NationStates Jolt Archive

We all use famous quote.

My favourite one is:

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein

What's yours?

Mine is: "What's your favourite quote?"

"Jesus Christ we've had this topic a few fucking times" - Joseph Brereton, aka Yootopia.

"Jesus Christ we've had this topic a few fucking times" - Joseph Brereton, aka Yootopia.

I am wondering how many "Israel-Palestine" topics we had as well. And what about "Bush is evil" or "The global warning" or...

Maybe everything is already said and done. Close the joint.

I am wondering how many "Israel-Palestine" topics we had as well. And what about "Bush is evil" or "The global warning" or...

Maybe everything is already said and done. Close the joint.
Expect Voltaire quotes about quotes being stupid by people thinking they're incredibly smart, Churchill quotes about democracy (both ways) and possibly some Sun-Tzu and a dash of Jefferson et al.

Expect Voltaire quotes about quotes being stupid by people thinking they're incredibly smart, Churchill quotes about democracy (both ways) and possibly some Sun-Tzu and a dash of Jefferson et al.

I knew a guy who wrote all quotes in a little book. He tried to memorize them and was using them all the time. He would have looked smart, only he often combined and messed up quotes. Hihi :)

Well, I like « and », but just plain “ and ” will work for me too. ‘ and ’ I find a bit too simple.

"Rule No. 1: You do not talk about Fight Club." -Brad Pitt in Fight Club

"You see, according to Cocteau's plan I'm the enemy, 'cause I like to think; I like to read. I'm into freedom of speech and freedom of choice. I'm the kind of guy likes to sit in a greasy spoon and wonder - "Gee, should I have the T-bone steak or the jumbo rack of barbecued ribs with the side order of gravy fries?" I WANT high cholesterol. I wanna eat bacon and butter and BUCKETS of cheese, okay? I want to smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in the non-smoking section. I want to run through the streets naked with green Jell-o all over my body reading Playboy magazine. Why? Because I suddenly might feel the need to, okay, pal? I've SEEN the future. Do you know what it is? It's a 47-year-old virgin sitting around in his beige pajamas, drinking a banana-broccoli shake, singing "I'm an Oscar Meyer Wiener"." -Denis Leary in Demolition Man

"You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down — up to a man's age-old dream; the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order — or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course." - Ronald Reagan

"Bachelors know all about parties. In fact, a good bachelor is a living, breathing party all by himself. At least that is what my girlfriend said when she found the gin bottles under the couch. I believe her exact words were, "You're a disgusting, drunken mess." And that's a good description of a party, if it's done right."

"The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it. " -P.J. O'Rourke

If you don't believe drugs have done good things for us, then go home and burn all your records, all your tapes, and all your CDs because every one of those artists who have made brilliant music and enhanced your lives? RrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrEAL fucking high on drugs.

Wouldn't you like to see a positive LSD story on the news? To hear what it's all about, perhaps? Wouldn't that be interesting? Just for once?
"Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration — that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There's no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we're the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather."

Oh, there are far too many MP quotes to choose from....

Can't remember the exact quote but Lenin said something along these lines

“If the Germans staged a revolution at the train station, they would buy tickets for the platform first"

"Everything that Is and Was will cease to Be."

-Old Irish Proverb

"One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name."
Walter Scott

In other words, do something.

It's just gota be the last words of General John Sedgwick.

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."

It's just gota be the last words of General John Sedgwick.

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."

Just before a mini ball caught him dead center in the forehead, whats the chances right?


One I like: "If you think you can, or you think you can't, you do." or something like it <.< - Henry Ford

Just before a mini ball caught him dead center in the forehead, whats the chances right?


One I like: "If you think you can, or you think you can't, you do." or something like it <.< - Henry Ford

One of my all time faves, comes from my dad, who told me after yet another fight I managed to get myself into.

'Son if they are bigger than you, there is no shame in picking up half a brick' - My Dad.

One of my all time faves, comes from my dad, who told me after yet another fight I managed to get myself into.

'Son if they are bigger than you, there is no shame in picking up half a brick' - My Dad.

My brother, who is now in the Army's. Favorite quote is something I told him in High School "Chipmunks are not very good abstract thinkers."

