Quotes

Tags: Books Mike Oldfield Movies Music Olivia Newton-John Quotes Science fiction Star Trek

I include a quote in my signature, changing once every week. And I try to choose quotes, that tells you something about me: my hobbies, my beliefs and so on. If you don't want to wait and send me a letter every week, just to see a new quote, you can cheat and look here. Quotes in italics are now retired.

Music

Olivia Newton-John

And if I close my eyes to the wild silent ruin,
then I'm just like everyone else.

-- Olivia Newton-John, Gaia

I can sing one song - you can sing another,
doesn't mean I'm wrong,
don't let anything get in the way of love.

-- Olivia Newton-John, Gaia

Mike Oldfield

So if you feel a little glum,
to Hergest Ridge you should come.
In summer winter rain or sun,
it's good to be on horseback.

-- Mike Oldfield, "On Horseback"

Others

Angels we have heard on High
Tell us to go out and Buy.

-- Tom Lehrer

All you need is love

-- Beatles

Books

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

-- D.Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

The large yellow ships hung in the sky in exactly the same way that bricks don't.

-- D.Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

Duleek: Sudden realisation, as you lie in bed waiting for the alarm to go off, that it should have gone off an hour ago.

-- Douglas Adams, "The Meaning of Liff"

Terry Pratchett

The light was misty and actinic, the sort of light to make Steven Spielberg reach for his copyright lawyer.

-- Terry Pratchett, "Equal Rites"

Time passed, which, basically, is its job.

-- Terry Pratchett, "Equal Rites"

What time´s sunset around here?
We normally manage to fit it in between night and day

-- Terry Pratchett, "Mort"

Isaac Asimov

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent

-- Isaac Asimov, "Foundation"

I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.

-- Isaac Asimov

The most exciting phrase in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka" (I found it!) but "That's funny..."

-- Isaac Asimov

Stephen King

It's a long walk back to Eden, dear, so don't sweat the small stuff.

-- Stephen King, Insomnia

When asked, "How do you write?" I invariably answer, "one word at a time."

-- Stephen King

Other science fiction writers

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

-- Arthur C. Clarke

What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy ?

-- Ursula K. LeGuin

Movies

Star Trek

Without freedom of choice, there is no creativity. Without creativity, there is no life.

-- Kirk, "Star Trek"

Live long ... and prosper.

-- Spock, "Star Trek"

In any case, were I to invoke logic, logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

-- Spock, "Star Trek"

(When asked why he saved Spocks life) Because the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.

-- Kirk, "Star Trek"

Star Wars

Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.

-- Yoda, Star Wars V

Red dwarf

No Silicon Heaven? Preposterous! Where would all the calculators go?

-- Kryten, "Red Dwarf"

Given that God is infinite, and that the Universe is also infinite, would you like a toasted tea cake?

-- Talkie Toaster, "Red Dwarf"

Monty Python's Flying Circus

Always look on the bright side of life

-- Monty Python, Life of Brian

And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, Because there's bugger all down here on Earth.

-- Monty Python

When Harry met Sally

When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

-- Harry Burns, "When Harry met Sally"

Shadowlands

We can't have the happiness of yesterday without the pain of today. That's the deal.

-- Joy Gresham, "Shadowlands"

Simpsons

The truth is not out there

-- Bart Simpson writing on the black board

I will not use abbrev.

-- Bart Simpson writing on the black board

I will finish what I sta

-- Bart Simpson writing on the black board

When you love somebody, you have to have faith that in the end, they will do the right thing.

-- Marge Simpson to Lisa

Other movies

Well, Miss Vale; ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight? I always ask that of all my prey. I just kinda like the sound of it!

-- The Joker

If you want something very badly, set it free. If it comes back to you, it's yours forever. If it doesn't, it was never yours to begin with.

-- Diana, "Indecent Proposal"

That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.

-- Friedrich Nietzsche

Other stuff

Greenpeace

Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realise that we cannot eat money.

-- 19th Century Cree Indian

The holy bible

... thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ...

-- Leviticus 19:18

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is plantd;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace

-- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Other sources

On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.

-- George Orwell

It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

-- Anonymous

Happiness: The full use of your powers along lines of excellence.

-- John F. Kennedy

Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it.

-- Donald Knuth

Shift to the left, shift to the right,
pop up, push down, byte, byte, byte!

If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.

-- Isaac Newton

In the sciences, we are now uniquely privileged to sit side by side with the giants on whose shoulders we stand.

-- Gerald Holton

If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders.

-- Hal Abelson

In computer science, we stand on each other's feet.

-- Brian K. Reid

Call on God, but row away from the rocks.

-- Indian proverb

Trust in Allah, but tie your camel.

--Old Muslim Proverb

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction.

-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

There are only two ways to live your life: One is as though nothing were a miracle, The other is as though everything is.

-- Albert Einstein

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

-- Albert Einstein

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

-- Albert Einstein

To work is good as long as we remember to live!

-- Anonymous

You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.

-- Galileo

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.

-- Malcolm S. Forbes

It has been said "it is not by amusing oneself that one learns," and, in reply: "it is *only* by amusing oneself that one can learn."

-- Edward Kasner and James R. Newman

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

-- Teilhard de Chardin

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

-- Attributed to Benjamin Franklin

We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
...
--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends,
it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government...

-- Declaration of independence, Thomas Jefferson

Created: 1 October, 1999 - Last changed: 4 June, 2008 - Comments (0)