Quotations

An honest tale speeds best being plainly told. Shakespeare, Richard III

What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves. Henry David Thoreau

How great it would be if ignorance of danger was all it took to keep it away from the people we love. Jonathan Frakes as Cmdr William Riker in Star Trek: Picard S1E7 (“Nepenthe”)

Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem. William of Ockham

There is no Plan B. You have Plan A, and you keep working at it until it happens. There is no Plan B. Zac Baker, 60 Days In

Plan B gets in the way of Plan A. Ashleigh Baker, 60 Days In

In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety. Abraham Maslow

One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again. Abraham Maslow

And if all you ever really do is the best you can, well, you did it man. That’s something to be proud of. That’s a life you can hang your hat on. Montgomery Gentry, “Something to Be Proud Of”

Would you punch yourself in a street fight? Then don’t punch yourself in a word fight. Denzel Washington as Melvin Tolson in The Great Debaters

It is never too late to be what you might have been. George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

Fortuna est quae fit cum praeparatio in occasionem incidit. Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca

Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation. Zig Ziglar

If you judge people, you have no time to love them. Mother Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu

The easiest way to learn to forgive is to surround yourself with and read about people who have learned to forgive. Their stories will impart the ability. Hillary Rodham Clinton

The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers. Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2

People do not deeply examine that which they deeply disdain. Kellyanne Conway on The Daily

When the wolf tells the story, the sheep and shepherds are always the enemy. Unk

ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ (ho dè anexétastos bíos ou biōtòs anthrṓpōi). The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates

Do not seek blame. Michael Dorn as Worf in Star Trek: Picard S3E2 (“Disengage”)

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. William Blake

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest. Mark Twain

Good judgment comes from experience which mostly comes from bad judgment. Jason Statham as Arthur Bishop in The Mechanic

Losing doesn’t make me want to quit. It makes me want to fight that much harder. Paul “Bear” Bryant

Maybe sometimes it’s better to be broken than to be hardened. David Kaczynski

Appeasers believe that if you keep on throwing steaks to a tiger, the tiger will turn vegetarian. Heywood Broun

Beauty is truth, truth beauty—that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn

Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery. Bertrand Russell

I don’t step on toes. I step on necks. Chuck Norris

You don’t need to boil the ocean to make a cup of coffee. unk

I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you’ve probably misunderstood what I’ve said. Alan Greenspan

I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. Alan Greenspan

Always play the fox. John Noble as Matthew Ashbaugh in The Good Wife S5E10

I don’t need to hear what you don’t need to say. Diana Muldaur as Katherine Pulaski in Star Trek: The Next Generation S2E14 (“The Icarus Factor”)

Anything worth doing is worth doing quickly, because science moves on, and we’re all mortal, and you want to do things. Eric Cornell, Nova S35E1 (“Absolute Zero”)

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. Buddha

The further back you can look, the further forward you can see. Unknown (often attributed to Winston Churchill, never confirmed)

Reality is nothing more than a persistent illusion. Albert Einstein

Let us redefine ‘progress’ to mean that just because we can do a thing, it does not necessarily follow that we must do that thing. Kurtwood Smith as Federation President in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

One impossible thing at a time. Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: Picard S1E4, (“Absolute Candor”)

I can’t tell you what I don’t know! Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed in Star Trek: Enterprise S4E16 (“Divergence”)

Never quit. Set a goal and don’t quit until you attain it. When you do attain it, set another goal, and don’t quit until you reach it. Never quit. Paul “Bear” Bryant

There have been times throughout American history where what is right is not the same as what is legal. Sometimes to do the right thing you have to break a law. Edward Snowden

Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes. Peter F. Drucker

Nothing unreal exists. Leonard Nimoy as Spock in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible. Stanisław Lec (disputed)

No one can give you your life back, so you have to take your life back. Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock in The Defenders

Our rights don’t end where your fear begins. Freedom is scary. Deal with it. John H. Bryan

You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor. Aristotle

Never stop seeking what seems unattainable. Stephanie Niznik as The Wraith in Star Trek: Enterprise S1E18 (“Rogue Planet”)

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man. Heraclitus

Tu invidia es mi progreso. lema anónimo peruano

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. Galileo Galilei

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life, a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. And I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days. ‍Franklin Delano Roosevelt