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." - Edith Wharton

I know that Israel is apparently evil or something like that these days, but this exchange between Golda Meir and Henry Kissinger during the Yom-Kippur War has always amused me:

HK: "How can anyone ever know where a line is or was in the desert?"
GM: "They'll know, all right."

Mr. Kissinger found out that Israel had encircled the Egyptian Third Army shortly after that little exchange. ;)

That said, Captain Mal's "I can't know that!" from Serenity is always worth a laugh. And "LEEROY JENKINS!"

Hanlon's (or Heinlein's) Razor:
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Favored quotes are why I have a signature.

I am wondering how many "Israel-Palestine" topics we had as well. And what about "Bush is evil" or "The global warning" or...

Maybe everything is already said and done. Close the joint.
When I was much younger, I remember reading an editorial in the newspaper where the writer said that it is useless to continue to create fiction after Shakespeare, because no one has ever, nor can they ever, top him. You know what? That guy was probably right, but fuck him with a rusty knife anyway. It isn't as if anyone else is contributing something that we haven't seen before, either. Nobody goes up to to a farmer and says, "Hey man, what gives? This piece of bacon is very similar to the last piece of bacon I ate. Let's see some original bacon, right? Maybe make it out of rusty wire next time."

"I'm one hell of a guy, and I can do anything I want with my life. I just haven't the faintest idea what it is I want to do." -- Zaphod Beeblebrox

"No body ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American people." P. T. Barnum

I've always liked [insert hitchhiker's guide quote here], as well as [insert monty python quote here] and [insert some other humourous quote here]. And you can't forget [insert more serious classic quote here], that's a classic.

Don't find fault, find a remedy; anybody can complain. - Henry Ford

"Fuck Soccer Moms" -George Carlin

A scientist must be absolutely like a child. If he sees a thing, he must say that he sees it, whether it was what he thought he was going to see or not. See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting. -- Wonko the Sane

My favourite quote was from a price comparison site for insurance. No, not really. On that point, what's up with there being five million different sites to compare prices? Do you think I can become a massive internet zillionare if I create a site that compares price comparison sites? :p

"The Moving Finger writes: and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

Simply because everyone seems to be quoting Douglas Adams - my favorite Adams quote is not from the Hitchhiker books, or even the Dirk Gently books, but rather from his one, absolutely wonderful nonfiction book.

"What makes you wonder about the nature of this god character is that he creates something that is so perfectly designed to be of benefit to human beings [as the coconut] and then hangs it twenty feet above their heads on a tree with no branches."

"I reject your reality and substitute my own!" ~Adam Savage from Mythbusters

I enjoy quoting Einstien because nobody dares disagree with him. Things like:

"Screw you, Dr Pepper is definatly the best kind of cola! And you know it's true coz I'm mutafucking Einstein, bitches" ~ Albert Einstien (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955).

Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means a whale's vagina...100 Yards from a taco shop and a bar

"Well, the thing about a black hole - its main distinguishing feature - is it's black. And the thing about space, the colour of space, your basic space colour - is it's black. So how are you supposed to see them?" - i believe that comes from Red Dwarf but feel free to correct me

my favourite deep and meaningful quote would be "If music be the food of love-play on" - william shakespeare

"They can either fear us, or they can love us. In the long run, it is better to be feared than loved." - Can't remember the exact wording or who said it, but that is one of 'em. Another one is from Star Wars:
Han Solo: [getting nervous] Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh... everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?

"They can either fear us, or they can love us. In the long run, it is better to be feared than loved." - Can't remember the exact wording or who said it, but that is one of 'em.

"It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both." -- Machiavelli

One of my favorites lately:

"Nothing is more arrogant than the weakness which feels itself supported by power." -- Napoleon.

Surely Napoleon must have had the current administation in mind . . . .

"It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both." -- Machiavelli

One of my favorites lately:

"Nothing is more arrogant than the weakness which feels itself supported by power." -- Napoleon.

Surely Napoleon must have had the current administation in mind . . . .

Thanks for that.

"Go forth and set the world on fire." - St. Ignatius Loyola

"It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both." -- Machiavelli

One of my favorites lately:

"Nothing is more arrogant than the weakness which feels itself supported by power." -- Napoleon.

Surely Napoleon must have had the current administation in mind . . . .

