What's your favorite quote of all time and why?

Churchill and Dorothy Parker have some greats. If you want Latin (doing these off the top of my head, so apologies for typos):

Omnia Extrares - "Let it all hang out." The motto of Evergreen State College
Nemo me lacessit impune - "No one attacks me with impunity." The Black Watch

and my clan's, the MacKinnons, motto:

Audentes fortuna juvat - "Fortune favors the daring."

My favorite is this amazingly prescient quote from Robert E. Lee, before the Civil War. If you really analyze the words, you can tell he already knows the South will lose - he refers to "our country". He accurately predicted the way the war would turn out and predicted it would end slavery (the "national sins" he is referring to). The man thought (knew) all this, and out of duty to his state still resigned his commission in the US Army and later took up arms against it. Just an amazing quote.

"They do not know what they say. If it came to a conflict of arms, the war will last at least four years. Northern politicians will not appreciate the determination and pluck of the South, and Southern politicians do not appreciate the numbers, resources, and patient perseverance of the North. Both sides forget that we are all Americans. I foresee that our country will pass through a terrible ordeal, a necessary expiation, perhaps, for our national sins."

"No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."--James Madison "Life springs from death; and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations. The Defenders of this Realm have worked well in secret and in the open. They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but, the fools, the fools, the fools! "” They have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace."--Padraig Mac Piarais I guess this isn't a quote, but...Dylan Thomas reading his "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." So powerful.

People say I'm crazy; but, I have a good time.

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven."

"I didn't study; I live. You can't study these things - life teaches them to you. You don't find them in a book... I've read a lot of Socrates on page three of the Sun."
Eric Cantona


"Only it takes time to be happy. A lot of time. Happiness, too, is a long patience. And in almost every case, we use up our lives making money, when we should be using our money to gain time."

Albert Camus, A Happy Death

Finally a poem which I read recently and has really stuck with me:

"I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store.
For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.
I worked for a menial's hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid."

"The kingdom of God cometh not with outward show; neither shall they say, lo here! or, lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you." -- jesus of nazareth

Ye weep, unhappy ones; but these are not your last tears! Again shall you raise the funeral wail, and the sound of your lamentations shall again and again be heard!
-Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Eerie, but it does make me happy. Everybody dies; it’s only a matter of time – whenever you’re feeling down, there will come a time in the future when you will be happy again. And even later you will be sad again. Having this knowledge makes life more bearable.

Originally Posted by FLMountainMan

Click to expand...

Audentes fortuna juvat - "Fortune favors the daring."


I might be wrong, but I always thought that this was, "Fortuna audaces juvat."
However, it's a couple of decades since I thought about much Latin, and thus my memory could be faulty.

As an interesting aside, I first read that particularly Latin phrase in an Asterix comic when I was about eight years old, along with "Alea jacta est."
Just goes to show that some comics can be educational! Regrettably, my history teacher did not share that view...

Originally Posted by FLMountainMan

Click to expand...

Churchill and Dorothy Parker have some greats. If you want Latin (doing these off the top of my head, so apologies for typos):

Omnia Extrares - "Let it all hang out." The motto of Evergreen State College
Nemo me lacessit impune - "No one attacks me with impunity." The Black Watch

and my clan's, the MacKinnons, motto:

Audentes fortuna juvat - "Fortune favors the daring."

My favorite is this amazingly prescient quote from Robert E. Lee, before the Civil War. If you really analyze the words, you can tell he already knows the South will lose - he refers to "our country". He accurately predicted the way the war would turn out and predicted it would end slavery (the "national sins" he is referring to). The man thought (knew) all this, and out of duty to his state still resigned his commission in the US Army and later took up arms against it. Just an amazing quote.

"They do not know what they say. If it came to a conflict of arms, the war will last at least four years. Northern politicians will not appreciate the determination and pluck of the South, and Southern politicians do not appreciate the numbers, resources, and patient perseverance of the North. Both sides forget that we are all Americans. I foresee that our country will pass through a terrible ordeal, a necessary expiation, perhaps, for our national sins."

excellent quote for REL

Originally Posted by Journeyman

Click to expand...

I might be wrong, but I always thought that this was, "Fortuna audaces juvat."
However, it's a couple of decades since I thought about much Latin, and thus my memory could be faulty.

As an interesting aside, I first read that particularly Latin phrase in an Asterix comic when I was about eight years old, along with "Alea jacta est."
Just goes to show that some comics can be educational! Regrettably, my history teacher did not share that view...

That's actually the one I'm sure of. I've seen it translated as "Fortune Favors the Brave" and "Fortune Assists the Daring", but it's always "Audentes Fortuna Juvat". It's on my favorite pair of cufflinks.

they are just showed in my signature

Cliche as all get out: "Get busy livin', or get busy dyin." - Shawshank Redemption

Originally Posted by Laffertron

Click to expand...

"Only it takes time to be happy. A lot of time. Happiness, too, is a long patience. And in almost every case, we use up our lives making money, when we should be using our money to gain time."

Albert Camus, A Happy Death



How nice of you to quote my sig...

I'm in a strange mood today, so these two seem apt:

"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know." - Hemingway.

"The heart's memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good." - Garcia-Marquez

My personal fave
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. " - Hilary Cooper