winning sides always claim God helped them win, therefore their cause was just. Very excellent point.]

History is fables agreed upon.

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

I have lost the half of myself - a soul for which mine was made. [NOTE: Voltaire wrote this when Emilie, the love of his life, died. If you wish, you may read the love story of Voltaire and Emilie du Chatelet here http://www.visitvoltaire.com/love_story_voltaire.htm ++++++++


MARK TWAIN

Love seems the swiftest, but is the slowest of growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century.

Man - a figment of God's imagination.

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.

Of all things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. [Seen it on bumper stickers and all over the place, but never have seen anyone credit Twain for saying it.]

Of all the delights of this world man cares most for sexual intercourse, yet he has left it out of his heaven.

Pessimism is only the name that men weak of nerve give to wisdom.

The best cure for Christianity is reading the Bible.

The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.

When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much he'd learned in 7 years.

OSCAR WILDE: October 16 1854 - November 30 1900

A grand passion is the privilege of people who have nothing to do.

A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her.

A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

Alas, I am dying beyond my means. (Wilde said this as he sipped champagne on his deathbed)

All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.

A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.

America had often been discovered befoe Columbus, but it had always been hushed up.

America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.

Being natural is simply a pose.

Between men and women there is no friendship possible. there is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

Everyone who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching.

I am not young enough to know everything. [HA! I seen teenagers and young men and women have not changed at all!]

I can resist anything but temptation.

Missionaries are going to reform the world whether it wants to or not.

MARK TWAIN, ie Samuel Clemens: QUOTES

Always do right - this will gratify some and astonish the rest.

An enemy can partly ruin a man, but int takes a good-natured injudicious friend to complete the thing and make it perfect.

Are you so inobservant that you do not yet realize that sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.


Buy land. They've stopped making it.

By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man's, I mean.

Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessaries.

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable.

Few things are harder to put up with than a good example.

Fleas can be taught nearly anything a congressman can.

Giving up smoking is easy. I've done it hundreds of times.

I am an old man and I have many troubles, but most of them never happened.

I am not one of those who in expressing opinions confine themselves to facts.

I am opposed to millionaires but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.

I cannot call to mind a single instance where I have ever been irreverent, except toward the things which were sacred to other people.

I did not attend his funeral, but I wrote a nice letter saying I approved of it.

I find that the further I go back, the better things were, whether they happened or not.

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

I was born modest. Not all over, but in spots.

If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be - a Christian.

If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.

In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.

Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its one sure defense.

Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.



















Here are a handful of articles, stories, etc about or by Clemens/Twain:

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/02/04/markTwain.html ...Columbia University's newspaper, Columbia News, does a story on Twain 92 years after his death


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain ...The Wikipedia article

http://www.cmgww.com/historic/twain/about/writings.htm ....site dubbing itself the "official" Mark Twain site. Don't be discouraged when you see nothing on the home page - the drop boxes will take you to various sections such as a biography, listings of his writings, quotes, etc. I never looked at the entire site so I'm not even sure what all is there. Haven't checked to see if it is complete, but there is a listing of Twain's work

http://www.marktwainhouse.org/ ...site for the Mark Twain House and Museum, even has kids' activities

http://www.twainquotes.com/ ...has not only quotes but also other writings, such as "Mark Twain and the Countess Massiglia , 'The lowest-down woman on the planet' " , the Lost Autobiography of Orion Clemens, "Mark Twain's Quarrel with Undertakers: It All Begins With Jennie" and more

QUOTE by Samuel Adams, Founding Father and Public Enemy #`

"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."
Samuel Adams, 1722-1803

RANDOM QUOTES

ADVISE is seldom welcomed; and those who want it the most always like it the least. - Lord Chesterfield (Chesterfield also said "When a man seeks your advise he generally seeks your praise."
There is something that is much more scarce, something finer far, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability. - Elbert Hubbard
Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent. - Horace Walpole

The best security against revolution is in constant correction of abuses and the introduction of needed improvements. It is the neglect of timely repair that makes rebuilding necessary. - Richard Whatley


