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"Add another quote, and make it a gallon"-Captain Spaulding (aka Groucho Marx)

Just pondering, what quotes,sayings, words of wisdom, pearls of great price, inspire you? We all know words can hurt, can degrade, cause damage. But what does it for you, the ones you hold dear, go back to, apply to you reason for continuing this quest we call life? They can be funny, (as Groucho in above header), goosebump causing, non-sequitor, cause you to well up each time you hear them, yes even derogatory, self effacing, whatever. But what I'm really looking for is that spark from that quote, that saying, that feeling that you can't describe. One of mine is from the comic strip 'Pogo' wherein he says " We has met the enemy, and he is us". I know this has been said by others in different ways, but this basically distills it down for me. From Gandi, "Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it". I like that. Anyway, any qoute, saying from any source even( gasp, the horror)religious. Remember, any source. Oh and don't forget the source of some of the greatest sayings of all, anonymous, or as I like to say "common sense from the common people". Thanks.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jason Fleming on March 30, 2012 at 4:08pm

I know its kinda cliche at this point, but Christopher Hitchens' "That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence." is one that immediately comes to mind.

And "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything" -Alexander Hamilton. This one was always recited by pastors in multiple churches I attended. Little do they know, we stand for something.

Permalink Reply by Tony Carroll on March 30, 2012 at 4:55pm

Hey Jason. Nothing is ever cliche when it speaks to you and you connect, but I get the drift. It's the ideas, that which illuminate us, make us strive for the better, something to live up to. Peace, my friend.

Permalink Reply by The Flying Atheist on March 30, 2012 at 4:56pm

Almost thirty years ago when I was in college I came across a quote from George Bernard Shaw that struck a nerve in me and still does to this day:

"The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity."

For me, this ideology has always been one of the pillars at the core of who I am as a person. And this was long before I ever identified as or even heard the words "secular humanist."

Permalink Reply by Tony Carroll on March 30, 2012 at 5:01pm

Now that is one I never heard, but will go into my repetoire. Thank you for that, I can fully relate to it. Great quote.

Permalink Reply by sk8eycat on April 25, 2012 at 2:39pm

My favorite Shaw quote is:

"The worst thing you can say about a person is that they mean well."

Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on March 30, 2012 at 5:04pm

There are probably 10,000 quotes from da Hitch that I could mention, but one which I thought was especially notable is the following:

I want to live my life taking the risk all the time that I don't know anything like enough yet.
-- Christopher Hitchens

He said that while staring down the barrel of a death sentence, and he said it without blinking. The man had a thirst for knowledge utterly matched by his cojones. He kicked ass and took names, no quarter taken, none given.

Permalink Reply by Tony Carroll on March 30, 2012 at 5:20pm

Yeah, Loren. No holds barred, grab life and run with it. Squeeze every drop from it. Never quit learning. I can seed why this one is yours. Wonderful, my friend.

Permalink Reply by sk8eycat on March 30, 2012 at 7:20pm

We are all staring down the barrel of a death sentence from the "moment" (actually, it takes longer than that) a particular sperm penetrates a waiting ovum and begins the dance of the chromosomes. Nobody gets out of this universe alive.

But, to lighten the journey a little...

There are so many wonderful Heinlein/Lazarus Long quotes, that it would take a book to hold them... Oh. Yes. well...

See The Notebooks of Lazarus Long by Robert A. Heinlein (Or get a copy of Time Enough for Love, and settle in for a good long read! Heh! Let the puns begin!)

Samples:

One man’s “magic” is another man’s engineering. “Supernatural” is a null word.
-Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love

Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.-Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love

I’ve never understood how God could expect His creatures to pick the one true religion by faith—it strikes me as a sloppy way to run a universe.-Jubal Harshaw, Stranger in a Strange Land

History does not record anywhere a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help.-Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love

Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other “sins” are invented nonsense.
-Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love

AND:

The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history.-Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love

A few more here: http://jpetrie.myweb.uga.edu/Heinlein.html

Permalink Reply by Tony Carroll on March 30, 2012 at 7:40pm

Heinlein. Great stuff. Was one of the people that opened my eyes when I was younger, and made me start to really think, and not just regurtitate the pablum I was being fed. Thanks, sk8eycat.

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on April 17, 2012 at 7:57pm

These are all great, thanks. Reading Heinlein probably influenced me toward atheism.

Permalink Reply by sk8eycat on April 25, 2012 at 2:49pm

I know RAH influenced me. I didn't "discover" SF until I was in my early 20s, and I could kick myself for not reading his juveniles when I was much younger, but I was totally obsessed with skating, dance, and showbiz till I "retired" when I was 21.

I wrote Mr. Heinlein a fan letter once, never expecting a reply, and I nearly passed out when I received a personal answer from him (instead of a form letter), giving me their actual home address, and an invitation to call and stop by if I was ever in Santa Cruz. I was in touch with Mrs. Heinlein from then until about 6 months before she died. We mostly discussed our cats and exchanged photos of them.

I felt incredibly privileged.... (I almost wrote "blessed"! Heh!)

Permalink Reply by Roy on March 30, 2012 at 6:23pm