Favorite Quotes

Some Favorite Quotes

“He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things – terrible, yes, but great.” – Mr. Ollivander in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

“From now on I want to be known as ‘the Big Aristotle.’ As Aristotle said: ‘Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit. You are what you repeatedly do.’” -- Shaquille O’Neal

“I don’t think it’s fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all.” – Amy in Little Women by L. M. Alcott

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right. – Salvor Hardin in Foundation by I. Asimov

Contemplation itself is sometimes injurious to heath. – Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics1153a20

“Ever hear of Socrates? Plato? Aristotle? Morons!” – Vizzini in The Princess Bride

In practice people who study philosophy too long…become very odd birds, not to say thoroughly vicious; while even those who are the best of them are reduced by … [philosophy] to complete uselessness as members of society. – Plato, Republic (487c-d)

Philosophy never makes things easier, but only more difficult. – Heidegger, Introduction to Metaphysics, 12 (H9)

When conservatism was a movement of ideas, it attracted oddballs; now that it's a movement with power, it attracts sleazeballs. -- David Brooks, NYT 12/8/05

Creative paranoia means developing at least as thorough a We-system as a They system. – T. Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow

“‘I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir,’ said Alice, ‘because I'm not myself today you see.’ ‘I don't see,’ said the caterpillar.” – Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Every profound spirit needs a mask. – Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

“It’s not who you are underneath; it’s what you do that defines you.” – Rachel in Batman Begins

“Science is important, but so is ethics.” – President Bush, debate on 10/8/04