I think you all know that I’ve always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help. Ronald Reagan

One man can summon the future. Jolene Blalock as T’Pol in Star Trek Enterprise S4E13 (“Unified”)

There are times in your life when you sense that something is about to happen and at the same time you realize it already has. ‍Sarah Polley as Maren Hontvedt in The Weight of Water

The biggest difference between Christ and most Christians is that Christ didn’t mistreat people. George Carneal

I’m not satisfied living in yesterday’s hour. I’m not satisfied to have the form but not power. “Believe” (Hillsong)

Our rights don’t end where your fear begins. Freedom is scary. Deal with it. John Bryan

We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the universe. That makes us something very special. Stephen Hawking

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. Winston Churchill

Appeasement only makes the aggressor more aggressive. Henry Strozier as Dean Rusk in Thirteen Days

That sounds like a tomorrow problem. Let’s get out of here. Mark Valley as Christopher Chance in Human Target S1E3

So live, that when thy summons comes to join the innumerable caravan, which moves to that mysterious realm, where each shall take his chamber in the silent halls of death, thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave. William Cullen Bryant, “Thanatopsis”

When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man. Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange

If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride and never quit, you’ll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards. Paul “Bear” Bryant

The best cure for melancholy is industry. ‍Sarah Polley as Maren Hontvedt in The Weight of Water

Some people think the future means the end of history. Well, we haven’t run out of history quite yet. Your father called the future ‘the undiscovered county.’ People can be very frightened of change. William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

[T]ruth is best discovered by powerful statements on both sides of the question. Lord John Scott Eldon (1751-1838) quoting Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

A promise is a prison, Elnor. Do not make yourself another’s jailer. Amirah Vann as Zani in Star Trek: Picard S1E4, (“Absolute Candor”)

The most frail cottage in the kingdom is absolutely entitled to the same guarantees of privacy as the most majestic mansion. Florida v. Jimeno,
500 U.S. 248, 254 (1991)

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself. Thus the good fighter is able to secure himself against defeat, but cannot make certain of defeating the enemy. Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it. ‍孫子 (Sun Tzu), The Art of War

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. Socrates

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. Thomas Paine (1795)

When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change. Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland (1610–1643)

You can take back your memories; they’re no good to me. All-American Rejects, “Gives You Hell”

I never thought of the possibility of failing, only of the fame and glory I was going to get when I won. I could see it. I could almost feel it. When I proclaimed that I was the greatest of all time, I believed in myself, and I still do. Mohammed Ali

Who cares about the cussing? Who cares about the optics? I care about the Constitution. I care about the fact that no one bothered to point out the real problem here. […] Even if it wasn’t an autistic kid, if it was an unsympathetic criminal, it is just as serious. John H. Bryan, Esq.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. Henry David Thoreau

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert Einstein

There is no proselyter half so energetic as the hard-shelled atheist. Heywood Broun

When you see the world through a duck shaped lens, everything looks vaguely like a duck. anonymous

It’s so easy to hurt others when you can’t feel pain. Hall & Oates, “Rich Girl”

Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien. The perfect is the enemy of the good. Voltaire

Perfection is the enemy of progress. Winston Churchill

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts. William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II Scene VII

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

Why did you come here? We were so happy. We didn’t know that there was anything missing in our lives. Jennifer Gatti as Ba’el in Star Trek: The Next Generation S6E17 (“Birthright”)

Fear is the tool of a tyrant. Maurene Comey

We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn’t either. James Comey

You are incapable of that level of incompetence. Jonathan Frakes as Cmdr. William Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation S4E8

Everything is unprecedented until it happens for the first time. Tom Hanks as Chelsey Sullenberger in Sully

It is only in death that we are truly cured of the sickness of life. Socrates

And the truth about me is not that I’m really volatile and I’m unstable, but that I’m really vibrant, and the color of my sorrow is just as bright as the stripes of my delight. Jenny Slate on All Things Considered

You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves. ‍Winston Churchill

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke (disputed)

When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle. Edmund Burke (1770)

If things were different, they wouldn’t be the same. Michael Zaslow as Willard Tappan in Law & Order S5E9

Don’t be an inverted iceberg where more is seen than unseen. Lori