You can fool all of the people all of the time if the advertising is right and the budget is big enough. - Joseph E Levine
Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it. - Abraham Lincoln

Let us be in good cheer, remembering that the misforutnes hardest to bear are those which never happen. - James Russsel Lowell
The question "Who ought to be the boss?" is like as "Who ought to be the tenor in the quartet?" - obviously, the man who can sing tenor. - Henry Ford
From such crooked wood as that which man is made of, nothing straight can be fashioned. - Edward Hand

QUOTES on KEEPING YOUR WORD

Vows are often made in storms and forgotten in calms. (anon)

He who is slow to make a promise is always the most faithful in performing.

When you break your word, you break something that cannot be mended.

{And for those who like to hear it straight from The Boss}

The Lord hates those who don't keep their word, but he delights in those who do. (Proverbs 12:22)

It is dangerous to make a rash promise to God before counting the cost. (Proverbs 20:25)

{And those who have ever said - as I have done myself- "God, if you get me out of this I swear I will never (fill in the blank) again", just to turn around and blank again next week, or "God, get me out of this and I will donate (say, 10% of my pay, whatever) to (say, the church, orphans, the homeless, etc)" to then break that promise and say God will understand:

When you make a promise to God, do not delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. (Ecclesiastes 5:4)


{For the record, I'm not Christian. I'm not affiliated with any religion - it's just me and my God and none of nobody else's business. But, I do think the Bible has some very good advise for living. And I despise hypocrites who judge me and/or others, while they clearly break the rules in their own book which they use to judge others by - even though that very book warns many times that judgement is God's job, and no human should attempt to do it for him. Also, hypocrites are absolutely not only hypochristians - they come in every flavor, including Wiccan. And all the rest. So it is by these reasons I claim the right to quote the Bible even tho I'm neither Christian nor Jew. I may in the future also quote other religious sources, if I find something I like and want to share. And in case you couldn't tell, I've had this argument in my real life with a person who thought touching the Bible made me Christian, and my life made me a hypocrite for not following all their rules. I'm sure many of you know exactly what I mean. Have a good day, everyone.}

QUOTES by MAYA ANGELOU

* Childrens' talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives. {there are a couple of ways to go with this as advise, but for me, it says that when we undergo hard times, it's easier if we accept that this is the way things are - rather than keep ourselves frantic worrying about it, and wearing ourselves out looking for a way out of a situation for which there IS no real way out. Live with it.}

* Courage is fear that has said it's prayers.

* No man can know where he's going unless he knows exactly where he's been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.

*The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by a formal education. {Our education system has a lot of flaws - and I'll likely be writing a few blogs about it sooner or later. One of the worst results of those flaws is that it does dull a child's thirst for knowledge (I know, I mixed my metaphors but I'm tired and its loud here and I can't think of a better one) and makes learning an unpleasant chore, rather than making learning the immense pleasure it should, and could, be.}

* There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.

* {The following, most people will realize without my help, is NOT intended to concern rumors. It is about one's OWN story, or relating a thing that you witnessed as a remarkable tale, not idle and nosy gossip. I just had to say so, for a few people may take it otherwise, and that is NOT what Maya Angelou is about.} There's no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.

more quotes, both POETRY and WISDOMS: broken hearts, deceit, love, lies, cowards, mothers, and more

POETRY by HW Longfellow: (exerpt) All was ended now, the hope, the fear and sorrow, all the aching of the heart, the restless, unsatisfied longing, all the dull, deep pain, and constant anguish of patience.



Of all the agonies of life, that which is the most poignant and harrowing - that which for the time annhilates reason and leaves our whole organization one lacerated, mangled heart - is the conviction that we have been deceived where we placed all the trust of love. - Bulwer



The seal of truth is on thy gallant form, For none but cowards lie. - Murphy



Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all. - Holmes



Love is not in our choice, but in our fate. - Dryden (tho i'm unsure if i believe this, or not. )



Love is a pearl of purest hue, But stormy waves are round it;

And dearly may a woman rue, the hour that she first found it. - unknown



To her love was like the air of heaven - invisible, intangible; it yet encircled her soul, and she knew it; for in it was her life - unknown



God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man. - Unknown (HA!)



