Favourite Quotes

[Enchilada]

I have lots of quotes that I have been collecting for years, and often relish in there deep-held wisdom and wicked humour. Although some of my favourites are sometimes quite twisted (like the blogger starting this post), I'm very interested to hear of other favourites (or hidden philosophies) that "Icers" might have here.

To start the ball rolling, so to speak, one of my very favourite is from the 19th Century English author Walter Bagehot, who said;

"A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do." :)

...and one by H. G. Wells that I have held most of my life...

"If you fell down yesterday, stand up today." :)

Any other good ones? :help:

[Kevnool]

It's better to keep your mouth shut and give the impression that you're stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.

Theres one cheers Kev.

[Bobj]

Rather complicated but...
He who knows and knows that he knows, is a leader, follow him.
He who knows and knows not that he knows, is a student, teach him.
He who knows not and knows that he knows not, is a man, befriend him.
He who knows not and knows not that he knows not, is a fool, ignore him.

And another...
Bread is the staff of life...That does not mean that the life of the staff is one big loaf.;)
Cheers, Bobj.

[dpastern]

One of my favourites:

Another one:



another one



Dave

[Sharnbrook]

3 come to mind.

"One Nuclear Bomb can spoil your whole day"

Seen on a condom vending machine, "Buy Me, and Stop One"

and the last of the 3, which is particularly true in life is
"People do what you INSPECT, not what you EXPECT"

[Starkler]

Ephesians 5:18
"Do not get drunk on wine, but be filled with the spirit"

;)

[astroron]

"Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you, but you do it first":):):)

[Starkler]

Or in the immortal words of Benny Hill, " Do onto others,.... then run!" :lol:

[Ric]

"I've got to start acting more sensible..............Tomorrow."

Snoopy


Cheers

[Baddad]

Hi All, :)

Do unto others before they do unto you.:D
-------------------------------------------

I'm a non-comformist like everyone else. :lol:

Cheers Marty

[M54]

"The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice."

Mahatma Ghandi.

[M54]

I really need to take notice of that one!:doh::P

[TrevorW]

Dilligaf

[stephenb]

"I reject your reality and substitute my own." - Adam Savage, Mythbusters

"There are only two things I can't stand in this world: People who are intolerant of other peoples' cultures, and the Dutch." - Michael Caine - Goldmember

Weasling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals... except the weasle." - Homer Simpson

[sheeny]

This one my Mother gave to me when I was 15 on a poster:

"Either lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way!"

She obviously knew me!:P

A friend who had previously been through a divorce gave me this advice when I was suffering through mine:

"It's only money".

"Money is one value system. There are others more important". That's one of mine.:whistle:

"Everything starts somewhere, although some physicists disagree." - Terry Pratchett.

"Then take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder and sieve it through the finest sieve and then show me one atom of justice, one molecule of mercy. And yet you act as if there is some ideal order in the world, as if there is some... some rightness in the universe by which it may be judged." - Death, The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.

There's heaps of good ones that have come out of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams.:thumbsup:

Al.

[jjjnettie]

If you can't be good, be good at it. :evil: :P:lol:

[mozzie]

brickies make the best layers:shrug::lol:
mozzie

[Wavytone]

That's actually a misquote of a very famous line from General Patton " Lead Me, Follow Me Or Get Out Of My Way".

[Glenhuon]

One of my favourites.
"Don't try to make it idiot proof, someone will always breed a better idiot" :)

Bill

[dpastern]

hahaha

Dave

[PeterM]

At last years Qld Astro fest.

" When I die, I hope my wife doesn't sell my astronomy gear for anything near what I told her I paid for it"

Or one from the Qld astro societies astroquizz.

" You buy a new telescope for $5,000..... Question, how much do you tell your spouse you paid for it"

There is something in that for all of us......

PeterM.

[chrisp9au]

Mind in gear before mouth in motion!

