Quotes · Skopia

171 quotes

Man is the Only Animal that Blushes. Or needs to. — Mark Twain · 1897 Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. — Mark Twain · 1893 Everything has its limit—iron ore cannot be educated into gold. — Mark Twain · 1906 Human kind Cannot bear very much reality. — T.S. Eliot · 1936 Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. — Reinhold Niebuhr · 1944 A human being has a natural desire to have more of a good thing than he needs. — Mark Twain · 1897 All 9 quotes →

Morality5 quotes

Prosperity is the best protector of principle. — Mark Twain · 1897 Principles have no real force except when one is well fed. — Mark Twain · 1893 Each race determines for itself what indecencies are. Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them. — Mark Twain · 1896 To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not ours. — Mark Twain · 1896 Be good and you will be lonesome. — Mark Twain · 1897

Cold War4 quotes

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. — Harry Truman · 1947 Our gadget-filled paradise suspended in a hell of international insecurity. — Reinhold Niebuhr · 1957 Communism is based on the belief that man is so weak and inadequate that he is unable to govern himself, and therefore requires the rule of strong masters. Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with reason and justice. — Harry Truman · 1949 What we are doing in Korea is this: we are trying to prevent a third world war. — Harry Truman · 1951

Custom and convention4 quotes

Let me make the superstitions of a nation and I care not who makes its laws or its songs either. — Mark Twain · 1897 Each race determines for itself what indecencies are. Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them. — Mark Twain · 1896 To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not ours. — Mark Twain · 1896 Laws are sand, customs are rock. Laws can be evaded and punishment escaped, but an openly transgressed custom brings sure punishment. — Mark Twain · 1906

Democracy4 quotes

Democracy is a method of finding proximate solutions for insoluble problems. — Reinhold Niebuhr · 1944 Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. — Reinhold Niebuhr · 1944 Secrecy and a free, democratic government don't mix. — Harry Truman · 1972 Communism is based on the belief that man is so weak and inadequate that he is unable to govern himself, and therefore requires the rule of strong masters. Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with reason and justice. — Harry Truman · 1949

God and man4 quotes

The most preposterous notion that Homo sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history. — Robert A. Heinlein · 1973 God made man, without man's consent, and made his nature, too; made it vicious instead of angelic, and then said, Be angelic, or I will punish you and destroy you. But no matter, God is responsible for everything man does, all the same; He can't get around that fact. There is only one Criminal, and it is not man. — Mark Twain · 1910 Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. — Thomas O. Chisholm · 1923 The book of nature tells us distinctly that God cares not a rap for us—nor for any living creature. — Mark Twain · 1898

Nuclear weapons4 quotes

Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima... The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East. — Harry Truman · 1945 Having found the bomb we have used it. — Harry Truman · 1945 The release of atomic energy constitutes a new force too revolutionary to consider in the framework of old ideas. — Harry Truman · 1945 The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. — Omar Bradley · 1948

Political theory4 quotes

Politics4 quotes

I asked Tom if countries always apologized when they had done wrong, and he says: "Yes, the little ones does." — Mark Twain · 1894 Democracy is a method of finding proximate solutions for insoluble problems. — Reinhold Niebuhr · 1944 Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. — Reinhold Niebuhr · 1944 The chances are that a man cannot get into congress now without resorting to arts and means that should render him unfit to go there. — Mark Twain · 1873

Progress4 quotes

Loyalty to petrified opinions never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul. — Mark Twain · 1884 The man with a new idea is a Crank until the idea succeeds. — Mark Twain · 1897 The radical of one century is the conservative of the next. The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them. — Mark Twain · 1897 The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. — Omar Bradley · 1948

Adventure3 quotes

Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky. — T.S. Eliot · 1915 On the old highway maps of America, the main routes were red and the back roads blue. Now even the colors are changing. But in those brevities just before dawn and a little after dark-times neither day nor night-the old roads return to the sky some of its color. Then, in truth, they cast a mysterious shadow of blue, and it's that time when the pull of the blue highway is strongest, when the open road is a beckoning, a strangeness, a place where a man can lose himself. — William Least Heat-Moon · 1982 Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night Sailed off in a wooden shoe- Sailed on a river of crystal light, Into a sea of dew. — Eugene Field · 1889

Dark side of human nature3 quotes

Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. — Mark Twain · 1897 No man has a wholly undiseased mind; that in one way or another all men are mad. — Mark Twain · 1910 Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it. — Mark Twain · 1910

Delusion3 quotes

Human kind Cannot bear very much reality. — T.S. Eliot · 1936 One never ceases to make a hero of one's self (in private). — Mark Twain · 1873 Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist but you have ceased to live. — Mark Twain · 1897

