Quotations from Brainy Smurf 43

"Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence." --Henri Frederic Amiel, philosopher and writer (1821-1881)

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 42

"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward; for there you have been, and there you long to return." --Leonardo Da Vinci

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 41

"It is one of the maladies of our age to profess a frenzied allegiance to truth in unimportant matters, to refuse consistently to face her where graver issues are at stake." --Janos Arany, poet (1817-1882)

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 40

"I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies." --Pietro Aretino, satirist and dramatist (1492-1556)

"America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week." --Evan Esar

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 39

"A good friend can tell you what is the matter with you in a minute. He may not seem such a good friend after telling." --Arthur Brisbane

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 38

"As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests." --Gore Vidal, writer (1925- )

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 37

"In the republic of mediocrity genius is dangerous." --Robert G. Ingersoll, lawyer and orator (1833-1899)

"A chess genius is a human being who focuses vast, little-understood mental gifts and labors on an ultimately trivial human enterprise." --George Steiner

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 36

"Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled." --Michael Crichton

"Science … is not so much concerned with truth as it is with consensus. What counts as “truth” is what scientists can agree to count as truth at any particular moment in time … [Scientists] are not really receptive or not really open-minded to any sorts of criticisms or any sorts of claims that actually are attacking some of the established parts of the research (traditional) paradigm — in this case neo-Darwinism — so it is very difficult for people who are pushing claims that contradict that paradigm to get a hearing. They’ll find it hard to [get] research grants; they’ll find it hard to get their research published; they’ll find it very hard."
--Prof. Evelleen Richards, Historian of Science at the University of NSW, Australia

Note that I am not supporting "intelligent design" or "creation science" with these quotes. Be on the look-out for irony. It nearly bumped into you at the last turn of the road, swung wide right, and crashed into a tree. Hospital reports indicate it is in "serious but stable condition."

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 35

"When you're down and troubled
and you need a helping hand...
Seek psychiatric help. I just do DNS."
--Ask Mr. DNS (http://www.acmebw.com/askmrdns/)

"Whoever imagines himself a favorite with God holds others in contempt." --Robert Green Ingersoll

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 34

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved." --Helen Keller

"The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think." --Horace Walpole

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 33

The road not taken...

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 32

"Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone?" --Thomas Wolfe, novelist (1900-1938)

"The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane." --Nikola Tesla

"Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted." --Aldous Huxley

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 31

"The follies which a man regrets most, in his life, are those which he didn't commit when he had the opportunity." --Helen Rowland

"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable." --John Kenneth Galbraith

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 30

"No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." --Edward Abbey

"Speak what you think today in words as hard as cannonballs and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today." --Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 29

"You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance." --Ray Bradbury

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 28

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." --Henry David Thoreau

"The least of learning is done in the classrooms." --Thomas Merton

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 27

"One day's exposure to mountains is better than cartloads of books." --John Muir, naturalist

"We perceive when love begins and when it declines by our embarrassment when alone together." --Jean de la Bruyere, essayist and moralist (1645-1696)

"There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That's perfectly all right; they're the aperture to finding out what's right. Science is a self-correcting process. To be accepted, new ideas must survive the most rigorous standards of evidence and scrutiny." --Carl Sagan

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that ... I believe in what I do, and I'll say it." --John Lennon

"Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity." --Christopher Morley