Famous Quotes & Sayings

Barbara Kingsolver

So one time when I was working in this motel one of the toilets leaked and I had to replace the flapper ball. Here's what it said on the package; I kept it till I knew it by heart: 'Please Note. Parts are included for all installations, but no installation requires all of the parts.' That's kind of my philosophy about men. I don't think there's an installation out there that could use all my parts.

Baruch Spinoza

I do not presume that I have found the best philosophy, I know that I understand the true philosophy.

Augustine Birrell

History is a pageant and not a philosophy.

Ayelet Waldman

Those of us whose parenting style can be described as "a series of reflexes, instincts, and minute-by-minute adjustments," as Julie of A Little Pregnant puts it, rather than as a philosophy, are less invested in our own practices. What we do is often less a matter of conviction than one of convenience. What we need to remember is that there is no need to apologize for that, even in the face of the most red-faced outrage.

Ayn Rand

Devotion to the truth is the hallmark of morality; there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.

Bertrand Russell

When you are studying any matter or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only: what are the facts, and what is the truth that the facts bear out. Never let yourself be diverted by what you wish to believe, but look only and surely at what are the facts.

Brian Henson

And again, we're kind of trying to be in that place, that's just so absurd and irreverent and hysterical and it's something that at our company we're kind of, we're so irreverent about everything, we're sort of irreverent about the establishment, we're irreverent about civilization, we're irreverent about philosophy, we're irreverent about religion.

Brenda Song

I'd have to say I'm pretty adventurous. I just went to Shanghai for the Special Olympics and I tried dim sum. I'd never really had it before and some of it looked pretty scary, but I tried it anyway. My philosophy is, you're not going to know if you like it until you try it.

Bryant H. McGill

You may find many contradictory statements and philosophies within my writings. However, to this I will say such is life, for life is full of contradictions.

Baruch Spinoza

True virtue is life under the direction of reason.

Baruch Spinoza

I can control my passions and emotions if I can understand their nature

Jane Smiley

'Ape House' is an ambitious novel in several ways, for which it is to be admired, and it is certainly an easy read, but because Gruen is not quite prepared for the philosophical implications of her subject, it is not as deeply involving emotionally or as interesting thematically as it could be.

Blaise Pascal

Vanity is so anchored in the heart of man that a soldier, a soldier's servant, a cook, a porter brags and wishes to have his admirers. Even philosophers wish for them. Those who write against vanity want to have the glory of having written well; and those who read it desire the glory of having read it. I who write this have perhaps this desire, and perhaps those who will read it.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Boredom is just the reverse side of fascination.

Arthur Schopenhauer

There is no doubt that life is given us, not to be enjoyed, but to be overcome; to be got over.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Obstinacy is the result of the will forcing itself into the place of the intellect.

Arthur Schopenhauer

The longer a man's fame is likely to last, the longer it will be in coming.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Will minus intellect constitutes vulgarity.

Boris Yeltsin

I refer to calls for humanitarian intervention in the affairs of another state - a new idea, this - even when they are made under the pretext of defending human rights and freedoms

Auguste Comte

Ideas govern the world, or throw it into chaos.

Brian Selznick

Once I'm given an idea for a story I have a million ideas on how it should be illustrated, but I don't have a big shoebox full of unfinished ideas.

Brian Tracy

Ideas will be the major source of new wealth.

Brenda Ueland

You do not know what is in you - an inexhaustible fountain of ideas.

Brad Meltzer

For me, Superman's greatest contribution has never been the superhero part: it's the Clark Kent part - the idea that any of us, in all our ordinariness, can change the world.

Jane Jacobs

Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings.

Jane Jacobs

New ideas often need old buildings.

Jane D. Hull

The idea of it (draining Lake Powell) is absolutely ridiculous.