Favourite Quotes

Hi! I just wondered what people’s favourite quotes are. I’ve noticed a excellent ones on the boards. I’ve included a few below just to get the ball rolling. The quotes don’t have to be about anything in particular and if you don’t know who to atribute them to, just post them anyway!

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars” - Oscar wilde

“There is only one thing in the world worse that being talked about. And that is not being talked about” - Oscar Wilde

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” - Galileo Galilei

Olly

One I saw recently was along the lines of:

There is no end of war until one side has become victorious. -Plato

Makes you consider the UNs purpose when they intervene mid-conflict in their peacekeeping role - it certainly doesn’t instil peace.

And before ben gets in with this comment; QUOTATION is the noun, quote is the verb.

Technically that’s true, but…does it matter?

Ok, that was a tad facetious, but english evolves and people are more likely to say “I love that quote” rather than “I love that quotation”. But I apologise to the puritans amongst you.

Olly

yf gramer dont mata den u wont mynd yf i dont bova wiv any grama or punchooayshon an we can orl speek lyk dis frum know on wich wil be wel izzy to undustand do u get me k tnx 4 lissernin arl c u l8r

For the record I dislike bad grammar too (not “to” or “2”) :unamused: But lets not be pedantic about it. the differnce between quotes and quotation is not the same as…

and now…back to the question!

you took mine olly!! it’s the oscar wilde "we are all in the gutter… " one. so beautiful :]

I have lots of favourite quotations, just can’t remember them all at once. Here are a few to start off…

“He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt; he has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him a spinal cord would suffice.” – Albert Einstein

“You sir, are drunk!” “Yes Madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober” – Winston Churchill

“I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.” – Richard Dawkins

“We think boys are rude, insensitive animals but it is not so in all cases. Each boy has one or two sensitive spots, and if you can find out where they are located you have only to touch them and you can scorch him as with fire.” - Mark Twain’s Autobiography

“Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An Angel writing in a book of gold:
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said,
“What writest thou?” The Vision raised it’s head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord
Answered, “The names of those who love the Lord.”
“And is mine one?” said Abou. “Nay, not so,”
Replied the Angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still; and said, “I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow-men.”

The Angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem’s name led all the rest!”
– James Leigh Hunt

me too, loads of them. not sure about an absolute favourite. favourite poem is this http://www.deepleaf.com/poetry/anyone.htm by e e cummings. here’re some nice quotes.

‘‘cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears. even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful and everything conceals something else’’
-italo calvino.

‘‘you’re growing up, the rain sort of remains on the branches of a tree that will someday rule the earth, thats good that theres rain, it clears the month of your sorry rainbow expressions, and it clears the streets of the silent armies, so we can dance’’
(from the basketball diaries)

admittedly they’re not proper quotes, but i’m an encyclopedea of them, so mail me if you’re really that bothered.

Well I think it has to be ‘The longest march starts with the first step’ or words to that effect Chairman Mao Something which is quoted to me by my father whenever i have an assignment to do.

Actually Ben (Guru) and I occasionally ask each other which particular film a quotation is from.We are both stumped on a particular one and maybe this is where i can throw it open to you guys.The quotation is:
‘am i right am i right am i right right right right’ said fairly quickly.Sad I know but its driving me mad not knowing.
Bye for now

Sorry, but I couldn’t resist adding a few more of my favourites…

“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.”

- Samuel Johnson

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

- Sir Winston Churchill

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

- Mark Twain

“If you are going through hell, keep going.”

- Sir Winston Churchill

There are so many more, but I really have to do my History now!

Olly

------------------
Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things.

[This message has been edited by Olly (edited 30 January 2002).]

i like the one we have in the common room. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”

there’s also a Byron poem which i can’t quite remember. something like…“she walks in beauty like the night” and then something about starry climes i think. i’ll find it later.

and i am sure that there are thousands more from songs and stuff…just can’t remember them.
i also liked “do alcoholics have purses” and other gems from the munters website. janey, clarice and nicky know what i mean.

god, i’d completely forgotten about the munters website!! is it still around?

no, it’s not… :[ i might reincarnate (spelling?) it though, for old times sake, hehe

grand

“you can call me but if im not in, im out”

“do, or do not. there is no try”

  • yoda, empire strikes back

“begun, this clone war has”

  • yoda, 4 weeks time

:smiley:

you are a very sad sad man ian

a couple of quotes from quite recently:-

“stalin - what a lad!”

“well worth raping”

“funny you should say that, it reminds me of the time i liberated Kuwait from Cliff Richard”

“gentlemen, to the medicine cabinate”

“thats not your girlfriend, it’s my mum”

“yeah André may be norweigan, but thats no reason not to call him Steve”

a biscuit? thank you.

Favourite qotes;
“If the brightness of a thousand suns should be cast upon the earth
That would be like the splendour of the chosen one
For i am become Death, shatterer of Worlds”
-Quoted from the Bhagavad Gita by Robert Oppenheimer (tragic inventor of the A-Bomb) on the first explosion at Hiroshima.

“Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human Gods aim for their mark
Make everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh coloured Christs that glow in the dark
Its easy to see without looking too far
That not much is really sacred”
-Bob Dylan

“time is a bourgoise concept”
-Marx

“l’homme n’est pas rein d’autre que ce qu’il ce fait”

  • Satre