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Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two equals four. If that is granted, all else follows.

George Orwell, 1984, in Happiness and Misery

He that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.

Confucius, in Work and Recreation

Uncertainty and mystery are energies of life. Don't let them scare you unduly, for they keep boredom at bay and spark creativity.

R. I. Fitzhenry, in Wisdom and Ignorance

Egoist: A person of low taste, more interested in themselves than in me.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, in Altruism and Cynicism

Education is the period during which you are being instructed by somebody you do not know, about something you do not want to know.

Gilbert K. Chesterton, in Wisdom and Ignorance

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

Albert Einstein, in Science and Religion and Success and Failure

To generalize is to be an idiot.

William Blake, in Science and Religion

Positive anything is better than negative nothing.

Elbert Hubbard, in Success and Failure

To be prepared against surprise is to be trained. To be prepared for surprise is to be educated.

James Carse, in Life and Death

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

Winston Churchill, in Law and Politics

Yield to temptation -- it may not pass your way again.

Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love (Lazarus Long), in Vice and Virtue

Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions -- it only guarantees equality of opportunity.

Irving Kristol, in Law and Politics

I never think of the future -- it will come soon enough.

Albert Einstein, in Life and Death

Joy is not in things, it is in us.

Jess Lair, in Happiness and Misery

The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to make sense.

Tom Clancy, in Art and Literature

A continuing flow of paper is sufficient to continue the flow of paper.

Dyer, in Work and Recreation

Sloppy thinking gets worse over time.

Jenny Holzer, in Wisdom and Ignorance

Middle age is youth without levity. And old age without decay.

Daniel Defoe, in Life and Death

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

Winston Churchill, in Success and Failure

If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

Albert Einstein, in Vice and Virtue