Cynical realism is the intelligent man's best excuse for doing nothing in an intolerable situation.

Fate does not invite ugly boring people to save the world; and if you try to save the world (without being beautiful, strong, clever, or wise), you will soon die pointlessly and how much adventure is there in that?

James Alan Gardner

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Anton Chekhov

Only two classes of books are of universal appeal. The very best and the very worst.

Ford Madox Ford

Part of my job is to train people to break down an involved question into a series of simple matters. Then we can all act intelligently

Richard Deupree

I shall not change my course because those who assume to be better than I desire it.

Victoria Woodhull

Yeah, my drum programming especially is based on my knowledge of playing a drum kit. For the bass too, definitely. It was the first thing that I translated any sort of ideas through. It must have shaped it somehow.

Tom Jenkinson

Old as I am, for ladies' love unfit, The power of beauty I remember yet.

John Dryden

The point is that descriptive writing is very rarely entirely accurate and during the reign of Olaf Quimby II as Patrician of Ankh-Morpork some legislation was passed in a determined attempt to put a stop to this sort of thing and introduce some honesty to reporting.Thus, if a legend told of a notable hero that all men spoke of his prowess any bard who valued his life would hastily add except for a couple of people in his home village who thought he was a loony, and quite a lot of other people who had never really heard of him. Poetic simile was strictly limited to statements like: His mighty steed was fast as the wind, on a fairly calm day, say about Force Three, any loose talk about a beloved having a face that could launch a thousand ships would have to be backed by evidence that the object of desire did indeed own a very large seaport. Patrician Olaf II was eventually killed during an experiment conducted in the palace grounds to prove the disputed accuracy of the proverb The Pen is mightier than the Sword.In his memory it was decided that the proverb would from now on include the phrase: only if the Sword is very small and the Pen very sharp.

Terry Pratchett

Truly great madness can not be achieved without significant intelligence.

Henrik Tikkanen

Unless Americans come to realize that they are not stronger in the world because they have the bomb but weaker because of their vulnerability to atomic attack, they are not likely to conduct their policy at Lake Success [the United Nations] or in the

Albert Einstein

Youth gets together with their materials to build a bridge to the moon or maybe a palace on earth; then in middle age they decide to build a woodshed with them instead.

Henry David Thoreau

To inherit property is not to be born -- it is to be still-born, rather.

Henry David Thoreau