Anyone who clings to the historically untrue -- and -- thoroughly immoral doctrine that violence never solves anything I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler would referee. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor; and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and their freedoms.
Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss.
Democracy is four wolves and a sheep voting on dinner.
I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
Of all the strange “crimes” that human beings have legislated of nothing, “blasphemy” is the most amazing - with “obscenity” and “indecent exposure” fighting it out for the second and third place.
One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.
Pacifism is a shifty doctrin under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay–and claims a halo for his dishonesty.
Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.
Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.
The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.
There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded- here and there, now and then- are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck."
You can have peace, or you can have freedom. Don’t ever count on having both at once.
Religion
A long and wicked life followed by five minutes of perfect grace gets you into Heaven. An equally long life of decent living and good works followed by one outburst of taking the name of the Lord in vain - then have a heart attack at that moment and be damned for eternity. Is that the system?
Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.
Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn’t there. Theologians can persuade themselves of anything.
When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives.
Sex and relationships
A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.
Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.
Sex without love is merely healthy exercise.
The more you love, the more you can love--and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. If a person had time enough, he could love all of that majority who are decent and just.
Women will forgive anything. Otherwise, the race would have died out long ago.
Just plain good quotes
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, cone a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it.
Being right too soon is socially unacceptable.
Belief gets in the way of learning.
Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy
Happiness lies in being privileged to work hard for long hours in doing whatever you think is worth doing. One man may find happiness in supporting a wife and children. Another may find it in robbing banks. Still another may labor mightily for years in pursuing pure research with no discernible result. Note the individual and subjective nature of each case. No two are alike and there is no reason to expect them to be. Each man or woman must find for himself or herself that occupation in which hard work and long hours make him or her happy. Contrariwise, if you are looking for shorter hours and longer vacations and early retirement, you are in the wrong job. Perhaps you need to take up bank robbing. Or geeking in a sideshow. Or even politics.
Human beings hardly ever learn from the experience of others. They learn; when they do, which isn't often, on their own, the hard way.
In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.
Learning isn't a means to an end; it is an end in itself.
Never insult anyone by accident.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.
No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority.
Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things
The greatest productive force is human selfishness.
There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.
To get anywhere, or even live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer.
Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
Yield to temptation. It may not pass your way again.
