I thought there used to be a quotes board, but I couldn't find it.

Here's one I found today. It nicely turns Clausewitz on its head.

"All diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means." -- Chou En Lai

Don't know if he really said it or not.

My favorite quote is:

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom — go from us in peace. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you." – Sam Adams

He also said:

“Pilsner, Pilsner? Are you crazy? I want a better glass of beer.” OK, I made that one up.

Similarly,

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

And a really good Heinlein quote, apropos to the current hysteria propounded by the RIAA/MPAA. Highly prophetic, since he wrote it roughly 60 years ago...

"There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or a corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years , the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute nor common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped ,or turned back, for their private benefit." -- The Judge in "Life-Line"

"It is the soldier, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag." -- Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, Sergeant, USMC

Hear, hear!

Merry Christmas, My Friend
'Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone,
In a one-bedroom house made of plaster and stone.
I had come down the chimney, with presents to give
and to see just who in this home did live.

As I looked all about, a strange sight I did see,
no tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.
No stocking by the fire, just boots filled with sand.
On the wall hung pictures of a far distant land.

With medals and badges, awards of all kind,
a sobering thought soon came to my mind.
For this house was different, unlike any I'd seen.
This was the home of a U.S. Marine.

I'd heard stories about them, I had to see more,
so I walked down the hall and pushed open the door.
And there he lay sleeping, silent, alone,
Curled up on the floor in his one-bedroom home.

He seemed so gentle, his face so serene,
Not how I pictured a U.S. Marine.
Was this the hero, of whom I’d just read?
Curled up in his poncho, a floor for his bed?

His head was clean-shaven, his weathered face tan.
I soon understood, this was more than a man.
For I realized the families that I saw that night,
owed their lives to these men, who were willing to fight.

Soon around the Nation, the children would play,
And grown-ups would celebrate on a bright Christmas day.
They all enjoyed freedom, each month and all year,
because of Marines like this one lying here.

I couldn’t help wonder how many lay alone,
on a cold Christmas Eve, in a land far from home.
Just the very thought brought a tear to my eye.
I dropped to my knees and I started to cry.

He must have awoken, for I heard a rough voice,
"Santa, don't cry, this life is my choice
I fight for freedom, I don't ask for more.
My life is my God, my country, my Corps."

With that he rolled over, drifted off into sleep,
I couldn't control it, I continued to weep.

I watched him for hours, so silent and still.
I noticed he shivered from the cold night's chill.
So I took off my jacket, the one made of red,
and covered this Marine from his toes to his head.
Then I put on his T-shirt of scarlet and gold,
with an eagle, globe and achor emblazoned so bold.
And although it barely fit me, I began to swell with pride,
and for one shining moment, I was Marine Corps deep inside.


I didn't want to leave him so quiet in the night,
this guardian of honor so willing to fight.
But half asleep he rolled over, and in a voice clean and pure,
said "Carry on, Santa, it's Christmas Day, all secure."
One look at my watch and I knew he was right,
Merry Christmas my friend, Semper Fi and goodnight.

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

•War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.. (1868)

"The police of a state should never be stronger or better armed than the citizenry. An armed citizenry, willing to fight, is the foundation of civil freedom. That's a personal evaluation, of course."
Robert A. Heinlein

God and the soldier we adore,
In time of danger, not before!
The danger passed, and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the soldier slighted.
- Unknown

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world are so formidable as the will and moral and courage of free men and women. It is a weapon adversaries in today's world do not have".
Ronald Reagan, US

"Why of course the people don't want war ... But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger."

Hermann Goering

Last words of Poncho Villa [translated]:

"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something."

Es nombre es Pancho Villa, por favor, senor.

Gracias.

Hey Frito,

Why are you thanking me? I'm supposed to do the thanking.

BTW what do grasses have to do with it? And I may be old, but I'm not a senior citizen yet! (Gracias = Grasses, senor = senior, verbal jokes in writing can be as corny as chips. -groan-)

Mindcrime

Benny,

If the shower stall is dirty that is my problem. It is my grime after all. I don't see where that concerns you. (Oh, "mindcrime". Nevermind. )

Miss Emily Latella. That was her name.

"Nevermind. ," indeed.

("Benny"?)

A poignant thought reflecting on 2002, from an anonymous person:

"If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead."

John Lennon was walking with Yoko when he was shot. What kind of God begrudges you 24 inches?