Cheers :thumbsup:
Chris

[AussieSky]

Millenium Bug - Bah! Thats nothing! Just wait for the year 65,535

[circumpolar]

So many quotes to choose from.
This is one that seems to enter my mind at most parties.

"There's no end to the sillyness that people will believe in"

Steven Novella (SGU)

[gman]

Quote 1 - Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out.
- Not sure who

Quote 2 - Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
- Albert Einstein

Quote 3 - Do, or do not. There is no 'try'.
- Yoda (The Empire Strikes Back)

[astronut]

Harry Callahan "GO AHEAD, MAKE MY DAY":lol:

[Robh]

Love this one ...

Never underestimate your own ignorance. Albert Einstein.

[taxman]

"Most politicians have brains like sparrow's nests - All sh*t and sticks"

Paul Keating

[Enchilada]

"Argue your limitations, and sure enough they're yours."

Richard Bach's book "Illusions"

[jjjnettie]

Measure twice, cut once.

[astroron]

I measure heaps of times,and still come up short:sadeyes:

[big-blue]

Voltaire is a rich source of worthwhile qotes on almost any subject : eg :

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.

etc !

[lacad01]

Not a famous quote but something which stuck with me, an ex-boss (American) as a word of advice said,
"Just one 'oh crap!!' can cancel a thousand 'atta boys'" ;)

The language he used for the former phrase was somewhat stronger :)

[dugnsuz]

Particularly relevant to my astrophotography attempts...

"You can't polish a turd!"

[Ric]

I can't remember where I read this one or who said it.

"The best things in life are either illegal, immoral or fattening"

Cheers

[Robh]

Two more ...

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go. T.S. Eliot.

And in respect of that view-
"A man's got to know his limitations", Harry Callahan (in Magnum Force).

Regards, Rob

[Allan_L]

This is so true, I find myself using it regularly....


"....many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view"

- Obi Wan Kenobi Return of the Jedi

[Hagar]

"About as much use as a hip pocket in a singlett"

Describes a lot of the astro gear I have bought over the years.

[Miaplacidus]

Something a propos the GFC...

Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to the bankruptcy of banks, which will be nationalised and the State will have to take the road, which eventually lead to communism.
— Karl Marx

I think we are now applying Homer Simpson economics. Homer famously noted that "beer is the cause of, and solution to, all life's problems." Australia now seems to believe that over-spending, easy policy, and borrowing is the cause of, and solution to, all our problems.
— Gerard Minack

[sheeny]

I don't doubt it.;)

Another of my favourites from Confucius, I believe, goes something like:

"It is better to live 1 year as tiger than 50 years as a lamb".

Al.

[Octane]

Something which is endearing to me is the following quote (no idea where it's from, but, someone said it to me once when my family was going through a very difficult period):

"The fruit of perseverance is sweet."

Regards,
Humayun

[kinetic]

A few from the late Dr Fred Hollows,
a beautiful man, rough diamond, and a bloke never afraid to tell it like it was:

"I have been lucky in that I've been alive at times when the things that I wanted to do were capable of being done."

"When I've seen an opportunity I haven't sat down and called a committee meeting, we've gone and done it."

"I believe the basic attribute of mankind is to look after one another"

Steve

[stephenb]

"People who want to be political leaders are the least qualified to do it. The people who really are qualified won't mess with it. So we always get second best."

- translated from Tao.



Love it!

[PCH]

Einstein or Newton - seems uncertain which ...

"If I have seen further than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants"

Very humble.

[Screwdriverone]

This is my take on JJJ's one; (often said when saying goodbye to someone)

1) Be good! but if you can't be good.... be anonymous!

Also, someone here on IIS has, or used to, have this on their signature;

2) "Before you criticise someone, walk a mile in their shoes, if you still want to criticise them, feel free, because now, you are a mile away and have their shoes!"

3) When you assume, you make an ASS out of U and ME

4) If someone doesnt take NO for an answer, I made this one up for them; " You can't spell REFUSE without F U !"

