Quotes, Quotations and Sayings

Grown men do not need leaders.

Lord Bacon told Sir Edward Coke when he was boasting, The less you speak of your greatness, the more shall I think of it.

Honi soit qui mal y pense. [Evil to him who evil thinks.];"Motto of the Order of the Garter (est. Edward III)

The proper question is not, 'How can people motivate others?' but rather, 'How can people create the conditions within which others will motivate themselves?' Edward Deci

Humor is by far the most significant activity of the human brain. Edward De Bono

Shareholders should be happy, ... Lloyds is not overpaying and for Abbey it's a reasonable exit price.

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

If my decomposing carcass helps nourish the roots of a juniper tree or the wings of a vulture - that is immortality enough for me. And as much as anyone deserves.

A group touring Westminster Abbey in London heard the guide list the famous people buried within its walls. During a momentary silence a little old lady's voice blurted out loud and clear, ''Anybody been saved here lately?''

No sovereign, no court, no personal loyalty, no aristocracy, no church, no clergy, no army, no diplomatic service, no country gentlemen, no palaces, no castles, nor manors, nor old country-houses, nor parsonages, nor thatched cottages nor ivied ruins; no cathedrals, nor abbeys, nor little Norman churches; no great Universities nor public schools -- no Oxford, nor Eton, nor Harrow; no literature, no novels, no museums, no pictures, no political society, no sporting class -- no Epsom nor Ascot! Some such list as that might be drawn up of the absent things in American life.

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.

Society is like a stew. If you don't stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.

Belief in God? An afterlife? I believe in rock: this apodictic rock beneath my feet.

Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination.

There is a certain satifaction in living a life in complete and total failure.

Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others.

I have written much about many good places. But the best places of all, I have never mentioned.

Good writing can be defined as having something to say and saying it well. When one has nothing to say, one should remain silent. Silence is always beautiful at such times.

What is the purpose of the giant sequoia tree? The purpose of the giant sequoia tree is to provide shade for the tiny titmouse.

Alaska is our biggest, buggiest, boggiest state. Texas remains our largest unfrozen state. But mountainous Utah, if ironed out flat, would take up more space on a map than either.

Civilization is a youth with a Molotov cocktail in his hand. Culture is the Soviet tank or L.A. cop that guns him down.

America My Country: last nation on earth to abolish human slavery; first of all nations to drop the nuclear bomb on our fellow human beings.

In order to write a book, it is necessary to sit down (or stand up) and write. Therein lies the difficulty.

My notion of a great novel is something like a five-hundred-page shaggy-dog story, with only the punch line omitted.

Edwards missed getting Stearns at third base by an eyeball.

No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.

One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.

If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police, the military, the hired servants of our rulers. Only the government --and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws.

The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders.

No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.

Hierarchical institutions are like giant bulldozers-- obedient to the whim of any fool who takes the controls.

Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion.

The only thing worse than a knee-jerk liberal is a knee-pad conservative.