A collection of quotes that I’ve gathered since the mid-1990s…
Only borrow money to pay for things that increase in value— Seth Godin
No epoch contains the yardstick of all things— Ernst Toller
One has no choice about what one writes about— Gustave Flaubert
Intellectualization is a defense mechanism of great power— Alice Miller
Everyone hears only what he understands— Goethe
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy— H.L. Mencken
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it— Aristotle
The true believer is in a high degree protected against the danger of certain neurotic afflictions; by accepting the universal neurosis he is spared the task of forming a personal neurosis— Freud
Technology is the knack of so arranging the world that we do not have to experience it— Max Frisch
The whole of the truth lies in the presentation; therefore the expression should be studied in the interest of veracity. This is the only morality of art apart from subject— Joseph Conrad
Wine is sunlight held together with water— Galileo
Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment, and especially on their children, than the unlived lives of the parents— Carl Jung
Every great movement must experience three stages: ridicule, discussion, adoption— John Stuart Mill
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant. Success in Circuit lies— Emily Dickinson
There is more to life than meditating on the strangeness of man— Jean-Luc Godard
If a person never contradicts himself, it must be that he says nothing— Miguel de Unamuno
May you live your life as if the maxim of your actions were to become universal law— Kant
You belong to the class you feel you belong to— Marx
Comedy is long shot, tragedy close-up— Jean-Luc Godard
Comedy occurs when people are reduced to their mechanical essence— Henri Bergson
In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty— Emerson
The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts— Locke
Character is fate— Heraclitus
Make it as good as you can, then cut ten minutes— Fred Astaire
Before going out take off the last thing you put on— Coco Chanel
He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money— Franklin
There is no great beauty that hath not some strangeness to the proportion— Blake
Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves, but deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth— Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is no better start for thinking than laughter— Walter Benjamin
Every concept of God is empty chatter. But the idea of divinity is the idea of all ideas— Friedrich Schlegel
In great matters men show themselves as they wish to be seen; in small matters, as they are— Gamaliel Bradford
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education— Albert Einstein
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear— Ambrose Redmoon
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes— Marcel Proust
Complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable to give possesses you— Andre Gide
Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm— Winston Churchill
What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence— Samuel Johnson
The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take— C. Northcote Parkinson
A candour affected is a dagger concealed— Marcus Aurelius
Though men may hinder you from following the paths of reason, they can never succeed in deflecting you from sound action; but make sure that they are equally unsuccesful in destroying your charitable feelings towards them— Marcus Aurelius
Many of the anxieties that harras you are superfluous; being but creatures of your own fancy, you can rid yourself of them— Marcus Aurelius
A man does not sin by commission only, but often by omission— Marcus Aurelius
In any predicament, give all your attention to turning the event itself to some good account— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Because a thing is difficult for you do not suppose it to be beyond mortal power— Marcus Aurelius
Habitual recurrance to harmony will increase your mastery of it— Marcus Aurelius
To refrain from imitation is the best revenge— Marcus Aurelius
Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts— Marcus Aurelius
Never become unduly absorbed in things that are not of the first importance— Marcus Aurelius
Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears— Marcus Aurelius
Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul— Marcus Aurelius
Take no enterprise in hand at haphazard, or without regard to the principles governing its proper execution— Marcus Aurelius
Practise, even when success looks hopeless— Marcus Aurelius
Guard against the folly of those who weary their day in much business, but lack any aim on which their whole effort, nay, their whole thought is focussed— Marcus Aurelius
Man is a god when he dreams, a beggar when he thinks— Holderlin
It is incredible that a man should fear the most beautiful; yet it is so— Holderlin
Even the most sublime nothingness gives birth to nothingness— Holderlin
I know well that he who lightly quarrels with the world is reconciled with it even more quietly— Holderlin
Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember it didn’t work for the rabbit— R.E. Shay
A man’s manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait— Goethe
If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us— Hermann Hesse
I don’t know why we are here, but I’m pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves— Wittgenstein
