"action causes more trouble than thought"? Sorry - that was Capt. Obvious who first came up with that, not Jenny Holzer.
Edit/addition: "don't put to [sic] much trust in experts"? Seriously?
Hate to tell you, euler (sorry - I earlier wrote "pi" - knowing better but still did it), but that list is pretty bogus. Some truth there, sure, but maybe not all that much, relatively speaking.
Fail better next time
-- Samuel Beckett (inspired by)
It's a tough universe. There's all sorts of people and things trying to do you, kill you, rip you off, everything.
Ford Prefect
Two of my alltime favourites are:
Iiotio = It isn't over, 'til it's over.
And.
Iiwii = It is what it is!
Frank Zappa - "Governments are the PR departments of the military-industrial complex."
"No matter how I struggle and strive I'll never get out of this world alive." - Hank Williams.
The Jack Handey quote on here about dying peacefully in my sleep like grandpa, not screaming and crying like the passengers in his car, has always been an all time fave. Props to the comedic genius who remembered it to post it.
Have never seen the H.G. Wells quote abt moral indignation being “jealousy with a halo” !!
V surprised he said that, bc doubt he believed it. Maybe he meant it re: things like rebuking younger generation or religious fanatics chastising every little thing? But surely not politically or societally, being that he was a social critic. And prob one of the most morally indignant writers of the time, ..sometimes in a cool way.
"You have to bring something to the table other than your appetite."
Judge Star Jones - Divorce Court
GoAdoptADog! -- Many of the quotes strike me as odd, but proving that the person never said such a thing is pretty much impossible. I would put the burden of proof on those floating the quotes, but there's too much water under the bridge for that. Every now and then, one of these quotes gets blown apart as impossible for other reasons (e.g., Ben Franklin's quote about beer and bacteria), but it's rare.
I view these quotes as brain candy.
"These aren't the droids you're looking for."-- Obi-Wan Kenobi (fine Alec Guinness' portrayal).
Buzz, true. I’m guilty of it myself, esp as a teen. I collected quotes and often misattributed / misquoted ppl, but that was drilled out of me in college. The web doesn’t help anyone v much tho—it’s the worst offender. I’ve seen all kinds of great lines misattributed, chopped up &strung together differently than the OG, or worse -completely butchered altogether.
With the H.G. line tho, he could’ve easily said that. I mean moral indignation is annoying in many cases, even rlly harmful, but it depends on the brand. H.G. prob meant it re: gossipy lots, nosy sorts, etc. I could totally see that. Even with unaltered, actual quotes, context is often missing or their point may be made for an opposing agenda than they’d have wished (I mean, look how many different ways ppl take the American constitution, for instance, & the Declaration of Independence) Quotes can also be grouped together in a sort of depressing or overly sarcastic way, and seemingly unintended by the speakers who may have wanted to inspire a different tone.
One frightening thought I realized a while back is the permanent effect the internet could have on future sayings. Like, imagine some kid, young and dumb, writes dumb stuff online, then grows up to be a great thinker, often quoted, and his young, dumb stuff gets thrown in.
How pissed would you be if you were say, Jane Austen, or Dostoevsky, living in this age, and amongst your many great lines you had all these stupid beliefs from your youth to haunt you and touted publicly? It’s odd to think abt, ha. “ Confucius say : lulz, I love cat memes”
Ps- Buzz, omg you should SEE the things one of my relatives believes are from folks. I can’t remember specifically, and this is prob a bad example, but to the tune of someone like Steven Segal (poor example but he likes him so I’m going with him, and I'm pretty sure, from my memory, Segal wouldn’t be that far off, ha) coming up with something rlly famous like,
“if you love someone, let them go. If they come back, they’re yours. If not, they never were.”
(I picked that line mostly bc I’ve seen this attributed to SO many folks and used SO often, it’s basically become fodder, to my mind anyway.)
I hope you're not implying that Steven Segal did *not* originate that quote. I've already had enough shattered illusions in my life.
Maybe it was Van Damme (ha, I typed this jk but I actually think that may be who he originally quoted.. wish I could remember the line tho.)
*ps, I shouldn’t make fun, but that relative gives me grief aplenty anyway. And it’s not like y’all know who he is so it’s not actually mean since you won’t tease him for it. lol -just had to clarify or else I’d feel guilt.
"I would prefer not to."--Melville's title character: *Bartleby, the Scrivener*
"You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth."
-- Evan Esar
That's kind of stupid, because there is plenty that one can do about the length of one's life. And at the same time, enrich it.
"This line of work doesn't suit you. Get out before it's too late."
Crazy-8 to Walter White; Season 1 Episode 3, "Breaking Bad"
"Some people shouldn't have to apologize for being themselves. Some people should."
Outskirts
Old Southern expression
"He thinks his sh!t don't stink."
"Old Southern expression"
Can that be used as message of the Fortnight?
It's used up North also. Not sure about the origins.
I would imagine that up north they use the proper grammar (doesn't) but what do I know? I learned it in the south.
"Who pissed in your corn flakes?"
-said to a grumpy person
"At this stage, the child is very interested in bodily functions and the libido is focused on the anus and the controlling of both the bladder and bowel." ---Sigmund Freud
"A person growing old becomes a child again." ---Sophocles