Entry 33

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
Einstein

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.
Einstein

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.
Einstein

Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.
Einstein

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Einstein

If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.
Einstein

Entry 32

Books, the children of the brain.
Jonathan Swift


I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.
Jonathan Swift


Words are but wind; and learning is nothing but words; ergo, learning is nothing but wind.
Jonathan Swift


At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face.
Albert Camus


Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
Albert Camus


Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time.
Albert Camus


The need to be right is the sign of a vulgar mind.
Albert Camus

Entry 31

The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.
Leonardo da Vinci

The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
Leonardo da Vinci

The function of muscle is to pull and not to push, except in the case of the genitals and the tongue.
Leonardo da Vinci

While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.
Leonardo da Vinci

Who sows virtue reaps honor.
Leonardo da Vinci

Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?
Leonardo da Vinci

Entry 30

After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands.
Friedrich Nietzsche

I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time.
Friedrich Nietzsche

In heaven, all the interesting people are missing.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Is man one of God's blunders? Or is God one of man's blunders?
Friedrich Nietzsche

You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Entry 29

No one wants advice - only corroboration.
John Steinbeck

Writers are a little below clowns and a little above trained seals.
John Steinbeck

Mick Jagger is about as sexy as a pissing toad.
Truman Capote

To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music that words make.
Truman Capote

Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.
Kurt Vonnegut

Here's what I think the truth is: We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial, about to face cold turkey.
Kurt Vonnegut

Entry 28

Good writing is like a windowpane.

George Orwell

He was an embittered atheist, the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him.

George Orwell

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

George Orwell

In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

George Orwell

In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics.' All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.

George Orwell


Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

George Orwell

Entry 27

Clean your finger before you point at my spots.
Benjamin Franklin


The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.
Benjamin Franklin


The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason.
Benjamin Franklin

There never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.
Benjamin Franklin

There was never a good war, or a bad peace.
Benjamin Franklin

Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble.
Benjamin Franklin

Entry 26

If God had a bumper sticker, it would probably read: Shine, don't WHINE.

Tom Robbins

Religion is not merely the opium of the masses, it's the cyanide.

Tom Robbins

We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.
Tom Robbins

Using words to describe magic is like using a screwdriver to cut roast beef.

Tom Robbins

In order to be respected, authority has got to be respectable.

Tom Robbins

If it is committed in the name of God or country, there is no crime so heinous that the public will not forgive it.

Tom Robbins

Entry 25

A little learning is a dangerous thing, but we must take that risk because a little is as much as our biggest heads can hold.
George Bernard Shaw

A mind of the calibre of mine cannot derive its nutriment from cows.
George Bernard Shaw

A perpetual holiday is a good working definition of hell.
George Bernard Shaw

An asylum for the sane would be empty in America.
George Bernard Shaw

Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends.
George Bernard Shaw

Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history.
George Bernard Shaw

I'm an atheist and I thank God for it.
George Bernard Shaw

Entry 24

Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.
Blaise Pascal

Love has reasons which reason cannot understand.
Blaise Pascal

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
Blaise Pascal

The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.
Blaise Pascal

The heart has reasons that reason cannot know.
Blaise Pascal

Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.
Blaise Pascal

Entry 23

I quote others only in order the better to express myself.
Michel de Montaigne

It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.
Michel de Montaigne

It is not death, it is dying that alarms me.
Michel de Montaigne

Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know.
Michel de Montaigne

Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee.
Michel de Montaigne

The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.
Michel de Montaigne

The ceaseless labour of your life is to build the house of death.
Michel de Montaigne

Entry 22

When people are bored it is primarily with themselves.

Eric Hoffer

Only those who want everything done for them are bored.

Billy Graham

The concept of boredom entails an inability to use up present moments in a personally fulfilling way.

Wayne Dyer

Society is now one polished horde,

Formed of two mighty tribes, the

Bores and Bored.

Byron

A bore is one who, when you ask him "How are you?" tells you.

Anonymous

Entry 21

What is art? Nature concentrated.

Balzac

The pen is the tongue of the mind.

Cervantes

Here we have a baby. It is composed of a bald head and a pair of lungs.

Eugene Field

That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful.

Ninon de L'Enclos

The saying that beauty is but skin deep is but a skin deep saying.

Ruskin

Entry 20

The most horrible warfare is the kindest. I shall spread terror by the surprsie employment of all my measures. The important thing is the sudden shock of overwhelming fear of death.
Adolph Hitler

Why babble about brutality and be indignant about tortures? The masses want that. They want something that will give them a thrill of horror.
Adolph Hitler

Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who don't want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live.
Adolph Hitler

The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.
Adolph Hitler

Who says I am not under the special protection of God?
Adolph Hitler
The leader of genius must have the ability to make different opponents appear as if they belong
"T
hose who wan"Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who donotTT want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live."t to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live."
"Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live."

Entry 19

A wise man knows everything; a shrewd one, everybody.

Anonymous

Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest.

Jerrold

Apology is only egotism wrong side out.

Holmes

She looks as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

Jonathan Swift

Neither irony nor sarcasm is argument.

Rufus Choate