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Quotes and things to ponder.

Strolling through a dictionary of quotations one night, I picked up the following quotations which sparked my imagination and made me being to ponder:

Joseph Addison  (1672 - 1719):

Soon as the evening shades prevail,

The moon takes up the wondrous tale,

And nightly to the listening earth,

Repeats the story of her birth.

Whilst all the stars that round her burn,

And all the planets, in their turn,

Conform the tidings as they roll,

And spread the truth from pole to pole.

The Spectator, 465, Ode

Also:

Thus I live in the world rather as a spectator of mankind than as one of the species.

The Spectator, 1

Eugéne Ionesco  (1912 - 1994):

There are more dead people than living.  And their numbers are increasing.  The living are getting rarer.

Rhinoceros, II

Thomas Jefferson  (1743 - 1826):

We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable; that all men are created equal and independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Original draft for the American Declaration of Independence

Arthur Koestler  (1905 - 1983):

A writer’s ambition should be to trade a hundred contemporary readers for ten readers in ten year’s time and for one reader in a hundred year’s time.

Interview with Harvey Breit in the New York Times Book Review, 1 Apr 1951

Charles Lamb  (1735 - 1834):

I am, in plainer words, a bundle of prejudices – made up of likings and dislikings.

Essays of Elia, “Imperfect Sympathies”

Also:

We are nothing, less than nothing, and dreams.  We are only what might have been, and must wait upon the tedious shores of Lethe millions of ages before we have existence, and a name.

Essays of Elia, “Dream Children”

Martin Luther  (1483 – 1546):

Wer nicht liebt Wein, Weib und Gesang, Der bleibt ein Narr sein Lebe lang.  -  Who loves not wine, woman and song, Remains a fool his whole life long.

Inscription at Wartburg

Also:

Hier stehe ich, ich kann nicht anders.  -  Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.

Speech at the Diet of Worms, 18 Apr 1521

Rosa Luxemburg  (1871 – 1919):

Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.

Social Reform or Revolution

Wilson Mizner  (1876 – 1933):

Be nice to people on your way up because you’ll meet ‘em on your way down.

Quoted in A. Johnston, The Legendary Mizers, Ch. 4.  Also attr.  To Jimmy Durante

Also:

If you steal from one author its plagiarism.  If you steal from many it’s research.

Quoted in A. Johnston, The Legendary Mizers, Ch. 4.  Also attr.  To Jimmy Durante

Lord Gordon George Byron  (1788 - 1824):

So, we’ll go no more a roving,

So late into the night,

Though the heart be still as loving,

And the moon be still as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,

And the soul wears out the breast,

And the heart must pause to breathe,

And love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,

And the day returns too soon,

Yet we’ll go no more a roving,

By the light of the moon.

So, we’ll go no more a roving,

Also:

Foul Superstition! howsoe’er disguised,

Idol, saint, virgin, prophet, crescent, cross,

For whatsoever symbol thou art prized,

Thou sacerdotal gain, but general loss!

Who from true worship’s gold can separate thy dross?

Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, II.  44.

Moliére  -  "Jean-Baptiste Poquelin"  -  (1622 – 1673):

On ne meurt qu’une fois, et c’est pour si longtemps!  -  One only dies once – but one is dead so long!

Le Dépit amoureux, V. iii

Also:

La parfaite raison fuit tout extrémité, Et veut que i’on soit sage avec sobriété.  -  Pure reason avoids extremes, and requires one to be wise in moderation.

Le Misanthrope, I. i

Also:

On doit se regarder soi-méme un fort long temps, I Avant que de songer á condammer les gens.  -  One should examine oneself for a very long time before thinking of condemning others.

Le Misanthrope, III. iv

George's comment:

If you cannot laugh and ridicule the self, how can you laugh with others? 

Michel de Montaigne  - 1533 – 1592:

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be self-sufficient.

Essays, I.  39

Also:

The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them; a man may live long, yet live very little.  Satisfaction in life depends not on the number of your years, but on your will.

Essays, I.  20

Also:

A man who fears’ suffering is already suffering from what he fears.

Essays, III.  13

Also:

The world is but a school of inquiry.

Essays, III.  8

Thomas Moore  - 1779 – 1852:

Disguise our bondage as we will, ‘Tis woman, woman, rules us still.

Sovereign Woman

J.L. Notley  -  1814 – 1877:

Give us the luxuries of life, and we shall dispense with its necessities.

Quoted in O.W. Holmes – Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, Ch. 6

Plotinus  -  205 – 270:

And here we have, incidentally, lighted upon the cause of the Circuit of the All, it is a movement which seeks perpetuity by way of futurity.

Enneads, III. 7

Eleanor Roosevelt

"No One Can Make You Feel Inferior Without Your Permission".

 Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself."

Best Wishes and Blessed Be.