Blue Berry: We call that fractured Spanish in my family. You know, much grass .. um, I can't remember the rest. I know fractured French better (from ma granmere): cut the grass (coup de grace), and, um - okay, maybe I don't. Then again, it's late at night and I guess my brain's already gone to sleep.

How 'bout some other quotes:
Sometimes, peace is another word for surrender.
- Susan Ivanova, Babylon 5
If all the world's a stage, and all the people merely players, who the **** *** hired the director?
- Charles L. Grant
If all the world's a stage, and all the people merely players - who's watching the play?
- amj corollary
The optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true.
- James Brach Cabell
A day without sunshine is like - night.
- Harlan Ellison
History is filled with the sound of great minds meeting - head on.
- Poul Anderson
Grief is the price of victory.
- Frank Herbert
Thin people are thin because they don't know any better.
- Isaac Asimov
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
- Aldous Huxley

(The above quotes {except for Susan Ivanova and the corollary} were taken from Science Fictionisms)

"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us." - Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas.

"pity this busy monster, manukind, not
Progress is a comfortable disease...

...We doctors know a hopeless case when we - Listen, there's a hell of a good universe next door; let's go"

-ee cummings

All,

I know I'm quoting (or paraphrasing) but I forget from who. I ask for help naming the person quoted.

"I'm as pure as the driven slush." -- unknown woman

(Yeah, I've limited it by half the people who ever lived.)

Blue, I don't know if this is right but, that sounds like a Mae West line. I've also encountered this variation on it:
"My girl was pure as the driven snow, then she drifted."

Butch Brookshier,

I should have specified that I checked Mae West. (The quote screams, "Mae West") but I know it is not her. (I've limited to a woman who was at somepoint alive and not Mae West.) (I'm not glad to see you; I've got a quote in my pocket!)

It was Tallulah Bankhead.

"I'm as pure as the driven slush."
Quoted by Maurice Zolotow, in "The Saturday Evening Post, 12 April 1947.

"Peace in our time"
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, 1938.

"Peace in our time"
Russian ambassador to the U.N. Sergey Lavrov at a March 7, 2003 weapons inspector debriefing.

Perhaps the most famous book review quotation of them all:

"The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and those who are going to read them."

-- The Sunday Times
[sometimes the two books are listed the other way around]

I'm proud to say that I now belong to the former group and no longer the latter!

By the way, does anyone actually know the name of the Sunday Times reviewer who coined that famous quotation?

It doesn't matter if you agree with the Russian ambassador's politics, could he have chosen a worse phrase?

No. But he picked the absolute best way possible to ensure he lives in infamy...

kerriem,

Don't be affraid to be tactless. If the Russian UN ambassador reads this board and is offended by you pointing out his stupidity, well, you can always promise him you will never tell the truth about him again.

Oh, thanks Merat. Sorry, I kinda got distracted by kerriem being tactful around someone who isn't here. Pity Ms. Bankhead is my mother's age or so; she sounded like a fun date.

By the way, did anyone else find the man who did the interpreting for the Russian ambassador on the 7th to be quite bad at it? He sounded like a Russian language student sounding out a sentence. It had no cadence. The woman who translated the French and German ambassadors however, was very good. Anyone else wonder if they are at all upset with their voices being dubbed by a pleasant female voice?

"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy or a facist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."

Hermann Goering, Hitler's Reich-Marshall at the Nuremberg Trials after WWII

First in War,first in peace,first in the hearts of his countrymen.
Henry Lighthorse Lee on General George Washington.

Now he belongs to the ages.
Secretary of War Edward Stanton on Abaraham Lincoln.

Speak softly and carry a big stick.
Theodore Roosevelt qouting a West African proverb.

"Better keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than open it and remove all doubt."
-- Sir Denis Thatcher (1915-2003)

Let that be a lesson for all of us.

Sven, that one's been attributed to Abraham Lincoln. I also saw it attributed to Voltaire.

I guess Thatcher was quoting, then.
I once saw a Robert Frost quote that had been used in a movie credited by someone to that movie, and not to Frost!

"Great minds think alike"?

I'd make a joke about plagiarism, but I don't want to disrespect Thatcher, or more specifically, I don't want to accuse him of plagiarism.

What me plagarize?

Sir Denis was presumably doing research.

To borrow from one is plaigarism, to borrow from many is research!

Or, as Tom Lehrer says...

"Plaigarize, Plaigarize, Plaigarize! Only please be careful to always call it... 'research'!"

