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...