Isaac Newton II

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.

I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.

I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies but not the madness of people.

Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.

Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy.

What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean.

Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who sets the planets in motion.

Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.

This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.

A man may imagine things that are false, but he can only understand things that are true.

Jules Verne II

We are of opinion that instead of letting books grow moldy behind an iron grating, far from the vulgar gaze, it is better to let them wear out by being read.

Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.

Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.

The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides. The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the Living Infinite.

We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones.

Reality provides us with facts so romantic that imagination itself could add nothing to them.

If there were no thunder, men would have little fear of lightning.

The chance which now seems lost may present itself at the last moment.

It is a great misfortune to be alone, my friends; and it must be believed that solitude can quickly destroy reason.

While there is life there is hope. I beg to assert...that as long as a man's heart beats, as long as a man's flesh quivers, I do not allow that a being gifted with thought and will can allow himself to despair.

Stephen Fry

Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.

If you know someone who’s depressed, please resolve never to ask them why. Depression isn’t a straightforward response to a bad situation; depression just is, like the weather.
Try to understand the blackness, lethargy, hopelessness, and loneliness they’re going through. Be there for them when they come through the other side. It’s hard to be a friend to someone who’s depressed, but it is one of the kindest, noblest, and best things you will ever do.

You are who you are when nobody's watching.

An original idea. That can't be too hard. The library must be full of them.

It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so fucking what.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself and you will be happy.

The short answer to that is 'no.' The long answer is 'fuck no.'

Albert Einstein II

Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.

If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.

The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.

It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.

Creativity is intelligence having fun.

Black holes are where God divided by zero.

Everything must be made as simple as possible. But not simpler.

What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.

The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.

Charlotte Bronte II

I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.

I would always rather be happy than dignified.

Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.

I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.

The trouble is not that I am single and likely to stay single, but that I am lonely and likely to stay lonely.

I do not think, sir, you have any right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience.

Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste.

If all the world hated you and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved of you and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.

I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.

George Meredith

A witty woman is a treasure; a witty beauty is a power.

I expect that Woman will be the last thing civilized by Man.

Kissing don't last: cookery do!

We never know what’s in us till we stand by ourselves.

Cynicism is intellectual dandyism

Perfect simplicity is unconsciously audacious.

Sherman Alexie

He loved her, of course, but better than that, he chose her, day after day. Choice: that was the thing.

If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing.

Life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community.

I grabbed my book and opened it up. I wanted to smell it. Heck, I wanted to kiss it. Yes, kiss it. That's right, I am a book kisser. Maybe that's kind of perverted or maybe it's just romantic and highly intelligent.

I used to think the world was broken down by tribes,' I said. 'By Black and White. By Indian and White. But I know this isn't true. The world is only broken into two tribes: the people who are assholes and the people who are not.

I think all of us are always five years old in the presence and absence of our parents.

If you're good at it, and you love it, and it helps you navigate the river of the world, then it can't be wrong.

Do you understand how amazing it is to hear that from an adult? Do you know how amazing it is to hear that from anybody? It's one of the simplest sentences in the world, just four words, but they're the four hugest words in the world when they're put together.

Ernst F. Schumacher

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

Wisdom demands a new orientation of science and technology toward the organic, the gentle, the elegant and beautiful.

An attitude to life which seeks fulfilment in the single-minded pursuit of wealth - in short, materialism - does not fit into this world, because it contains within itself no limiting principle, while the environment in which it is placed is strictly limited.

An ounce of practice is generally worth more than a ton of theory.

Anything that we can destroy but are unable to make is, in a sense sacred, and all our 'explanations' of it do not really explain anything.

Education can help us only if it produces "whole men." The truly educated man is not a man who knows a bit of everything, not even the man who knows all the details of all subjects (if such a thing were possible): the "whole man," in fact, may have very little detailed knowledge of facts & theories...but he will be truly in touch with the centre. He will not be in doubt about his basic convictions, about his view on the meaning and purpose of his life. He may not be able to explain these matters in words, but the conduct of his life will show a certain sureness of touch which stems from his inner clarity.

Stefan Zweig

Time to leave now, get out of this room, go somewhere, anywhere; sharpen this feeling of happiness and freedom, stretch your limbs, fill your eyes, be awake, wider awake, vividly awake in every sense and every pore.

Nothing whets the intelligence more than a passionate suspicion, nothing develops all the faculties of an immature mind more than a trail running away into the dark.

The strength of a love is always misjudged if we evaluate it by its immediate cause and not the stress that went before it, the dark and hollow space full of disappointment and loneliness that precedes all the great events in the heart's history.

Only the person who has experienced light and darkness, war and peace, rise and fall, only that person has truly experienced life.

No guilt is forgotten so long as the conscience still knows of it.

How terrible this darkness was, how bewildering, and yet mysteriously beautiful!

Janet Fitch

Loneliness is the human condition. Cultivate it. The way it tunnels into you allows your soul room to grow. Never expect to outgrow loneliness. Never hope to find people who will understand you, someone to fill that space. An intelligent, sensitive person is the exception, the very great exception. If you expect to find people who will understand you, you will grow murderous with disappointment. The best you'll ever do is to understand yourself, know what it is that you want, and not let the cattle stand in your way.

Always learn poems by heart. They have to become the marrow in your bones. Like fluoride in the water, they'll make your soul impervious to the world's soft decay.

Remember it all, every insult, every tear. Tattoo it on the inside of your mind. In life, knowledge of poisons is essential. I've told you, nobody becomes an artist unless they have to.”

She would be half a planet away, floating in a turquoise sea, dancing by moonlight to flamenco guitar.

In a perverse way, I was glad for the stitches, glad it would show, that there would be scars. What was the point in just being hurt on the inside? It should bloody well show.

The phoenix must burn to emerge.

You've got to let go of who you were, to become who you will be.