A Mother is a mother still, The holiest thing alive. - Coleridge



He who is the most slow in making a promise, is the most faithful in the performance of it. - unknown



The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treason, stratagems and spoils; The notions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections are dark as Erebus: Let no such man be trusted.

-unknown



All other goods by Fortune's hand are given; a wife is the peculiar gift of heaven.

- unknown



O woman, lovely woman! nature made thee to temper man: we had been brutes without you! - Otway



Woman's natural mission is to love, to love but one, and to love always. - Michelet



O woman! in our hours of ease,

Uncertain, coy, and hard to please,

And variable as the shade,

By the light quivering aspen made;

When pain and anguish wring the brow,

A ministering angel thou! - Scott



Talking is a digestive process which is absolutely essential to the mental constitution of the man who devours many books. A full mind must have talk, or it will grow dispeptic. - unknown



Who would choose torture to delay death?

Be swift, please;

If it must come, bring it quickly.

If there is any care in you for anything,

finish this, one way or another -

take my heart or throw it away -

but stop dangling it on a string. - Mine (Cheryl Butler) {if for some odd reason you wanna use this, it's fine with me as long as it is not for profit, and please credit me; if it's used for profit, I'd need a percentage, ideally, if i could prove it. Don't really see that happening tho, but it is a strange world. Just be nice and be fair ; ) } {PS, if using this to say to your lover because you find self in same situation, of course i expect no credit. Again, not like I'd know, but anyhow, feel free to use it in a relationship situation to help get your point across if you think it'll help. Didn't with me, tho - I had to finally, after years of on-off bullshit, quit him}

QUOTES, on: God and peace, face of Nature, admitting you're wrong, hypocrisy, more

(I will not slam anyone for religion, but hypocrisy is not a religion, and the religion that hypocrites use is but an excuse. Nor will I attack anyone on a lack of religion. It's not my business as long as my beliefs are respected in return. That said, the first quote does deride atheist. I include it because the rest is comparing atheist to hypocrites, with hypocrites coming out worst. Who can a hypocrite hate and judge more than an atheist - maybe to the same degree, but not more. Thus the comparison is very useful when pointing this out to a hypocrite - its like saying, "you think atheists are bad, well look at yourself", and it is part of the quote, so I'm using it, but adding this disclaimer too.)
HYPOCRISY: An atheist is but a mad, ridiculous derider of piety; but a hypocrite makes a sober jest of God and religion; he finds it easier to be upon his knees than to rise to good action. - Pope [as in the surname, not the catholic leader]
THE PEACE OF GOD: Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God. - unknown {by me anyhow - I did know, I think, but I forgot who said it}
THE FACE OF NATURE: The ignorant man gazeth upon the face of Nature, and it is to him darkness of darkness. But the initiated and illumined man gazeth thereon and seeth the features of God. - W.E. Butler
MOTIVES: We should often be ashamed of our very best actions, if only the world saw the motives which caused them. - La Rouchefoucauld
BALANCE: Run, if you like, but try to keep your breath; Work like a man, but don't be worked to death. - Holmes
THE NOBLE FEMALE: God often enshrines gallant and noble hearts in weak bosoms - oftenest, God bless her! In female breasts. - Dickens
ADMITTING YOU'RE WRONG: A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday. - Unknown
ALWAYS BEING RIGHT: None but a fool is always right. - Hare
THE IGNORANT: The greatest of fools is he who imposes on himself, and in his greatest concern thinks certainly he knows that which he has least studied, and of which he is most profoundly ignorant. - Shaftesbury

QUOTES

THOMAS JEFFERSON: " Banks are more dangerous than standing armies." ( A "standing army" is defined as "a permanent army of paid soldiers"; a type of army, not really made of citizens with the people's causes and protection as its purpose. They are more along the lines of Hitler's SS - an army with the rulers' interests in mind, meant to keep the powers protected against the people.)

