"No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong."
— François de La Rochefoucauld

"One cannot answer for his courage when he has never been in danger."
— François de La Rochefoucauld (Maxims)

"If you're too open-minded; your brains will fall out."
— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

"Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps. "
— Emo Phillips

"Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are economical in its use."
— Mark Twain

"Seeing ourselves as others see us would probably confirm our worst suspicions about them."
— Franklin P. Adams

"My congratulations to you, sir. Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good. "
— Samuel Johnson

"Catholics don't believe in divorce. We do believe in murder. There's always Confession, after all.
--Brianna Fraser to Roger MacKenzie (Echo in the Bone)"
— Diana Gabaldon

"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
— W. Edwards Deming

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind."
— Rudyard Kipling

"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."
— Arthur C. Clarke

"Science is nothing but trained and organized common sense, differing from the latter only as a veteran may differ from a raw recruit: and its methods differ from those of common sense only as far as the guardsman's cut and thrust differ from the manner in which a savage wields his club."
— Thomas Huxley

"The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank."
— Dante Gabriel Rossetti

"Was ist demnach das beste Rezept für ein Erdenleben überhaupt, oben wie unten?: »Aufs Dorf ziehen. Doof sein. Rammeln. Maul halten. Kirche gehen. Wenn n großer Mann in der Nähe auftaucht, in n Stall verschwinden: dahin kommt er kaum nach! Gegen Schreib- und Leseunterricht stimmen; für die Wiederaufrüstung: Atombomben!«."
— Arno Schmidt (Tina oder über die Unsterblichkeit.)

"Nothing is more humbling than to look with a strong magnifying glass at an
insect so tiny that the naked eye sees only the barest speck and to
discover that nevertheless it is sculpted and articulated and striped with
the same care and imagination as a zebra. Apparently it does not occur to
nature whether or not a creature is within our range of vision, and the
suspicion arises that even the zebra was not designed for our benefit.
"
— Rudolf Arnheim

"“It is one of the consolations of middle-aged reformers that the good they inculcate must live after them if it is to live at all.”"
— Saki

"Go to Old Delhi,and look at the way they keep chickens there in the market. Hundred of pale hens and brightly colored roosters, stuffed tightly into wire-mesh cages. They see the organs of their brothers lying around them.They know they are next, yet they cannot rebel. They do not try to get out of the coop. The very same thing is done with humans in this country."
— Aravind Adiga (The White Tiger)