Finding Solace in Favourite Quotes: Escaping Despair with Words of Wisdom

[Ivan Seeking]

I may have posted these somewhere already, but oh well...

'Yeah, it is reminiscent of what distinguishes the good theorists from the bad ones. The good ones always make an even number of sign errors, and the bad ones always make an odd number.'"-Anthony Zee, Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell

The class of all questions contains an infinite number of members (since it is possible to go on indefinitely adding clauses to create questions of indefinite length and complexity). But there are only a finite number of answered questions, so the ratio is 0:1. .
---- Charles Francis

----Corollary: we know nothing.---- Charles Francis

Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from bad decisions. - unknown

The reasonable person adapts to the world around him or her, while the unreasonable person tries to change the world to suit them. Conclusion: Change only occurs because of unreasonable people.

 

[darius]

Here is one that was in Eisenhower's office in the days he was some kind of Dean at Columbia University. In pig latin roughly "Don't let the bastards wear you down."

 

[Cyrus]

I saw this on a friends profile.

"Knowledge is a weapon. I intend to be formidably armed." -Richard Rhal; Sword of Truth (TotW)-

 

[fourier jr]

To invent is to choose. This very remarkable conclusion appears the more striking if we compare it with what Paul Valery writes in the Nouvelle Revue Francaise: "It takes two to invent anything. The one makes up combinations; the other chooses, recognizes what he wishes and what is important to him in the mass of things which the former has imparted to him. What we call genius is much less the work of the first one than the readiness of the second one to grasp the value of what has been laid before him and to choose it."
Jacques Hadamard

All of life is the struggle, the effort to be itself. The difficulties which I meet with in order to realize my existence are precisely what awaken and mobilise my activities, my capacities. If my body was not a weight to me, I should not be able to walk. If the atmosphere did not press down on me, I should feel my body as something vague, flabby, insubstantial.
Jose Ortega y Gasset

An "unemployed" existence is a worse negation of life than death itself. Because to live means to have something definite to do – a mission to fulfil – and in the measure in which we avoid setting our life to something, we make it empty.
Jose Ortega y Gasset

When one speaks of “select minorities” it is usual for the evil-minded to twist the sense of this expression, pretending to be unaware that the select man is not the petulant person who thinks himself superior to the rest, but the man who demands more of himself than the rest, even though he may not fulfill in his person those higher exigencies. For there is no doubt that the most radical that is possible to make of humanity is that which splits it into two classes of creatures: those who make great demands of themselves, piling up difficulties and duties; and those who demand nothing special of themselves, but for whom to live is to be for every moment what they already are, without imposing on themselves any effort towards perfection; mere buoys that float on the waves.
Jose Ortega y Gasset

 

[FrogPad]

Like all of Erdos's friends, Graham was concerned about his drug-taking. In 1979, Graham bet Erdos $500 that he couldn't stop taking amphetamines for a month. Erdos accepted the challenge, and went cold turkey for thirty days. After Graham paid up--and wrote the $500 off as a business expense--Erdos said, "You've showed me I'm not an addict. But I didn't get any work done. I'd get up in the morning and stare at a blank piece of paper. I'd have no ideas, just like an ordinary person. You've set mathematics back a month." He promptly resumed taking pills, and mathematics was the better for it.

"One thing kids like, is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. 'Oh no,' I said, 'Disneyland burned down.' "He cried and cried, but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. 'I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late."
-Jack Handey

Believe you can, believe you can't; either way, you're right.
-Henry Fords

 

[Gokul43201]

I read this recently, but I don't know the author -

"God put me on this Earth to accomplish many things.

I am so far behind, I will never die."

That's vintage Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes). The author would be Watterson.Darius, what book is Whitman referring to in that second quote?Frogpad, nice Erdös anecdote - I didn't know it.

