Favorite Quotes 19

[BJCooperIT]

Many of us here at TT have quotes in our signature lines. Some funny, some profound (like CC's) and some personal. The problem I have is that I do not have the time, or inclination, to change the quote in my signature on a regular basis. That being said, I would like to post another of my favorite quotes:

Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.
Doug Larson (1902-1981), English Racer

So true in this business. Your favorites?

[sup]Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.[/sup][sup] ~George Bernard Shaw[/sup]
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[kjv1611]

Wow! I wish I had heard the Rumsfeld quote myself! LOL

 

[AnotherHiggins]

Fee, Not to detract from the esteemable SantaMufasa, but that quote is not original. It has floated around for quite some time. I've usually heard it as, "I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent". I'm pretty sure I've heard it in a move - I'll do some googling later to see if I can find in what movie(s) it has been featured.

johnherman, I suspect that you would like Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld. Your quote, arranged as a poem, reads:

The Unknown

As we know
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know we don't know.
[tab]Feb 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing

Another gem:

Needless To Say

Needless to say,
The President is correct.
Whatever it was he said
[tab]Feb. 28, 2003, Department of Defense briefing

And the almost haiku-zen of:

Polls

Opinion polls go up and down,
They spin like weather vanes.
They're interesting, I suppose.
I don't happen to look.
[tab]Sept 8, 2002, media stakeout following CBS's Face the Nation

And now for something completely different:

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read."

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear."

[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue][/tt]
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[jebenson]

I don't know where this one comes from, but I saw it in someone's signature here on TT. This is a paraphrase:

"Experience is something you get right after you need it."


More Benjamin Franklin quotes:

"Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead."

"To follow by faith alone is to follow blindly."

"Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75."

"Life's Tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late."

"Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out."

"Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing."

I used to rock and roll every night and party every day. Then it was every other day. Now I'm lucky if I can find 30 minutes a week in which to get funky. - Homer Simpson

Arrrr, mateys! Ye needs ta be preparin' yerselves fer Talk Like a Pirate Day! Ye has a choice: talk like a pira

 

[traingamer]

Having lost sight of our goal, we must redouble our efforts! Saul Gorn

Also have heard it as

A Zealot is someone who, having lost sight of his goal, merely redoubles his efforts!

And I've had a Tshirt (for many years) that displays "I refuse to engage in a Battle of Wits with an unarmed person."

Greg
"Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught." - Winston Churchill

 

[Lunatic]

This site:

http://ornerywoman.blogspot.com/2006/08/i-refuse-to-engage-in-battle-of-wits.html

attributes the quotation to Wilde (I'm assuming Oscar Wilde)

Not positive and couldn't find anything else when I googled it. Anyone know a good Wilde quotation website?

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[AnotherHiggins]

My wife has an Oscar Wilde quotation book at home. I'll look through it later.

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[Welshbird]

Oscar Wilde:

When I was 19 I thought my father an idiot. When I reached 21 I was suprised what he had learned in 3 years.

One should try anything once. Except incest and Morris Dancing.

One should always have something sensational to read on the train.


these are from memory though, so corrections are welcome!

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[Stella740pl]

Oscar Wilde:

When I was 19 I thought my father an idiot. When I reached 21 I was suprised what he had learned in 3 years.

Fee, I've always though that it was 14/21/7 years, and Mark Twain rather then Oscar Wilde.

At least

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mark_Twain,

http://hoover.archives.gov/exhibits/Mississippi/3samuelclemens.htm,

and some other sites seem to back me up on that:

*When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.

*Alternate version: When I was sixteen, my father was the most ignorant man in the world. By the time I reached 21, I was surprised at how much he had learned in five years.

 

[Welshbird]

Oh - could well be. It was from (dodgy) memory!

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[flapeyre]

On two occasions, I have been asked {by members of Parliament}, 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.

Charles Babbage designed the "difference engine" starting in 1822.

Some things never change.

Tibi gratias agimus quod nihil fumas.

 

[Welshbird]

Flapeyre: I think my (data processing) company are trying hard to prove that fact....

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[jsteph]

Bob Dylan:
When you ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose.
--Jim

 

[lewisp]

My fave?

When I was a kid I used to pray to god for a new bike. Then I realised God doesn't work that way. So I nicked one and asked him to forgive me.

Serious one: Those who think they can't, won't. Those who think they can, try.

 

[Ladyazh]

When you ain't got nothin' AND you have nothin', you got nothin' to lose.
Because
if you have somethin' then by doing nothin' you about to lose what you have. Right?

 

[greyted]

Borrow money from pessimists - they don't expect it back.

All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand.


Haven't a clue who said these, do like them though.

Also like these two:

From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it.
Groucho Marx

"The definition of a consultant: Someone who borrows, your watch, tells you the time and then charges you for the privilege."
letter in the Times newspaper.






"There's terrific merit in having no sense of humour, no sense of irony, practically no sense of anything at all. If you're born with these so-called defects you have a very good chance of getting to the top."

Peter Cook

 

[p5wizard]

cogito cogito ergo cogito sum - Ambrose Pierce

 

[Dagon]

I'm not a big collector of quotes, but I always admired the writings of the economist JK Galbraith. I particularly his view of the "conventional wisdom" that most people hold to be true, but ultimately turns out to be wrong. Here a few quotes from him:

"The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking."

"The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable."

"You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too."

And one that may ultimately appear on George Bush's gravestone:

"If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error. "

 

[TheRambler]

There’s more old Drunkards than old Doctors"
Poor Richard’s Almanac - 1736

 

[dgillz]

"I would never belong to a club that would have me as a member".

WC Fields

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on".

Winston Churchill

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."

Thomas Jefferson



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"A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
" - unknown

 

[BoxHead]

My favs

fromPositively 4th Street

I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes.
And just for that one moment I could be you.
Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes.
You'd know what a drag it is to see you.

If God wanted us to keep our hands on the steering wheel, he wouldn't have put it so close to our knees.

The last words of some poet: "18 whiskeys - I think that's a record."

Ugly is no excuse for stupid.

Threatening: "I'll f@#$ you so hard and so many ways, you'll think you fell naked into the gorilla cage."

My daughter when she was 3 came to me crying uncontrollably to tell on her very patient older brother: "Da-a-a-d! Stewart hit me back!"

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Grab their seats.

It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt - then you know who won.

Holding the door: "Ladies first" {under breath} "In case there's danger."



John