Clearly Napoleon was thinking of an administration 200 years in the future in a different country when he said that. You couldn't fail more as a troll if you tried.

Here's a few:

"Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often." - Mark Twain

"Don't join the book burners. Don't think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man." - Thomas Paine

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"

Patrick Henry

From fiction: "I am not one to crouch passively with my hind-quarters raised, awaiting either the kick or the caress of destiny! I am Cugel! Fearless and indomitable, I confront every adversity!" -Jack Vance

From political science: "Politics has no relation to morals." -Niccolò Machiavelli

From philosophy: "Death is the wish of some, the relief of many, and the end of all." -Seneca

Lyrics:
"Since I still appreciate you,
Let's find love while we may.
Because I know I'll hate you
When you are old and grey."

-Tom Lehrer.

History: "History is a set of lies agreed upon." -Napoléon Bonaparte.

"Better to Reign in Hell then Serve in Heav'n."
-John Milton

"I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it. "
-Niccolo Machiavelli


"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."
-Hannibal Lecter

"It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both." -- Machiavelli


Awesome. You post this and probably think that this quote is justification for your politicians and your beliefs, yet you forget the entire bit about how you should avoid at all costs being hated, which is what your actions have caused your politicians to be.

Dont quote Machiavelli when you clearly dont understand him NM.

"If you're good at anticipating the human mind. It leaves nothing to chance." ~John Kramer the original Jigsaw

Just before a mini ball caught him dead center in the forehead, whats the chances right?


One I like: "If you think you can, or you think you can't, you do." or something like it <.< - Henry Ford

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right"

Awesome. You post this and probably think that this quote is justification for your politicians and your beliefs, yet you forget the entire bit about how you should avoid at all costs being hated, which is what your actions have caused your politicians to be.

Dont quote Machiavelli when you clearly dont understand him NM.

:rolleyes:

I think you need to go back and read the post he was replying to with that.


Anyways, one of mine :

"We have nothing to fear but fear itself"-FDR

"Better to Reign in Hell then Serve in Heav'n."
-John Milton

"I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it. "
-Niccolo Machiavelli

When in hell are you going to run for office, KoL?

When in hell are you going to run for office, KoL?

Being only 21 and not being a mulit-millionaire does put a damper on that goal;)

Being only 21 and not being a mulit-millionaire does put a damper on that goal;)

Start young: Campaign for your local congressmen and get the Democratic Party's attention. You might be the one to stop Bristol Palin; think of the glory!

Start young: Campaign for your local congressmen and get the Democratic Party's attention.

Ive done my fair share of campaign volunteering.


You might be the one to stop Bristol Palin; think of the glory!

*loses himself in thoughts of his own greatness*

Ive done my fair share of campaign volunteering.

That is certainly something; but if you manage to get some side campaign going involving speaking for a candidate, with your community watching, I guarantee you will draw attention. I am not even sure politics interests you as a profession, but it seems you me that you have an excellent understanding of the political "mindset", and what power is and how it must be used and not used.


*loses himself in thoughts of his own greatness*

*builds wall in front of Rubicon*

*builds wall in front of Rubicon*

Good reference.

* With the first link the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably. - quoting Aaron Satie in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Drumhead"

* Villains who twirl their mustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well camouflaged, waiting for the right climate in which to flourish, spreading fear in the name of righteousness.'Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Drumhead"

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right"

Yes that's it thank you.

"I’d like to share a revelation that I’ve had, during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you aren’t actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with its surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply, and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague, and we... are the cure." - Agent Smith

When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, the call me a Communist. -- Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara


I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God that has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use. –- Galileo Galilei

An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind. -- Mahatma Ghandi

If you disappoint him by being yourself, he can go fuck himself with a porcupine. ~Ifreann

As for movie/song/famous person quotes, there are loads. Someday I want to have a conversation entirely in movie and song quotes.

I always meld this quote:
"She's a witch! Burn her!"
"I'm not a witch, I'm your wife! And after what you've just said, I'm not even sure I want to be that anymore!"

I can basically quote Princess Bride backwards and forwards.

