You May Also Like / View all maxioms
The Don Quixote of one generation may live to hear himself called
the savior of society by the next.
The Don Quixote of one generation may live to hear himself called
the savior of society by the next.
The world is governed more by appearance than realities so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know read more
The world is governed more by appearance than realities so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to know it.
The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, read more
The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up. And one of the games to which it is most attached is called, ''Keep tomorrow dark,'' and which is also named (by the rustics in Shropshire, I have no doubt) ''Cheat the Prophet.'' The players listen very carefully and respectfully to all that the clever men have to say about what is to happen in the next generation. The players then wait until all the clever men are dead, and bury them nicely. Then they go and do something else. That is all. For a race of simple tastes, however, it is great fun.
People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them.
People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them.
Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals read more
Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.
It is a governing principle of nature, that the agency which can produce most good, when perverted from its proper read more
It is a governing principle of nature, that the agency which can produce most good, when perverted from its proper aim, is most productive of evil. It behooves the well-intentioned, therefore, vigorously to watch the tendency of even their most highly prized institutions, since that which was established in the interests of the right, may so easily become the agent of the wrong.
Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow if tomorrow might improve the odds.
Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow if tomorrow might improve the odds.
We must think of human progress, not as of something going on in the race in general, but as something read more
We must think of human progress, not as of something going on in the race in general, but as something going on in a small minority, perpetually beleaguered in a few walled towns. Now and then the horde of barbarians outside breaks through, and we have an armed effort to halt the process. That is, we have a Reformation, a French Revolution, a war for democracy, a Great Awakening. The minority is decimated and driven to cover. But a few survive- and a few are enough to carry on.
