- One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways. – Bertrand Russell, English mathematician-philosopher (1872-1970)
- Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. – Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet (1792-1822)
- Cheer up! The worst is yet to come! – Philander Chase Johnson, American author (1866-1939)
- Do not look back. And do not dream about the future, either. It will neither give you back the past, nor satisfy your other daydreams. Your duty, your reward – your destiny – are here and now. – Dag Hammarskjold, United Nations Secretary-General (1905-1961)
- Those who failed to oppose me, who readily agreed with me, accepted all my views, and yielded easily to my opinions, were those who did me the most injury, and were my worst enemies, because, by surrendering to me so easily, they encouraged me to go too far… I was then too powerful for any man, except myself, to injure me. – Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France (1769-1821)
- I do not know which makes a man more conservative – to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past. – John Maynard Keynes, English economist (1883-1946)
- Tears are not arguments. – Machado de Assis, writer (1839-1908)
- He who would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. – Thomas Paine, philosopher and writer (1737-1809)
- Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence. – Robert Frost, American poet (1874-1963)
- The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over its government. – Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President (1882-1945)
- If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. – Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
- A straight line is the shortest in morals as in mathematics. – Maria Edgeworth, English novelist (1767-1849)
- The tax which will be paid for the purpose of education is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance. – Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826)
- The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order. – Alfred North Whitehead, English philosopher and mathematician (1861-1947)
- Understanding is often a prelude to forgiveness, but they are not the same, and we often forgive what we cannot understand (seeing nothing else to do) and understand what we cannot pardon. – Mary McCarthy, American author (1912-1989)
- A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against its government. – Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (1927-1989)
- Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young. – Henry Ford, American industrialist (1863-1947)
- America is a land where a citizen will cross the ocean to fight for democracy – and won’t cross the street to vote in a national election. – Bill Vaughan, American journalist (1915-1977)
- Music was invented to confirm human loneliness. – Lawrence Durrell, novelist and poet (1912-1990)
Death comes equally to us all, and makes us all equal when it comes. – John Donne, poet (1573-1631)