On Love:
Worse?! Worse than the total agony of being in love? ~Love Actually
Let's go get the shit kicked out of us by love! ~ Love Actually
Death cannot stop true love. What it can do is delay it for a while. ~Princess Bride
Wesley and I are joined by the bound of love, and you cannot break that, not with a thousand swords. And you cannot track it, not with a thousand bloodhounds. ~Princess Bride
Cuz they're dicks. That's what's the matter with the men ~Little Sister

On Greatness:
Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness [I]thrust upon them. ~Shakespeare

On Friendship and the Human Condition:
Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee. ~ John Donne
[Me:They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But they forget that you need sugar to make lemonade. I guess you have to depend on the happy times, the good friends, to really do it.] Bestie: I'll be your sugary friend

On History and Politics:
If this were a boobocracy, Dubsy would be president ~Bumboat
I support post birth abortions! ~Dorm mate
[While playing Halo, in baby-talk voice] Lets go on a killing spree, schnuckums! ~Goose

We all use famous quote.
My favourite one is:
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
What's yours?

More or less the same, but in Latin and quite older.

"Entia non sunt multiplicanda prae necessitatem." (I think it's Ockham).

More or less, it means: New items/concepts aren't to be introduced unless it's necessary.

Yes, that's Occam's Razor. Probably the most important addition to the scentific method since the Ancient Greeks.

"The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey."

Awesome. You post this and probably think that this quote is justification for your politicians and your beliefs, yet you forget the entire bit about how you should avoid at all costs being hated, which is what your actions have caused your politicians to be.

Dont quote Machiavelli when you clearly dont understand him NM.

Little boy, the next time I need your commentary on Machiavelli I'll give it to you.

And those who "hated" my "politicians" are now receiving what they dished out for the last eight years. Deal with it.

Yes, that's Occam's Razor. Probably the most important addition to the scentific method since the Ancient Greeks.

Occam's Razor is regularly false, though.

Little boy, the next time I need your commentary on Machiavelli I'll give it to you.

You should be reading Barry Goldwater.

And those who "hated" my "politicians" are now receiving what they dished out for the last eight years.

Reagan and Bush together made 3/4 of this country's debt. Both Reagan and Bush looked to "God" for guidance...that is certainly not Machiavellian. And Reagan thought long hours were bad--where do you find these bumpkins?

Deal with it.

How childish.

It's just gota be the last words of General John Sedgwick.

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."
No, no, no, Sedgwick's last words were "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist"

Little boy, the next time I need your commentary on Machiavelli I'll give it to you.

lulz. Responding like you have a stick up your ass doesnt make you any less wrong. But it does amuse me.


And those who "hated" my "politicians" are now receiving what they dished out for the last eight years.

Except we did it with logical arguements and facts. Not batshit theories and cries of "FORT SUMTER!"

Deal with it.

I deal with it by laughing at you.

Reagan and Bush together made 3/4 of this country's debt. Both Reagan and Bush looked to "God" for guidance...that is certainly not Machiavellian. And Reagan thought long hours were bad--where do you find these bumpkins?

What the Hell does that have to do with the text you quoted?

What the Hell does that have to do with the text you quoted?

Simple: There are things that are considered stupid by the reasonable many, conservatives and liberals. Their actions went against common sense. But the arguments used against Obama just speak of where he was born, whether he is really a Christian, or other points that merely appeal the the far right.

Let's not derail this thread into a laundry list of the political failings of the last 20 years eh?

I know that Israel is apparently evil or something like that these days, but this exchange between Golda Meir and Henry Kissinger during the Yom-Kippur War has always amused me:
Supposedly true story: Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Golda Meir, and Abba Eban break for lunch. Eban makes a ham-and-cheese sandwich, saying "I can never get it at home."
Nixon says to Meir, "Hell, my foreign minister's a better Jew than yours!"
Meir replies, "Yes, but mine speaks better English."

Awesome. You post this and probably think that this quote is justification for your politicians and your beliefs, yet you forget the entire bit about how you should avoid at all costs being hated, which is what your actions have caused your politicians to be.

Dont quote Machiavelli when you clearly dont understand him NM.

It is fucking tedious no? He seems to have become the stock quotation for the bastard seeking justification for his own bastardness.

"There is no normal life, Wyatt. There's just life." - Doc Holliday Tombstone

Look at all the stars. You look up and you think, "God made all this and He remembered to make a little speck like me." It's kind of flattering, really. - Morgan Earp Tombstone

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

-C.S. Lewis

"Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum"

-Vegetius

And since someone brought up Machiavelli, this: "There is no knowledge that is not also power" although that could be Emerson too, I'm not sure.

