Front Page

Wisdom and beauty form a very rare combination

Petronius Arbiter, The Satyricon, XCIV, in Wisdom and Ignorance

Oh, my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts. It's what you do with what you have left.

Hubert Humphrey, in Success and Failure

Leemans' Law: Junk expands to fill the space allotted.

Ron Leemans, in Work and Recreation

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Albert Einstein, in Work and Recreation

When a thing has been said, and said well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it.

Anatole France, in Wisdom and Ignorance

I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

Thomas Jefferson, in Law and Politics

I live for books.

Thomas Jefferson, in Art and Literature and Wisdom and Ignorance

Riot: A popular entertainment given to the military by innocent bystanders.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, in War and Peace

When skunks duel, wind direction is everything.

Michael A. Loduha, (on environmental factors in legal cases vs. the attorneys' skills; from a lecture series), in Law and Politics

We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.

Albert Einstein, in Science and Religion

It is by will alone that I set my mind in motion.

Frank Herbert, Dune, in Work and Recreation

Boring people are a reflection of boring people.

Doug Horton, in Altruism and Cynicism

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

Don't wait for the last judgment; it takes place every day.

Albert Camus, in Vice and Virtue

In nature, there are neither rewards nor punishments -- there are consequences.

Robert G. Ingersoll, in Altruism and Cynicism

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.

James Joyce, 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

The Puritans hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

Thomas Macaulay, History of England, I, in Vice and Virtue

There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees.

Michel de Montaigne, in Science and Religion

Comedy is tragedy plus time.

Carol Burnett, in Happiness and Misery