That's..... what got me two degrees.

And now come the jokes about temperature...

If I look something up in the dictionary, is that plagerism?

Wow, 4 different spellings for plagiarize/plagiarism. There's a joke there somewhere.

I admit it, I misspelled plagiarize.

This word is mispeled

Playjerizzim.

You see, we're trying not to plagiarize. we're not all illiterate.

I may be illiterate, but I am alliterative.

One of my favourites:
Egotist, n: A person of low taste, more interested in himself than me. - Ambrose Bierce

And some I found while double checking the Egotist quote.

He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. -Albert Einstein

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. -Mark Twain

Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame. -Benjamin Franklin

The difference between pornography and erotica is lighting. -Gloria Leonard

Here's a quote I remember in reference to a book, but regretably I've forgotten who said it:

This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be hurled with great force.

I've just read Sartre's play, "No Exit". (No, I'm not trying to be pretentious. Hell, in the town I live in [and calling it a town is an exaggeration], the very act of reading is pretentious.) Anyway, so I've just read "No Exit". There's a line in it that resonates for me a helluva lot. I'm almost tempted to start using it as a signature on my emails and posts. The line?

"Hell is -- other people!" (Get the feeling I'm going through some seriously effed up situations right now?)

Hence the title of the Futurama episode, "Hell is Other Robots".

Benn, just be glad you don't live where I do... it's even worse (and slightly smaller, IIRC).

Oh I lived in a town smaller than this - Mauriceville, TX. This was the kind of place where you'd see a road sign, "Mauriceville - 10 Miles". Next thing you know, in your rearview mirror, was another sign saying, "Mauriceville - 10 Miles". You almost literally drove through it without knowing it.

Benn: In regards to what Sartre said, just remember this; all his friends were French.

Yeah, well, unfortunately I can't say that about the a-holes I know. These days, they're pretty all central Ill-annoyans. (Apologies to John A. Lang. Then again, he's more from the northern region of the state. Maybe there's a difference?)

I'm just curious. Why are some people so interested in extracting quotes from movies? This isn't meant as an insult to anyone here--in fact, most of the people on this page are actually engaged in conversation. But some of the other boards on this site contain no real comments, only people spewing quotes to each other.

Seriously, why?

Frankly, my dear, I don't give a ••••. ;-)

Well I tried to start an intelligent conversaion. Can't blame a guy for trying.

Take heart, Kcirderf. It is a good question - you've just run into a pack of posters with a penchant for taking good questions and, erm, running with them.

Off the top of my head, there are a couple of basic - and interrelated - reasons for movie quote-o-mania:

--Cinema (theoretically) takes human nature and puts a much snazzier spin on it - everything seems larger-than-life on the big screen, including the dialogue. So your average inarticulate human fantasises about being able to spout those cool/funny/romantic/menacing lines on cue, thus borrowing the characters' aura of cool/funny/etc.

--It's a common language born of shared experience, so that speaking it especially well earns you coolness points; a version of the intellectual respect gained from speaking a more conventional language.

--It's fun! These are, after all, some truly great verbal stylings - reflecting our experience back at us in a witty and clever way, as all good authors do. Why not memorialise 'em?

I saw this Alexander Dumas quote on the back of Type O Negative's new CD, of all things: "If God were suddenly condemned to live the life which he has inflicted on men, he would kill himself!" (Who knew Goth Metal could be so educational?)

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Quote:

By The Frito Bandito on Monday, December 23, 2002 - 12:22 pm:


Es nombre es Pancho Villa, por favor, senor.

Gracias.

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I am Jack's smirking revenge.

If the world didn't have lying, two-faced, backstabbing assholes completely devoid of any obligation to humanity in general..who'd run for president?

Go sell crazy someplace else. We're all stocked up here.

Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be.

If you can't blind them with your brilliance, baffle them with your .

Let's all get naked and lay in a pile!

The truth is in the cliches.

Sin is evil, evil is sin, sin is forgiven, so stick it back in!

Illegitmitatum, non carborundum est.

50% of the time, I'm completely right about everything. The other 50% I'm just testing you to see if you'll catch on.

Americans always try to do the right thing--after they've tried everything else.
-Churchill

America is one long expectoration.
-Wilde

In California, they don't throw their trash away--they recycle it into TV shows.

It's a shame when your babies' daddies outnumber your babies!