"This is Life and years of this will pass, for this is what is meant to be: shut the doors, shut the doors, shut the doors..."

Anne Rice, "Cry to Heaven"

It is fucking tedious no? He seems to have become the stock quotation for the bastard seeking justification for his own bastardness.

The Prince is not about "justification" any more than On the Origin of the Species is. However, Machiavelli's The Discourses actually do speak of a political propriety, and they do not condone purely evil behavior.

When will the majority learn the difference between science and philosophy?

"How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live."
- Henry David Thoreau

"The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for"

Moreover, the walls of my castle are broken;the shadows are many,
And the wind breathes cold through the broken battlements and casements.
I love the shade and the shadow, and would be alone with my thoughts when I may.

"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies on the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"-Mario Savio

Before us the thick dark current runs. It talks up to us in a murmur become ceaseless and myriad, the yellow surface dimpled monstrously into fading swirls travelling along the surface for an instant, silent, impermanent and profoundly significant, as though just beneath the surface something huge and alive waked for a moment of lazy alertness out of and into light slumber again."

--William Faulkner, "As I Lay Dying"

"Of course those standing before the tide with nowhere to run will say to it in despair, 'To rise would be stupid! Let us not quarrel, oh sea!' But the sea has no need of bargains, nor want for peace."

We and the world, my children,will always be at war.
Retreat is impossible. Arm yourselves.

Awesome. You post this and probably think that this quote is justification for your politicians and your beliefs, yet you forget the entire bit about how you should avoid at all costs being hated, which is what your actions have caused your politicians to be.

Dont quote Machiavelli when you clearly dont understand him NM.

Actually, he was just helping me. That was one my favorite quotes and I couldn't remember the wording. >.<

Hitler has some good ones about people who support politicians. One of Charlie Manson's is hilarious. He starts asking "Do you people ask you..." then he just goes off talking gibberish

From the first Pirates of the Carribean:

"So what now Jack Sparrow? We're to be two immortals locked in an epic battle until Judgement Day and trumpets sound, hmm?"- Captain Barbossa

"Or you could surrender."- Captain Jack.

That one really captured the dynamic of the relationship between these two characters: the flamboyant and grandiose Barbossa, always being undercut by the quirky but arguably smarter Jack. Those two are such excellent foils for each other.


"The future is not set. Their is no fate but what we make ourselves."- John Connor, Terminator.


Also, almost everything the Joker said in The Dark Knight.;)


And a real life one, though I may not be quoting it perfectly.

"All civilizations become either spacefaring or extinct." I think that was Carl Sagan, though I'm not sure.

"It's not wasting money, it's creating memories." - My friend after smoking a blunt,

my sig

Yes, that's Occam's Razor. Probably the most important addition to the scentific method since the Ancient Greeks.

Also I like to quote excerpts of Galileo's Il saggiatore (The Essayer, I think).

Galileo and Ockham are the pillars of modern thought.

My two favourite quotes are rather large:

Become accustomed to the idea that death is nothing to us. For all good and evil consists in sensation, but death is deprivation of sensation. And therefore a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not because it adds to it an infinite span of time, but because it takes away the craving for immortality. For there is nothing terrible in life for the man who has truly comprehended that there is nothing terrible in not living. Death does not then concern either the living or the dead, since for the former it is not, and the latter are no more.
Epicurus

A cultivated mind, I do not mean that of a philosopher, but any mind to which the fountains of knowledge have been opened, and which has been taught, in any tolerable degree, to exercise its faculties, finds sources of inexhaustible interest in all that surrounds it; in the objects of nature, the achievements of art, the imaginations of poetry, the incidents of history, the ways of mankind, past and present, and their prospects in the future. It is possible, indeed, to become indifferent to all this, and that too without having exhausted a thousandth part of it; but only when one has had from the beginning no moral or human interest in these things, and has sought in them only the gratification of curiosity.
John Stuart Mill


But also, you've got to give props to Omar Little:

All in the game yo, all in the game.

This one made me laugh:

Ann Coulter - “I refer to him as B. Hussein Obama. He’s half white and half black, half Christian and half Muslim and half atheist. Something there for every Democrat.”