FAMOUS UTTERANCES, BONS MOTS

PHRASES CÉLÈBRES, TRAITS D'ESPRIT
 

The art of prophecy is very difficult, especially with respect to the future. Mark Twain

It is personalities, not principles that move the age. Oscar Wilde

I’m not going to pay good money to join a club that lets in people like me. Groucho Marx

I never think of the future. It arrives soon enough. Albert Einstein

Progress is the realization of utopia. Oscar Wilde

We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don’t like? Jean Cocteau

In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin

Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. G. K. Chesterton

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. George Bernard Shaw

Imitation is the homage mediocrity pays to greatness. Oscar Wilde

Speak softly and carry a bigstick: you will go far. Theodore Roosevelt

The innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions. Machiavelli

When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers. Oscar Wilde

Sweet is war to those who know it not. Erasmus

The CIA owns everyone of any major significance in the major media. CIA director William Colby

The only thing on earth I know is serious is the culture of the vine. Voltaire

Facts are stubborn things and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. John Adams

Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances. Strong men believe in cause and effect. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everyone has two homelands, their own and La France. / Tout homme a deux patries : la sienne et la France. Thomas Jefferson

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. Leo Tolstoy

These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others. Groucho Marx

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. Albert Einstein

A fool learns from his experience. A wise person learns from the experience of others. Otto von Bismarck

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect. Mark Twain

After we have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Sherlock Holmes

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something in your life. Winston Churchill

Insanity in individuals is something rare -- but in groups, parties, nations and epochs it is the rule. Friedrich Nietzsche

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santayana

The tyranny of the ignoramuses is insurmountable and assured for all time. Albert Einstein

History is little more than the register of crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind. Edward Gibbon

Men use thoughts only to justify their wrongdoings, and words only to conceal their thoughts. Voltaire

Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied. Otto von Bismarck

The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke

One cannot cross an abyss in two jumps. David Lloyd-George

In times of universal deceit, speaking the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell

A nation of sheep must in time beget a goverment of wolves. Edward R. Murrow

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under. H. L. Mencken

A sucker is born every minute. Old American adage

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

We live in hope and die in despair. Old adage

Pride goes before a fall. Ancient admonition

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Martin Luther King

Never dig a hole deeper than you can climb out of. Gravedigger's maxim

On the head of the thief the hat is burning. Hebraic proverb

There is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea. Samuel Johnson

You will get more with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone. Al Capone

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Lord Acton

If we are discussing horses it would seem out of place to mix in donkeys and proceed to discuss them all together. Norman Totten

The French are logical people, which is one reason the English dislike them so intensely. The other is that they own France, a country which we have always judged to be much too good for them. Robert Morley

No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in Mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee. John Donne

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. Aldous Huxley

© Christian Lassure

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