Only two things are infinite: Human stupidity and the universe, and I'm not too sure about the latter.
-Einstein

If you think the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, you're aiming too high.

I want to be Barbie--the b$%ch has everything.

If you build a billion bridges but s(i)ck one c@#k you're not known as a bridgebuilder, you're known as a c*@ks*cker.

It's like a cool, crisp enema on a fresh December morning.

Every man dies, but not every man truly lives.

He who fishes in another man's well often catches crabs.

I think that God is playing Whack-a-Mole with the Kennedys!

Act normal and people will follow you; act deranged and they will elect you their leader.
-Chris Titus

Grandma, Grandma! Uncle Charlie just bit the nurse!

My ego is like my cl*^&#is...if I don't stroke it, who will?

If you build a billion bridges but s(i)ck one c@#k you're not known as a bridgebuilder, you're known as a c*@ks*cker.

Ever hear the joke about McGregor?

Probably, but I don't remember it. My friend Joey told me that one.

My boyfriend's best friend:


"My p*n^s is like a retarded little brother. He means well, but mostly he just gets in the way and wants to be hugged."

"For evil to succeed, good men must do nothing." -- Edmund Burke

"Imitation is the highest form of plagarism" Jim Carrey

"Imitation is the highest form of plagarism" -- Blue Berry

What's plagarism? Is it anything like plagiarism?


Berry--WTF? You re-quote someone right above you and take credit? Huh?

"To steal from one is plagiarism, to steal from many, research!" -- unknown

CC,

That is the joke. I plagiarized it.

CC--WTF? Are you blond?

"I've thought about this a lot. My latest pet theory is projection -- the psychological theory that says you take things you hate most about yourself, project them onto somebody else and attack them for that. So in other words, I think this is self-hatred projected on an innocent man. That's what I believe.

I believe these people hate themselves. I believe they hate our country. I believe they hate our culture. And they can't deal with that. They can't accept the level of self-loathing that they have, and so they project it onto someone else. I mean, for all of his faults and the troubles in his marriage, Bill Clinton is still married to a girl he met in the library 25 years ago at school. Can we say that about many of our other leaders today in America, including on the right wing? I don't think so. For all of his many faults, he is a man who, until he became the President of the United States of America, never earned more than $35,000 a year because he put service first. He is a man who, despite all of his many flaws and sins, has raised a good kid in as difficult a circumstance as you can possibly imagine. I mean, by any standard of measure, he is a good man. He is a decent man. He is a successful man. And yet they heap this hatred on him. I believe it is because they hate themselves. And for that, I'll continue to pray for them."

-Paul Begala on Right-Wing Meanspiritedness

Saw this quote in a magazine recently. The quote's by Eric Hoffer, but I don't have a clue who he is.
"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength."

"No man may initiate the use pf physical force against others. No man - or group or society or government - has the right to assume the role of a criminal and initiate the use of physical compulsion against any man. Men have the right to use physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate it's use. The ethical principle involved is simple and clear-cut: it is the difference bewteen murder and and self-defense."

- Ayn Rand

Revolutionaries should not think through other people’s minds.

Or, perhaps they should? Or even ought to?

How can one change the world if one identifies oneself with everybody?

How else can one change it?

He who understands and forgives -- where would he find a motive to act?

Where would he not?

-Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon

"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." -- Samuel Johnson

“If we were to do the Second Coming of Christ in color for a full hour, there would be a considerable number of stations which would decline to carry it on the grounds that a Western or a quiz show would be more profitable.”

Edward R. Murrow (1960)

Some of my most favorite Robert A. Heinlein Quotes:

An armed society is a polite society.
-Beyond This Horizon

Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.
-Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love

History does not record anywhere a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help.
-Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn 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. Specialization is for insects.
-Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love

Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishfull thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms.
Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers chapter 4
(Much as I dislike violence the sad truth is that quote right there is the most basic truth you will ever find and sometimes it is required to stand and fight.)

The United States has become a place where entertainers and professional athletes are mistaken for people of importance.
Robert A. Heinlein

"An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject."

— Robert Heinlein

(I used to have that one across the tailgate of my old pickup with crossed rifles behind it.)

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quote:

You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.

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From The Expendables.

I was channel surfing last and caught a few minutes of this movie, including this great exchange (note: I don't know the characters' names, so I will use actor's names instead):

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quote:

Bruce Willis [referring to Schwarznegger]: What's his problem?

Stallone: He wants to be President.

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