 

[fourier jr]

Frogpad, nice Erdös anecdote - I didn't know it.

there are plenty more in "the man who loved only numbers"

"One thing kids like, is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. 'Oh no,' I said, 'Disneyland burned down.' "He cried and cried, but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. 'I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late."
-Jack Handey

lmao that's some good stuff. jack handey is hilarious

 

[fourier jr]

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake up in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible-T. E. Lawrence

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
Edgar Allen Poe

 

[Kalimaa23]

Terry Pratchett, it the preface of "The Science of Discworld"

"Magicians and Scientists are, on the face of it, poles apart. Certainly, a group of people who often dress strangly, speak a specialized language, live in a world of their own and frequently make statements that appear to be in flagrant breach of common sense have nothingi n common with a group of people who often dress strangly, speak a specialized language, live in ...er..."

 

[NoTime]

Terry Pratchett, it the preface of "The Science of Discworld"

"Magicians and Scientists are, on the face of it, poles apart. Certainly, a group of people who often dress strangly, speak a specialized language, live in a world of their own and frequently make statements that appear to be in flagrant breach of common sense have nothingi n common with a group of people who often dress strangly, speak a specialized language, live in ...er..."

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." A.C. Clark.

I suspect that for many (most?) people, we are currently far beyond the distinguishable point.

 

[darius]

That's vintage Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes). The author would be Watterson.


Darius, what book is Whitman referring to in that second quote?


Frogpad, nice Erdös anecdote - I didn't know it.

Hi Gokul,
Whitman was referring to his own book when it first came out "Leaves of Grass". Great to be able to say that about one's own book is it not?-Regards, Darius

 

[FrogPad]

there are plenty more in "the man who loved only numbers"

I've been meaning to pick up this book. Have you read it? Any good?

 

[fourier jr]

I've been meaning to pick up this book. Have you read it? Any good?

i have flipped through another erdos book called my brian is open, which seems to have roughly the same contents as the man who loves only numbers. they seem to be virtually the same book as far as the topics go. i guess i like the man who loved only numbers because i have that one. if i got my brain is open i'd probably like that one more.

 

[Mattara]

"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon.' Need I say more?" ---Chris Rock

 

[Ivan Seeking]

A CNN viewer gives her [I think] opinion on how to achieve world peace:

~ "... Gather the world's leaders and lock them in a room with my mother-in-law. Within an hour they'll be willing to sign anything in order to get out."

 

[Mattara]

"If we fail to anticipate the unforseen or expect the unexpected in a universe of infinite possibilites we may find ourselvers at the mercy of anyone or anything that cannot be programmed, categories or easily referenced"

- Fox Mulder (Fight the Future 1998)

 

[0TheSwerve0]

Beware the bottled thoughts of angry young men (actually a song lyric)
- Jeff Buckley

 

[Pythagorean]

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it. -- Thomas Jefferson

Fang Lizhi had some awesome quotes having been an oppressed scientist from China (they imprisoned him for his interests in the big bang theory!) but I've lost the book and can't do the service of them.

 

[Astronuc]

Daily Thought from RealSimple.com - some wisdom which can be applied to relationships.

July 21, 2006

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."

— Henry Ford

 

[jimmie]

The whole world steps aside for he who knows where to go.

Anonymous

 

[pace]

- We're not alike other animals in that we can't choose, but in that we have difficulty of seeing beyond our own race.

me

 

[Astronuc]

“Aucun problem ne peut resister a la pensée -

No problem can withstand sustained thinking”

- Voltaire.

Seems appropriate for PF.

 

[Astronuc]

“You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colin.' Need I say more?”

Chris Rock - back a few years ago (probably around 2003), since Colin Powell left the government in Jan, 2005.

 

[Astronuc]

Back in August 1963, Pete Seeger did a concert at Carnegie Hall. He sang mostly folk songs which were part of the Civil Rights movement. He sang one song which has always stuck with me. It's a satirical commentary about what children were being taught in school at the time, as the Civil rights movement was advancing and the anti-war movements and women's rights movement had yet to get going. I bolded the part which used to make me chuckle.

What did you learn in school today
Dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school today
Dear little boy of mine?

I learned that Washington never told a lie
I learned that soldiers seldom die
I learned that everybody's free
And that's what the teacher said to me.

That's what I learned in school today,
That's what I learned in school

... I learned our government must be strong
It's always right & never wrong
Our leaders are the finest men,
and we elect them again and again...

... I learned that war is not so bad,
I learned about the great ones we have had,
We fought in Germany and in France,
And someday I might get my chance ...

