English Quotes

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it... anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be.

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

The greatest men, you can quote for everything.

The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the other the restraints of legality and the authority of tradition.

Save for the wild force of Nature, nothing moves in this world that is not Greek in its origin.

History provides neither compensation for suffering nor penalties for wrong.

Far from being the product of a democratic revolution and of an opposition to English institutions, the constitution of the United States was the result of a powerful reaction against democracy, and in favor of the traditions of the mother country.

By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be protected in doing what he believes is his duty against the influence of authority and majorities, custom and opinion.

By a series of violent shocks, the nations in succession have struggled to shake off the Past, to reverse the action of Time and the verdict of success, and to rescue the world from the reign of the dead.

The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.

If the past has been an obstacle and a burden, knowledge of the past is the safest and the surest emancipation.

Liberty is the prevention of control by others.

Liberty is the condition of duty, the guardian of conscience. It grows as conscience grows. The domains of both grow together. Liberty is safety from all hindrances, even sin. So that Liberty ends by being Free Will.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The biographies and autobiographies are on the whole more impressive than the fiction of the last two decades, but the freakish best sellers among them are least likely to withstand the test of time.

So often is the virgin sheet of paper more real than what one has to say, and so often one regrets having marred it.