Look at the inmost causes of things, stripped of their husks; note the intentions that underlie actions; study the essences of pain, pleasure, death, glory. Observe how man’s disquiet is all of his own making— Marcus Aurelius
A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions— Marcus Aurelius
The state has always been made a hell by man’s wanting to make it his heaven— Holderlin
Power is money, pasteurized— Alan Clarke, Paraphrased
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.— Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
The challenge isn’t just to tell the truth: it’s to tell truth that resonates.— Seth Godin
Our defects usually spring, for the most part, from the same sources as our good points— Longinus
Stately speech comes naturally to the proudest spirits— Longinus
Sublimity is the echo of a great soul— Longinus
The memory of errors remains indelible, while that of excellences quickly dies away— Longinus
Failures are stepping-stones.— Elli Stassinopoulos
One goal of education is to teach people to want the rewards life has to offer, but another goal is to teach them a modest degree of contempt for those rewards, too.— Louis Menand
Wear the old coat and buy the new book.— Austin Phelps
If the people lead, the leaders will follow.— Mahatma Ghandi
Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.— A N Whitehead
if you’re true to yourself then originality happens by default— David Mitchell
The mind that has no fixed aim loses itself— Montaigne
It pleases me as much to doubt as to know— Dante
If the universe was found to be finite or infinite, either discovery would be equally stupefying and impenetrable to me— Christopher Hitchens
A sadist is a person who is kind to a masochist— Arthur Koestler
Patriotism is, fundamentally, a conviction that a particular country is the best in the world because you were born in it— GB Shaw
Knowledge consists of knowing that a tomato is a fruit, and wisdom consists of not putting it in a fruit salad.— Miles Kington
The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts.— Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
Talent is the desire to practice— Malcolm Gladwell
The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think.— E. Schlossberg
Wonder is the desire for knowledge— Aquinas
To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong— Joseph Pearce
Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance— Samuel Johnson
The most patriotic thing a creative artist can do is challenge people to see their country as it is— Aravind Adiga
There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact— Arthur Conan Doyle
He conquers who endures— Persius
Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task— William James
Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature— GB Shaw
The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious— Marcus Aurelius
Frugality is not poverty— Sunita Narain
Science is never neutral— Sunita Narain
One of the things the arts should do is slap the middle class in the face— Aravind Adiga
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it— Picasso
We have art in order not to die of the truth— Friedrich Nietzsche
The novelist’s job is to say what other people won’t say, and take the consequences— Gerard Donovan
A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than for other people— Thomas Mann
All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher— Ambrose Bierce
The things that we love tell us what we are— Aquinas
We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be— May Sarton
You have to love before you can be relentless.— Jonathan Franzen
A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.— Oscar Wilde
There’s a special kind of stupidity that only very clever people are capable of.— Ian McEwan
Each of us is a Renaissance where the world’s knowledge has to be reborn.— Sean Lysaght
Barbarism has a certain charm, particularly when it comes clothed in virtue— John Gray
The pursuit of Utopia must be replaced by an attempt to cope with reality— John Gray
The greatest danger that can befall us is that we shall allow ourselves to become like those with whom we are coping— George Kennan
It’s fun to make a noise but more rewarding to make a difference— Gyles Brandreth
The more wit the less courage— Thomas Fuller
Poor men’s reasons are not heard.— Thomas Fuller
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself— Emerson
The Amish are not Luddites, they’re hackers— Kevin Kelly
It is impossible for a man to begin to learn that which he thinks that he knows— Epictetus
All of us, grave or light, get our thoughts entangled in metaphors, and act fatally on the strength of them— George Eliot
Any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats— George Orwell
The question of whether computers can think is just like the question of whether submarines can swim— Edsger W. Dijkstra
If something becomes unimportant to people, it gets scrapped for parts; if it becomes important, it turns into a symbol and must eventually be destroyed— Danny Hillis
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away— Phillip K. Dick
The greatest enemy of writers is depression, which they can’t avoid— Leon Edel
Consciousness will ultimately remake the material world in its own image— Francis Fukuyama
Art is a lie whose secret ingredient is truth— Ian Leslie
The only genuine historical law is a law of irony— John Gray
Computers: They are useless. They can only give you answers.— Pablo Picasso
Nothing is ours except time— Seneca
The way is long if one follows precepts, but short and helpful, if one follows patterns.— Seneca
The market is not the centre of the polity— Seyla Benhabib
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect— Mark Twain