Humor3 quotes

The secret source of Humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven. — Mark Twain · 1897 Humour is, in fact, a prelude to faith; and laughter is the beginning of prayer. — Reinhold Niebuhr · 1946 Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand. — Mark Twain · 1910

International politics3 quotes

I asked Tom if countries always apologized when they had done wrong, and he says: "Yes, the little ones does." — Mark Twain · 1894 The first half of this century has been marked by unprecedented and brutal attacks on the rights of man, and by the two most frightful wars in history. The supreme need of our time is for men to learn to live together in peace and harmony. — Harry Truman · 1949 Almost a year ago, in company with 16 free nations of Europe, we launched the greatest cooperative economic program in history. The purpose of that unprecedented effort is to invigorate and strengthen democracy in Europe, so that the free people of that continent can resume their rightful place in the forefront of civilization and can contribute once more to the security and welfare of the world. — Harry Truman · 1949

Law3 quotes

Necessity knows no law. — Mark Twain · 1869 Let me make the superstitions of a nation and I care not who makes its laws or its songs either. — Mark Twain · 1897 Laws are sand, customs are rock. Laws can be evaded and punishment escaped, but an openly transgressed custom brings sure punishment. — Mark Twain · 1906

Love3 quotes

Familiarity breeds contempt—and children. — Mark Twain · 1894 No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century. — Mark Twain · 1894 Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love. — Reinhold Niebuhr · 1952

Moral principles3 quotes

Prosperity is the best protector of principle. — Mark Twain · 1897 Principles have no real force except when one is well fed. — Mark Twain · 1893 Be good and you will be lonesome. — Mark Twain · 1897

Moral theory3 quotes

Music3 quotes

If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. — Charlie Parker · 1955 Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. — Charlie Parker · 1955 They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art. — Charlie Parker · 1949

The human condition3 quotes

Imagine that human existence is defined by an Ache: the Ache of our not being, each of us, the center of the universe; of our desires forever outnumbering our means of satisfying them. — Jonathan Franzen · 1996 Such is the human race. Often it does seem such a pity that Noah and his party did not miss the boat. — Mark Twain · 1907 There is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream—a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought—a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities! — Mark Twain · 1910

Travel3 quotes

Imagination labors best in distant fields. — Mark Twain · 1869 I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. — Mark Twain · 1894 We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. — T.S. Eliot · 1942

Truth3 quotes

Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it. — Mark Twain · 1897 There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. — Mark Twain · 1884 Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t. — Mark Twain · 1897

Adam2 quotes

Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. — Mark Twain · 1893 Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world. — Mark Twain · 1894

American foreign policy2 quotes

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. — Harry Truman · 1947 Almost a year ago, in company with 16 free nations of Europe, we launched the greatest cooperative economic program in history. The purpose of that unprecedented effort is to invigorate and strengthen democracy in Europe, so that the free people of that continent can resume their rightful place in the forefront of civilization and can contribute once more to the security and welfare of the world. — Harry Truman · 1949

American politics2 quotes

I fired him 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-quarters of them would be in jail. — Harry Truman · 1974 The chances are that a man cannot get into congress now without resorting to arts and means that should render him unfit to go there. — Mark Twain · 1873

Anti-monarchism2 quotes

All kings is mostly rapscallions. — Mark Twain · 1884 The kingly office is entitled to no respect. It was originally procured by the highwayman's methods; it remains a perpetuated crime, can never be anything but the symbol of a crime. — Mark Twain · 1888

Black experience2 quotes

To be a Negro is to participate in a culture of poverty and fear that goes far deeper than any law for or against discrimination... After the racist statues are all struck down, after legal equality has been achieved in the schools and in the courts, there remains the profound institutionalized and abiding wrong that white America has worked on the Negro for so long. — Michael Harrington · 1962 My feelings are too intense. I hate bitterly, I love too exaltingly, I pity to extravagantly, I hurt too painfully. We American blacks call that "soul." — Chester Himes · 1972

Boat2 quotes

It’s lovely to live on a raft. — Mark Twain · 1884 We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft. — Mark Twain · 1884

Communism2 quotes

Communism is based on the belief that man is so weak and inadequate that he is unable to govern himself, and therefore requires the rule of strong masters. Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with reason and justice. — Harry Truman · 1949 Communism subjects the individual to arrest without lawful cause, punishment without trial, and forced labor as the chattel of the state. It decrees what information he shall receive, what art he shall produce, what leaders he shall follow, and what thoughts he shall think. — Harry Truman · 1949

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