quotes on understanding

Reconsider, v. To seek a justification for a decision already made. ~Ambrose Bierce


Taxation, for example, is eternally lively; it concerns nine-tenths of us more directly than either smallpox or golf, and has just as much drama in it; moreover, it has been mellowed and made gay by as many gaudy, preposterous theories. ~H.L. Mencken


The only way to read a book of aphorisms without being bored is to open it at random and, having found something that interests you, close the book and meditate. ~Prince de Ligne


Insomnia is a gross feeder. It will nourish itself on any kind of thinking, including thinking about not thinking. ~Clifton Fadiman


We acquire the strength we have overcome. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


Dreams, and predictions of astrology.... ought to serve but for winter talk by the fireside. ~Francis Bacon, "Of Prophecies"


Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars... and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers - for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are. ~Osho


With what price we pay for the glory of motherhood. ~Isadora Duncan


The test of democracy is freedom of criticism. ~David Ben-Gurion


The finest thing in the world is knowing how to belong to oneself. ~Michel de Montaigne, Of Solitude


I believe that one of the great problems for us as individuals is the depression and the tension resulting from existence in a world which is increasingly less pleasing to the eye. ~Lady Bird Johnson


Vision without action is a daydream. Action with without vision is a nightmare. ~Japanese Proverb


His heart was as great as the world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men. ~Joseph Conrad


The heart is the only broken instrument that works. ~T.E. Kalem


You can cage the singer but not the song. ~Harry Belafonte


Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open. ~John Barrymore


When you go into court you are putting your fate into the hands of twelve people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty. ~Norm Crosby


In my age, as in my youth, night brings me many a deep remorse. I realize that from the cradle up I have been like the rest of the race - never quite sane in the night. ~Mark Twain


A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad. ~Theodore Roosevelt