... I learned that boys grow into men,
Fly up to the moon and back again,
That little girls to mommies grow
To stay home and cook and sow ...

... I learned that Columbus looked for land,
For Isabella and Ferdinand,
To India he was looking for a way
Til he bumped right into the USA ...

... I learned & learned & learned some more
Til my eyes got read and my brain got sore,
I wander the halls in a state of shock
But it all gets better at 3 o'clock ...

- Tom Paxton (last v. John Braxton)
(c) 1962 Cherry Lane Music Publ. Co.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Pub.L. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241, July 2, 1964) was landmark legislation in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Originally conceived to protect the rights of black men, the bill was amended prior to passage to protect the civil rights of everyone, and explicitly included women for the first time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964

On April 11, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (also known as CRA '68), which was meant as a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While the Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibited discrimination in housing, there were no federal enforcement provisions. The 1968 expanded on previous acts and prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, (and as amended) handicap and family status. It also provided protection for civil rights workers. Title VIII of the Act is also known as the Fair Housing Act (of 1968).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1968

For earlier and later acts see - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act

 

[alias25]

'To see the world in a grain of sand
and heaven in a wild flower,
hold infinity in the plam of your hand
and eternity in an hour'
william blake

and...

'If life you regret the things you didn't do, so through off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails...Explore...Dream...Discover.'
Mark Twain

 

[Astronuc]

"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us "universe", a part limited in time and space. One experiences oneself, one's thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of one's consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

- Albert Einstein I changed some pronouns from third person masculine to third person neutral.

More quotes from A. Einstein - http://www.heartquotes.net/Einstein.html

 

[Lisa!]

"Common sense is not so common!"

What did you learn in school today
Dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school today
Dear little boy of mine?

I learned that Washington never told a lie
I learned that soldiers seldom die
I learned that everybody's free
And that's what the teacher said to me.

That's what I learned in school today,
That's what I learned in school

... I learned our government must be strong
It's always right & never wrong
Our leaders are the finest men,
and we elect them again and again...

... I learned that war is not so bad,
I learned about the great ones we have had,
We fought in Germany and in France,
And someday I might get my chance ...

... I learned that boys grow into men,
Fly up to the moon and back again,
That little girls to mommies grow
To stay home and cook and sow ...

... I learned that Columbus looked for land,
For Isabella and Ferdinand,
To India he was looking for a way
Til he bumped right into the USA ...

... I learned & learned & learned some more
Til my eyes got read and my brain got sore,
I wander the halls in a state of shock
But it all gets better at 3 o'clock ...

Great!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Boy, when you die at the palace, you REALLY DIE at the palace!

Mel Brooks - History of the World: Part I

 

[lunarmansion]

A few by Ludwig Wittgenstein

A curious analogy could be based on the fact that even the largest telescope has to have an eye-piece no larger than the human eye.

To treat somebody well when he does not like you, you need to be not only very good natured, but very tactful too.

Philosophers often behave like little children who scribble some marks on a piece of paper at random and then ask the grown-up What's that?"-It happened like this: the grown-up had drawn pictures for the child several times and said: "this is man", "this is house", etc. And then the child makes some marks too and asks: what's this then?

It is humiliating to have to appear like an empty tube which is simply inflated by a mind.

If someone is merely ahead of his time, it will catch him up one day.

 

[Evo]

A friend sent me this one, I don't know the source.

Another month ends ...
All targets met,
All systems working,
All customers satisfied,
All staff eager and enthusiastic,
All Pigs fed and ready to fly.

 

[Astronuc]

"Failure - a step on the path to success" - source unknown

 

[lunarmansion]

(contd).

Each morning you have to break the dead rubble afresh so as to reach the living warm seed.

 

[franznietzsche]

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool.

Richard Feynman, Caltech commencement address, 1974

 

[Gokul43201]

'To see the world in a grain of sand
and heaven in a wild flower,
hold infinity in the plam of your hand
and eternity in an hour'
william blake

This used to be my signature here until it seemed like too many crackpots were trying to build theories upon it!

 

[Reshma]

A disagreement is the shortest distance between two minds.
~Khalil Gibran