MUHAMMED ALI: (Ali delivered this at his Harvard graduation. Supposedly its the shortest quote in the English language. Its definitely short and sweet, but THINK about it.) "Me, we."
ALSO FROM ALI: "Its hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am." BUT HE ALSO SAID: "It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up."

MAYA ANGELOU: "We really are 15 countries, and its remarkable that each of us thinks we represent the REAL America. The Midwesterner in Kansas, the black American in Durham - both are certain that they are the real American."

THOMAS JEFFERSON: "An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens."
"Democracy is 51% of the people taking away the rights of the other 49%."
"God forbid we should ever be 20 years without a rebellion."
"I have no ambition to govern men. It is a painful and thankless office."
"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
"I have the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my public service, and of retiring with hands as clean as they are empty."
"I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms are in the physical."
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wastion the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
"If the people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." (Ever notice that tho people seem to be living longer, they feel worse during that long lifetime?)
"Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong."
"In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock."
"Information is the currency of democracy." (And people who choose to remain ignorant will be ruled by those who know. Awareness and participation are the price of democracy.)
"It is error alone which needs the support of government. The truth can stand up for itself."
"It is in our lives, not in our words, that our religion must be read."
"Never trouble another for what you can do yourself."
"No government should ever be without censors, and where the press is FREE, no one ever will." (Unfortunately, the media cannot be trusted to tell the whole truth and nothing but truth today - everyone has an agenda to push.)
"No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it... To myself, personally, it brings nothing but increasing drudgery and daily loss of friends."
"Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances." (Yet so many today think they have to show out and be bad. Loudness has nothing to do with being right.)
"Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he MUST more approve of the homage of reason than that blindfold of fear." (At another time he repeated this statement, but he changed the word "fear" to "faith")
"Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life: if it (my life) has been honest and dutiful to society, the religion which regulated it cannot be a bad one."
"That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves."
"The beauty of the 2nd amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it."
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are WILLING to work and give to those who would NOT." (This has nothing to do with helping those who are truly in need- only the lazy who look for a free ride, as if life and everyone else owes them something for existing.)
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurous to others." (And it has no right to protect me from myself, nor to make laws based on opinions, not facts.)
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilence."
(The exact meaning of the 2nd amendment has been debated. Falsely. Its a matter of public record EXACTLY what the founding fathers meant:) "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." (And remember, Jefferson is the author of the bulk of the Constitution.)
"The Tree of Liberty must be watered from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
"The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our 1st objective."
"There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people."
"We confide in our strength, without boasting of it; we respect that (strength) of others,without fearing it."

UNKNOWN: "Truth is always the strongest argument."

THOMAS JEFFERSON: (yes again. What can I say - I'm a big fan. And this should've been included previously.)
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are the rights to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness...Whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends it is the right of the people to abolish it, and to institute a new government." (Note the right is for the PURSUIT of happiness - the right to do whatever you need to do to try to achieve happiness, as long as it doesn't take away from anyone else. He does not say we have the right to guaranteed happiness - just the pursuit of it. That's a huge difference that some people just do not seem to understand.)

(I DIDN'T NOTE THE SOURCES OF THESE - I'M SURE A SEARCH WOULD PROVIDE THIS INFO IF NEEDED);
Suspicion haunts the guilty mind.

He jests at scars who never felt a wound.

Beware of jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.

When pride begins, love ceases.

A habit of sneering marks the egotist, or the fool, or the knave, or all three.

Common and vulgar people ascribe all ill that THEY feel to others.

The fawning, sneaking, and flattering hypocrite, that will do, or be, anything for his own advantage.

Fate steals along with silent tread, Found oftenest in what we least dread, Frowns in the storm with angry brow, But in the sunshine strikes the blow.

We should often be ashamed of our very best actions, if the world only saw the motives which caused them.

One believes easily that which one hopes for earnestly.