Nathan's quotes

(showing 1-50 of 321)

"I did not attend his funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."
— Mark Twain

tags: classic-insult, funeral, funny, humor
404 people liked it

"Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."
— Mark Twain

tags: living, world
1,077 people liked it

"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."
— Ayn Rand

1,901 people liked it

"A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others."
— Ayn Rand

201 people liked it

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough"
— Mae West

tags: humor, life
8,940 people liked it

"Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before."
— Mae West

tags: evil, temptation
492 people liked it

"Good governance never depends upon laws, but upon the personal qualities of those who govern. The machinery of government is always subordinate to the will of those who administer that machinery. The most important element of government, therefore, is the method of choosing leaders."
— Law and Governance, The Spacing Guild Manual [Frank Herbert]

6 people liked it

"If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual."
— The Dosadi Experiment [Frank Herbert]

3 people liked it

"Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible."
— Frank Herbert

tags: politics
48 people liked it

"The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but have only one course of action."
— Frank Herbert

tags: action, frank, government, herbert, improve, life, lives, power, rule, ruling
13 people liked it

"Here lies a toppled god.
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

Tleilaxu Epigram"
— Frank Herbert (Dune Messiah)

11 people liked it

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."
— Mark Twain

tags: individuality, majority, minority, pause, reflect, wisdom
6,244 people liked it

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."
— Mark Twain

tags: education
3,129 people liked it

"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint."
— Mark Twain

tags: books, health, humor, misprints
2,399 people liked it

"'Classic' - a book which people praise and don't read."
— Mark Twain

tags: books, classic, reading
1,748 people liked it

"Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be."
— Mark Twain

tags: humor, writing
1,554 people liked it

"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly. I said 'I don't know'."
— Mark Twain

tags: humor, knowledge
1,474 people liked it

"Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."
— Mark Twain

tags: humor, politics
1,539 people liked it

"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it."
— Mark Twain

tags: censorship, food
1,036 people liked it

"Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it."
— Mark Twain

tags: politics
966 people liked it

"There are three types of lies -- lies, damn lies, and statistics."
— Benjamin Disraeli

tags: truth
907 people liked it

"Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other."
— Mark Twain

tags: morals
725 people liked it

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed."
— Mark Twain

tags: newspapers
516 people liked it

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man."
— Mark Twain

tags: animals, dogs
488 people liked it

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."
— Mark Twain (The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It)

tags: travel
410 people liked it

"The trouble is not in dying for a friend, but in finding a friend worth dying for."
— Mark Twain

437 people liked it

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear."
— Mark Twain

tags: courage
370 people liked it

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."
— Mark Twain

tags: clothing
341 people liked it

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."
— Mark Twain

tags: history
225 people liked it

"A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain."
— Mark Twain

tags: bank, bankers, humor
250 people liked it

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it."
— Mark Twain

198 people liked it

"Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in."
— Mark Twain

tags: animals, dogs, heaven
168 people liked it

"Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more."
— Mark Twain

179 people liked it

"The most interesting information come from children, for they tell all they know and then stop."
— Mark Twain

tags: children, humor
173 people liked it

"I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead."
— Mark Twain

tags: humor
162 people liked it

"To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail."
— Mark Twain

154 people liked it

"Any emotion, if it is sincere, is involuntary."
— Mark Twain

tags: inspirational
159 people liked it

"When angry, count four. When very angry, swear."
— Mark Twain

tags: anger
130 people liked it

"Only presidents, editors and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial "we"."
— Mark Twain

108 people liked it

"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example."
— Mark Twain

105 people liked it

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

tags: honors
90 people liked it

"Sacred cows make the best hamburger."
— Mark Twain

tags: humor
79 people liked it

"In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot."
— Mark Twain

tags: politics
83 people liked it

"My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine.(Fortunately) Everybody drinks water."
— Mark Twain

tags: books
78 people liked it

"An Englishman is a person who does things because they have been done before. An American is a person who does things because they haven't been done before."
— Mark Twain

tags: american
79 people liked it

"I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won't."
— Mark Twain

tags: lies
76 people liked it

"A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval."
— Mark Twain

51 people liked it

"The government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them."
— Mark Twain

tags: government
44 people liked it

"The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause."
— Mark Twain

35 people liked it

"The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin."
— Mark Twain

tags: humor, taxes
18 people liked it

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 next »

Nathan's profile »

all quotes
add a quote

tags from Nathan's quotes

Books
Funny
Herbert
Humor
Reading
action
animals
bank
bankers
books
censorship
classic-insult
health
heaven
humor
improve
individuality
life
lives
majority
minority
misprints
pause
power
reflect
rule
ruling government
temptation
American
Classic
Courage
Frank
Funeral
Humor
anger
books
clothing
dogs
education
evil
food
government
history
honors
humor
humor children
humor taxes
inspirational
knowledge
lies
living
morals
newspapers
politics
politics
travel
truth
wisdom
world
writing