Quotations from Brainy Smurf 103

"Kindness is not without its rocks ahead. People are apt to put it down to an easy temper and seldom recognize it as the secret striving of a generous nature; whilst, on the other hand, the ill-natured get credit for all the evil they refrain from." --Honore De Balzac, novelist (1799-1850)

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 102

"Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as the earth!" --Henry David Thoreau

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 101

This seems so ludicrous, I had to post it. Either false or she has a pretty high opinion of herself. K=

"My God is a God who wants me to have things. He wants me to bling. He wants me to be the hottest thing on the block." --Mary J. Blige

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 100

100 quotations posts! Woo-hoo! K=

"How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct." --Benjamin Disraeli

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 99

"Everyone I know with an unusual name loves it. It's only the losers named Dave that think having an unusual name is bad, and who cares what they think. They're named Dave." --Penn Jillette, whose daughter is named Moxie CrimeFighter, in a quotation from the New York Times

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 98

"Language is more fashion than science, and matters of usage, spelling and pronunciation tend to wander around like hemlines." --Bill Bryson, author (1951- )

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 97

"Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?" --Henry Ward Beecher

(Very true for me!)

"There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a
mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to prevent its ascendancy." --Thomas Jefferson, third U.S. president, architect and author (1743-1826)

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 96

"When we got into office, the thing that surprised me the most was that things were as bad as we'd been saying they were." --John F. Kennedy

"For most men life is a search for the proper manila envelope in which to get themselves filed." --Clifton Fadiman

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 95

The Silver Swan

The silver swan, who living had no note,

When death approach'd, unlock'd her silent throat;

Leaning her breast against the reedy shore,

Thus sung her first and last, and sung no more.

Farewell, all joys; O Death, come close mine eyes;

More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise.

--credited to Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625)

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 94

"Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind." --Marston Bates

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror." --Oscar Wilde

"The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it." --William James

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 93

"Sometimes it pays to stay in bed in Monday, rather than spending the rest of the week debugging Monday's code." --Dan Salomon

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 92

"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." --James Madison, fourth US president (1751-1836)

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 91

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us." --Joseph Campbell

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 90

"People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get." --Frederick Douglass

"The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards." --Arthur Koestler

"Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it." --Rene Descartes, philosopher and mathematician (1596-1650)

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 89

"Experience makes us see an enormous difference between piety and goodness." --Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician (1623-1662)

Quotations from Brainy Smurf 88

"It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not to deserve them." --Mark Twain

"My problems start when the smarter bears and the dumber visitors intersect." -- Steve Thompson, Yosemite Park official

"You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes." --Moses ben Maimon, philosopher (1135-1204)