Favorite Quotes

Wise, humorous, meaningful, or otherwise striking quotes I love


  1. “To Philosophise is to learn how to die” – Montaigne (quoting Cicero who was referencing Phaedo) 
  2. “Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things” – Epictetus 
  3. “To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection” – H. Poincaire, la science et l’Hypothese 
  4. “There are things that are so serious that you can only joke about them.” – [Either W. Heisenberg or N. Bohr]
  5. “A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.” – Max Planck
  6. “What may be good at Philadelphia may be bad at Paris and ridiculous at [St.] Petersburgh.” – Alexander Hamilton 
  7. “You have sent a letter to me through the hand of a “friend” of yours, as you call him. And in your very next sentence you warn me not to discuss with him all the matters that concern you, saying that even you yourself are not accustomed to do this; in other words, you have in the same letter affirmed and denied that he is your friend.” – Seneca 
  8. “He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies, real or imaginary.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
  9. “If you want people to do something, make it easy.” -Richard Thaler, Nobel Economist  
  10. “There are only two ways of telling the complete truth ― anonymously and posthumously.” ― Thomas Sowell
  11. “Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them to be better or put up with them. – Marcus Aurelius 
  12. “All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us” – J.R.R. Tolkien
  13. “Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.” – Victor Frankl
  14. He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. – Nietzsche (it is impossible to remain unaffected by one’s doings and surroundings).
  15. “What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” – Werner Heisenberg 
  16. “One person cannot move the heavens. You just need to make it look that way” – Scarlet Heart Ryeo  
  17. ”When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent.” — Isaac Asimov
  18. “Mingle a little folly with your wisdom; a little nonsense now and then is pleasant.” – Horace
  19. “You may explode in rage, but men will still go on doing what they have always done” – Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome
  20. “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” – Epicurus
  21. “Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame.” -Uncle Iroh
  22. “Don’t fear moving slowly. Fear standing still.” – Chinese Proverb
  23. It’s simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and say the opposite. – Sam Levenson
  24. “At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.” – Salvador Dali
  25. I am not ill. But do not worry, one day, I will certainly die. – Charles de Gaulle 
  26. Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going. – Sam Levenson
  27. “I write this not for the many, but for you; each of us is enough of an audience for the other.” – (By Epicurus, written to one of the partners of his studies, narrated by Seneca in his Letters)
  28. There is a class of men who communicate, to anyone whom they meet, matters which should be revealed to friends alone, and unload upon the chance listener whatever irks them. Others, again, fear to confide in their closest intimates; and if it were possible, they would not trust even themselves, burying their secrets deep in their hearts. But we should do neither. It is equally faulty to trust everyone and to trust no one. Yet the former fault is, I should say, the more ingenuous, the latter the more safe. In like manner you should rebuke these two kinds of men, – both those who always lack repose, and those who are always in repose. For love of bustle is not industry, – it is only the restlessness of a hunted mind. And true repose does not consist in condemning all motion as merely vexation; that kind of repose is slackness and inertia. “Therefore, you should note the following saying, taken from my reading in Pomponius: “Some men shrink into dark corners, to such a degree that they see darkly by day.” No, men should combine these tendencies, and he who reposes should act and he who acts should take repose. Discuss the problem with Nature; she will tell you that she has created both day and night – Seneca (Letters to a Stoic)
  29. “The way of heaven is to take from what has in excess to make good what is deficient” – Legend of Futian (lol, diffusion??)
  30. Abu Huraira reported from the Prophet (SAW): “the strong man is not one who wrestles well. the strong man is one who controls himself when he is in a fit of rage.” – (Sahih Muslim 6313)
  31. “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”  – Carl Jung
  32. “A man has tact when he shows neither his impatience nor his patience.” – Howard W. Newton