5) "Painting on canvas is creative, STUPIDITY is an artform"

That's all for now....

Cheers :D

Chris

[TrevorW]

"I see dumb people and they don't even know they are dumb"

[Jen]

Inside me is a skinny woman screaming to get out "I usually shut her up with chocolate" :D:P
;)

[norm]

"Good, fast, cheap.....pick 2" :lol:

[Hagar]

I just thought of another one while posting a reply to another post.

"If brains were dynamite he couldn't blow his nose."

Very fitting.

[Jen]

My favourite one which is soooooo true is......
What goes around comes around :thumbsup:
And paybacks are a B**TCH :lol::lol:
:D

[chrisp9au]

I hesitate to mention this one, but it came from my wife so it must be ok?

Denise was a nurse for the last 20 years, retiring early last year.
Being married to a nurse is ok, but it has it's negative aspects, as I found out early in her nursing career.

'Sympathy?', 'You want sympathy?' 'You'll find it in the dictionary between s**t and syph*lis'

I found it a bit hard to argue with that!

She's that sort of lady, no nonsense, straight to the point.
Which means I have direction in life...

'Go to work, earn money, bring it home', every bl**dy day!

Cheers :thumbsup:
Chris

[NeilW]

"I intend to live forever - so far, so good." - Steven Wright

[styleman333]

A friend is a person that will always bail u out of jail , a true friend is in jail with u saying " Hell what a ride ! When we gonna do that again ! ?"


:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl ::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rof l::rofl:




"Behind it all is surely an idea so simple, so beautiful, that when we grasp it – in a decade, a century, or a millennium – we will all say to each other, how could it have been otherwise? How could we have been so stupid for so long?" John Archibald Wheeler

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Kevnool]

Another Confucius for ya Al...
Man who seduces girl on the hillside,definatelly not on the level.

[Octane]

lol, Neil, anything by Steven Wright is just plain genius.

[Enchilada]

"You can't be a synchronised swimmer, if you can't swim"

Encha (2009)

[Enchilada]

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world,
the Master calls a butterfly."

Richard Bach "Illusions"

[Enchilada]

"You can't be a ballet dancer, if you have weak toes!"
Encha (2009)

[lacad01]

Not sure if this is a Wright one but...
"Everyone has a photographic memory, some just don't have film" :lol:

[Gargoyle_Steve]

"I've told you a million times - do not exaggerate!"
(Ric from The Young Ones)

"It's better to be half safe and half sorry"
(Moe Howard, the 3 Stooges)

"If something is fool-proof, that only means it's been proven by fools"

"As a rule, I don't like to make generalisations"

"You might have been born in a barn, but that doesn't make you Jesus"

"You can't have everything - where would you keep it all?"

[Enchilada]

The really obvious one was the one I should have thought of in the beginning...

"Don't quote me" :rofl:

[Arman]

One of the best quotes is the Armageddon speech!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCJeR0UebR8 :lol:

Such a great movie!

[AlexN]

1 - "Nothing exists but atoms and empty space. Everything else is opinion."
Titus Lucretius Carus 99-55 B.C.

2 - "I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road."
Stephen Hawking

3 - “To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.”
Stephen Hawking

4 - “Not only does God play dice, but... he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.”
Stephen Hawking

5 - "Life is short, the art is long, opportunity fleeting, experiment dangerous, judgment difficult."
Hippocrates

6 - "Only the dead have seen the end of war."
Plato

7 - "As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent."
Socrates

8 - "Nothing is more active than thought, for it travels over the universe, and nothing is stronger than necessity for all must submit to it."
Thales


I am a big fan of Stephen Hawking and Greek philosophy....

[AlexN]

Oh.. and this one...

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
Robert J. Hanlon

Known as Hanlon's Razor

[dalemadison]

If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes

[astroron]

I feel terrible quoting this one:(
"Life is like a bowl of cherries":sadeyes: