Famous Quotations by Dave Mckay (best short books to read TXT) 📕

People talk of killing time,

but time is quietly killing them.

Dion Boucicalt (1820-1890), London Assurance (1841), act 2, scene 1

Killing time is the name

for one of many ways

that time uses to kill us.

Osbert Sitwell (1892-1969), English writer, Milordo Inglese (1958)

The clock is always slow.

It is later than you think.

Robert W. Service (1874-1958), It is Later Than You Think (1921)

27. The Young and the Old

Everybody has been young before,

but not everybody has been old before.

African proverb

Believe the one who has been through it.

Virgil (70-19 BC), Roman poet, Aeneid book 10

To know the road ahead,

ask those coming back.

Chinese Proverb

If you choose not to be made straight

when you are green,

you will not be made straight when you are dry.

African proverb

Age does not protect you from love.

But love, in a way, protects you from age.

Jeanne Moreau (1928- ), French actress, singer, writer, and director

When young, we learn.

When old, we understand.

Marie Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916), Austrian writer

The measure of life is not in its length,

but in what we do with it.

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), Essai, No. 1, line 20

As long as you live, the first twenty years will be

the longest half of your life.

Robert Southey (1774-1843), English poet, The Doctor

I'm seventeen and crazy.

My uncle says the two always go together.

Ray Bradbury (1920- ), American writer, Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

I grow old, but I do not stop learning.

Solon (c. 640-556 BC), Greek poet and statesman,

Poetae Lyrici Graeci (1843), number 18

Nobody grows old just by living a number of

years. We grow old by losing our beliefs.

Samuel Ullman (1840-1924), American businessman and poet

We all want to live long.

But no one wants to be old.

Jonathon Swift (1667-1745), Irish writer, cleric, and political campaigner,

Thoughts on Various Subjects

Being old is not so bad when you think about

what the other choice is.

Author unknown

Old age is always fifteen years older than I am.

Bernard M. Baruch (1870-1965), American financier and statesman

Forty is the old age of youth,

and fifty is the youth of old age.

Victor Hugo (1802-1885), French writer and statesman

If you live to be one hundred, you’ve got it

made. Very few people die past that age.

George Burns (1896-1996), American actor, comedian, and writer

The fountain of youth is boring as paint.

Methuselah is my most loved saint.

I’ve never been so comfortable before,

Oh I’m so glad I’m not young any more.

Alan Jay Lerner (1918-1986), American lyricist

I don’t worry about getting old. I’m old already.

Only young people worry about getting old.

George Burns (1896-1996), American actor, comedian, and writer

You know you are getting old when the candles

cost more than the cake.

Bob Hope (1903-2003), American comedian and actor

28. Family Life

What God has joined together,

let no man pull apart.

Jesus, Matthew 19:6

Yes, do marry.

If you get a good wife, you'll be happy.

If you get a bad one you'll become a philosopher.

Socrates (469-399 BC), Greek philosopher

Husbands, love your wives,

and be not bitter against them.

The Bible, Colossians 3:19

I would be married, but I’d have no wife;

I would be married to a single life.

Richard Crashaw (c. 1613-1649), English poet

Never shall I say that marriage

brings more happiness than pain.

Euripides (480 BC - 406 BC), Greek playwright

The music at a wedding always makes me think

of the music of soldiers going into battle.

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), German poet and literary critic

From Jesus we learn that the great curse of

Sodom and Gomorrah was not being homosexual.

It was buying and selling, planting and building,

and getting married.

Anonymous

All married people should learn the art of battle.

Good battle is honest, and never cruel.

Good battle is healthy and brings a feeling

of both people being equal.

Ann Landers (Epple Lederer), (1918-2002), advice columnist

Real love is having someone

who’ll go the distance with you. Someone who,

when the wedding day limo breaks down,

is willing to share a seat on the bus.

Oprah Winfrey (1954- ), talk show host, O Magazine, February 2004

The only two people who count in any marriage

are the two that are in it.

Hillary Rodham Clinton (1947- ), 67th U.S. Secretary of State

We were happily married for eight months.

But we were married for four and a half years.

Nick Faldo (1957- ), English professional golfer

Wife and Servant are the same,

But only different in the name.

Mary Chudleigh (1656-1710), English feminist writer

We men have got love well weighed up;

we can get by without it.

Women don’t seem to think that’s good enough;

They write about it.

Kingsley Amis (1922-1995), English writer and teacher

If men had to have babies,

they would only ever have one.

Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997), first wife of Prince Charles

All that women do,

they must do twice as well as men

before people will think they are half as good.

Charlotte Whitton (1896-1975), Canadian feminist & Mayor of Ottawa,

Canada Month June, 1963

If all men are born free,

how is it that all women are born slaves?

Mary Astell (1666-1731), English feminist writer

I do not want women to control men;

but to be able to control themselves.

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), English feminist writer & philosopher

A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792), chapter 4

When men are scared of a woman,

they always say that she is acting like a man.

Elizabeth Aston, English novelist, The Second Mrs. Darcy, 2007

Look like a girl, act like a woman,

think like a man, and work like a dog.

Caroline K. Simon (1900-1993), American lawyer and politician

Never marry a man who hates his mother,

because he’ll end up hating you.

Jill Bennett (1931-1990), British actress

As is the mother, so is her daughter.

The Bible, Ezekiel 16:44

Parents love their children

more than children love their parents.

Aristotle, (384-322 BC), Greek philosopher, Auctoritates Aristotelis

There is no such thing as

other people’s children.

Hillary Rodham Clinton (1947- ), 67th U.S. Secretary of State

The most interesting thing about America,

is the way the parents obey their children.

Edward VIII (1894-1972), King of England, who abdicated in 1936

God lends you your children until they’re about

eighteen years old. If you haven’t made your

points with them by then, it’s too late.

Betty Ford (1918-2011), U.S. First Lady from 1974-1977

We worry about what a child will be tomorrow,

yet we forget that he is someone today.

Stacia Tauscher, possibly 17th Century writer

It is easier to live through someone else

than to become whole yourself.

Betty Friedan (1921-2006), American writer, activist, and feminist

Children begin by loving their parents.

After a time they judge them.

They almost never forgive them.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish writer and poet

To a child, one of the clearest truths about

adults is that they have forgotten

what it was like to be a child.

Randall Jarrell (1914-1965), American writer and poet laureate

A child's life is like a piece of paper on which

every person leaves a mark.

Chinese Proverb

There are only two lasting gifts

we can give our children...

one is roots, the other wings.

Stephen Covey (1932- ), American author

A mother is not a person to lean on,

but a person to free you from the need to lean.

Dorothy Fisher (1879-1958), American author and social activist

Many inventions had their birth as toys.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983), American author

We are the people

our parents warned us about.

Jimmy Buffett (1946- ), American singer, author, and film producer

A good son makes a good husband.

American proverb

The reason grandparents and grandchildren

get along so well

is because they have the same enemy.

Sam Levenson (1911-1980), American humourist, writer, and TV host

Never have children, only grandchildren.

Gore Vidal (1925- ), American writer and political activist

Family isn’t about whose blood you have. It’s

about who you care about.

Trey Parker & Matt Stone, creators of the U.S. TV series South Park

For thirty years my mother served the family

nothing but leftovers.

The first meal has never been found.

Calvin Trillin (1935- ), American writer and humourist

My grandmother started walking

five miles a day when she was sixty.

She’s ninety-seven now, and we don’t know

where on earth she is.

Ellen DeGeneres (1958- ), American comedienne and talk show host

A man’s home is his castle.

Edward Coke, The Institutes of the Laws of England, 1628

A child who does the right thing

makes his father happy;

but a foolish son or daughter

brings sadness to her mother.

The Bible, Proverbs 10:1

The family that prays together

stays together.

Al Scalpone, motto for the Catholic Family Rosary Crusade, 1947

A prophet is not without honour, apart from

in his own country, and in his own house.

Jesus, St Matthew 13:57

29. Friends

There is a friend

that sticks closer than a brother.

The Bible, Proverbs 18:24

We can live without a brother,

but not without a friend.

A friend is one spirit

living in two bodies.

Aristophanes (c. 450-c. 385 BC), Greek comic playwright

God gives us relatives.

Thank God we can choose our friends.

Ethel Mumford (c. 1877-1940), American author

Think where happiness starts and ends,

and say

“My happiness is that I had good friends.”

W. B. Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet and playwright,

The Municipal Gallery Re-visited (1939)

Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow.

Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead.

Walk beside me and be my friend.

Albert Camus (1913-1960), French author and philosopher

One never reaches home,

but wherever friendly paths meet

the whole world looks like home for a time.

Hermann Hesse (1877-1962), German writer, painter & Nobel laureate

There are no strangers here;

Only friends you have not yet met.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet and playwright

It takes a lot of courage

to show your dreams to someone else.

Erma Bombeck (1927-1996), American humourist, author,& columnist

Open not your heart to every man.

The Bible, Ecclesiasticus 8:19

You cannot buy friends;

but you can sometimes rent them.

Anonymous

Love comes from being blind;

friends from knowledge.

Roger de Rabutin (1618-1693), French memoirist

To find a friend one must close one eye.

To keep him - two.

Norman Douglas (1868-1952), English writer

Before borrowing money from a friend,

think about which you need more.

Addison H. Hallock (biographic details unknown)

Your friend is the man who knows all about you

and still likes you.

Elbert Hubbard (1865-1915), American writer, artist, and philosopher

The best mirror is an old friend.

George Herbert (1593-1633), Welsh orator and Anglican priest

Our friends, the enemy.

Pierre-Jean de Beranger (1780-1857), French poet and song-writer

There is nothing like the razor sharp tongue of a good friend

to cut through the lies we tell ourselves.

