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

A few of my favorite quotes:

"The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter." -- Winston Churchill

"When hungry, eat your rice; when tired, close your eyes. Fools may laugh at me, but wise men will know what I mean." -- Linji

"Our country's founders cherished liberty, not democracy. " -- Ron Paul

Originally Posted by globetrotter

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"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

From Asimov's Foundation Trilogy (which then bloated to 5 books or more) -- Salvor Hardin's favourite saying, if I am not mistaken.

Originally Posted by GoSurface

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There's this Nelson Mandela quote (that's really corny) that I like that I can't seem to find.

You mean this often-misattributed Marianne Williamson?

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

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Originally Posted by matadorpoeta

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"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

This is from the Gospel of Thomas, and was most certainly not spoken by Jesus.

'quoting religion inspired quotes seem kind of shallow to me, at least on an intellectual level.

Originally Posted by IUtoSLU

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This is from the Gospel of Thomas, and was most certainly not spoken by Jesus.

When life hands you a couple bowls of ****, you have to decide which one to eat - Alois P. Buchheit

Not a fan of scatological quotes either. Eww.

Originally Posted by Brad

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When life hands you a couple bowls of ****, you have to decide which one to eat - Alois P. Buchheit

My motto in Latin:

Nescio neque curo!

No matter how small the part in the play,
You can always be great in the part.

[Short, succinct & sweet & sums up all.]

Originally Posted by Coho

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'quoting religion inspired quotes seem kind of shallow to me, at least on an intellectual level.

Almost nobody is gnostic anymore. I saw the original post as a subversive attack on religion. The study of religion has been a big part of my formal education and I respect accuracy and honesty.

Originally Posted by IUtoSLU

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Almost nobody is gnostic anymore. I saw the original post as a subversive attack on religion. The study of religion has been a big part of my formal education and I respect accuracy and honesty.

1. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy and peace.
- (Galatians 5:22)

2. And be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another.
- (Ephesians 4:32)

3. Who refreshes others will be refreshed.
- (Proverbs 11:25)

4. Wisdom is a fountain of life to him who has it.
- (Proverbs 16:22)

5. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
- (Acts 20:35)

6. Now abide, faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
- (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Habetis bona deum, IUtoSLU.

Oderint dum metuant

(Let them hate me as long as they fear me)

-- Caïus Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, aka Caligula

Originally Posted by X-It

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1. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy and peace.
- (Galatians 5:22)

2. And be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another.
- (Ephesians 4:32)

3. Who refreshes others will be refreshed.
- (Proverbs 11:25)

4. Wisdom is a fountain of life to him who has it.
- (Proverbs 16:22)

5. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
- (Acts 20:35)

6. Now abide, faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
- (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Habetis bona deum, IUtoSLU.

My reason for pointing out that current scholarship believes those words were not actually spoken by Jesus is to set the record straight. If the OP would have left the quote without denotating who originally "said" it, then I would have left it alone. I was blunt. But for that, I will not apologize.


One of my favorite quotes:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
-Theodore Roosevelt


And:

“We need very strong ears to hear ourselves judged frankly, and because there are few who can endure frank criticism without being stung by it, those who venture to criticize us perform a remarkable act of friendship, for to undertake to wound or offe”
- Michel de Montaigne

From Camus' The Stranger:
Nothing, nothing mattered, and I knew why. So did he. Throughout the whole absurd life I'd lived, a dark wind had been rising toward me from somewhere deep in my future, across years that were still to come, and as it passed, this wind leveled whatever was offered to me at the time, in years no more real than the ones I was living.


From James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist:
-- When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets.

and

-- I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use "” silence, exile and cunning.


Really the 5th chapter is a goldmine for this stuff.

In most of his philosophical writings, including short stories and novels, Camus has great mastery over imageries evoked by the written words rather than the written words themselves. For example, in the stranger, I don't recall all the specific quotes except for the short one at the opening of the novel remarking his mother's death. However, the two scenes while the main protagonist is in prison, one about the son who came back as a made-man only to be murdered by his shocked family and the other about re-living life through the brief memory of having been in a certain place by tracing the walls, had never left my mind and soul. Those scenes and imageries elaborated his points beyond clever short quotes and I think they compliment his style to that of Schopenhauer, another one of my favorite philosophical writers.

Originally Posted by Dedalus

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From Camus' The Stranger: Nothing, nothing mattered, and I knew why. So did he. Throughout the whole absurd life I’d lived, a dark wind had been rising toward me from somewhere deep in my future, across years that were still to come, and as it passed, this wind leveled whatever was offered to me at the time, in years no more real than the ones I was living.