Q. Quotes

1.You are a philosopher, Dr Johnson. I have tried too in my time to be a philosopher: but I don’t know how. Cheerfulness was always breaking in- Oliver Edwards (1711-1791) Quoted in Boswell’s Life of Johnson, 17th April 1778

2.I think it’s the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House- with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone – President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) at a dinner for Nobel Prizewinners, 29 April 1962

3.There is a very good saying that if triangles invented a god, they would make him three-sided – Charles Baron De Montesquieu (1689-1755) (lettres persanes, 59)

4.In the information age, you don’t teach philosophy as they did after feudalism. You perform it. If Aristotle was alive today, he’d have a talk show- Timothy Leary- (1920-1996), in Evening Standard (British Newspaper), 8th February 1989

5.A little philosophy inclineth Man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion – Francis Bacon (1561-1626). “of Atheism”, Essays 1625

6.God will pardon me, it is His trade -Heineich Heine (1797-1856) last words

7.When I find myself in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a drawing room full of dukes – W. H. Auden (1907-1973)

8.Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they do is the same as what they most want to do – W. H. Auden (1907-1973)

9.In Germany, the Nazis came for the communists and I didn’t speak up because I was not a communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn’t speak up because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn’t speak because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I was a Protestant so I didn’t speak up. Then they came for me… By that time there was no one to speak up for anyone – Martin Niemoller (1892-1984)

10.The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings, The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries – Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

11.Many quite sensible people believe that the Marxian class war will be a war to end war. If it ever comes, they too will be disillusioned-if any of them survive. – Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

12.In the secret of my heart I am in perpetual quarrel with God that he should allow such things to go on – Mohandis K. Gandhi (1869-1958) Referring to the death and destruction he anticipated at the start of the World War II, September 1939 , In Louis Fischer , The life of Mahatma Gandhi , 37 , 1950

13.I fired [Gen. Douglas MacArthur] because he wouldn’t respect the authority of the President. That’s the answer to that. I didn’t fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that’s not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three quarter of them would be in jail – Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) said in an interview, quoted in Merle Miller, Plain Speaking, 24