Laura Moncur, motivational speaker, Merriton

A true friend thinks you're a good egg

even though he knows you're a little cracked.

Bernard Meltzer (1916-1998), Harvard graduate and radio show host

A friend is a present you give yourself.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), Scottish novelist and writer

If you want friends, you must first be friendly.

The Bible, Proverbs 18:24

A trouble shared is a trouble cut in half.

Early 20th century proverb

A faithful friend is the medicine of life.

The Bible, Ecclesiasticus 5:15

30. Working Together

We must learn to live together as brothers,

or perish together as fools.

Martin Luther King (1929-1968), civil rights activist, & Baptist minister

Do not protect yourself by a fence,

but rather by your friends.

Czech proverb

Throw your heart over the fence

and the rest will follow.

Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993), American minister and author

The heart that gives, gathers.

Marianne Moore (1887-1972), American poet

Two heads are better than one.

Author unknown

All for one, and one for all.

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), French writer,

The Three Musketeers (1844), chapter 9

No man is an island.

John Donne (1572-1631), English poet, lawyer, and priest

Together we stand; divided we fall.

John Dickinson (1732-1808), American lawyer and politician

Writings of John Dickinson volume 1 (1895), page 421

We are, each of us, angels with only one wing.

We can only fly by hugging one another.

Luciano de Crescenzo (1928- ),

Italian writer, actor, and engineer

When you live on a round planet,

there’s no choosing sides.

Wayne Dyer (1940- ), American self-help author and lecturer

From each as they have ability,

to each as they have need.

Karl Marx (1818-1883), German philosopher, historian, and journalist

Each affects the other

and the other affects the next,

and the world is full of stories,

but the stories are all one.

Mitch Albom, American writer and radio and TV broadcaster,

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

When evil people come together,

good people must come together too,

or they will fall one by one.

Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Irish stateman and philosopher

Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770), page 71

My life belongs to the whole community,

and as long as I live,

I will be happy to do for it whatever I can.

I want to be all used up when I die,

for the harder I work, the more I live.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright

No cruel leader need fear

until men begin to feel confident in each other.

Aristotle (384-322 BC), Greek philosopher, student of Plato

The dwarf sees farther than the giant,

when he has the giant’s shoulder to mount on.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), English poet and philosopher

It is not for one to pride himself for loving his own country,

but rather for loving the whole world.

The earth is but one country.

Baha’u’llah (1817-1892), Persian founder of the Baha'i Faith

31. Political Life

Ask not what your country can do for you;

ask what you can do for your country.

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th U.S. President,

Inaugural address, 20 January, 1961, Vital Speeches 1 February, 1961

The whole country is not in flames;

there are people in the country besides

politicians, entertainers, and criminals.

Charles Kuralt (1937-1997), American journalist

I don’t want to cover myself in the flag,

because I’m afraid I’ll get burned.

Warren Burger (1907-1995), 15th Chief Justice of the United States

The power to tax brings the power to destroy.

John Marshall (1755-1835), former Chief Justice of the U.S.

The reason there are so few female politicians

is that it is too much trouble

to put makeup on two faces.

Maureen Murphy (1952-2008), American politician

Like Caesar’s wife, all things to all men.

A newly-elected mayor, saying that he would be fair to all.

When I gave food to the poor,

they called me a saint.

When I asked why the poor were hungry,

they called me a communist.

Helder Camara (1909-1999), Roman Catholic Archbishop

I am just one thing only, and that is a clown.

It puts me far above any politician.

Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977), English comic actor, composer, director

One who does not vote

has no right to complain.

Louis L’Amour (1908-1988), American author

If presidents wouldn’t do it to their wives,

then why would they do it to their countrymen?

Arthur Tugman (1938- ), American author of books on success

Who will guard the guards?

Juvenal (55-127 AD), Roman poet and satirist

When the President says something on Monday,

he still believes it on Wednesday--

no matter what happened on Tuesday.

Stephen Colbert (1964- ), American actor, writer, and TV host,

speech at White House correspondents' dinner, April 30, 2006

32. War and Peace

These politicians are all about

sending people to war,

but they don’t know what it’s all about,

having bombs go off, hearing bullets fly by.

They have no idea what that’s like.

Antonio Molina, returned soldier

We Americans, we’re a simple people...

but make us angry, and we’ll bomb your cities.

Robin Williams (1951- ), American actor and comedian

Choose the right weapon for the job.

You cannot change people’s hearts with guns.

Author unknown

Strength lies not in defense but in attack.

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), German dictator

There is no honour in battle

worth the blood it costs.

Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969), arny general & 34th U.S. President

Force is not an answer.

John Bright (1811-1889), The Times 17 November, 1880

What can wars give us

but more wars?

John Milton (1608-1674), English poet and civil servant

On the Lord General Fairfax at the Siege of Colchester (1648)

In war there are no winners.

All are losers.

Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940),