Library Update: quotes archive
The Library Update is emailed each week to subscribers. Each issue contains an interesting or humourous quote. All the quotes used since 2000 are listed here. Subscribe to the Library Update.
Quotes 2004
- no.51
- Libraries are like five star travel. They'll take you anywhere in the world, at any time, in any history, with anyone you want - and all they ask in return is a little shoosh. Bargain! - Andrew Denton, writer, comedian, presenter (1960 - )
- no.50
- The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity. - Harlan Ellison, US science fiction author & screenwriter, (1934 - )
- no.49
- A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. Like money, books must be kept in constant circulation. Lend and borrow to the maximum. - Henry Miller, novelist (1891-1980)
- no.48
- The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, theologian (1906-1945)
- no.47
- I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves. - Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher (1889 - 1951)
- no.46
- In all large corporations, there is a pervasive fear that someone, somewhere is having fun with a computer on company time. Networks help alleviate that fear. - John C. Dvorak, technology author and columnist.
- no.45
- To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it. - G. K. Chesterton, English author & mystery novelist, (1874 - 1936).
- no.44
- If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity. - Bill Vaughan, journalist and author (1915-1977).
- no.43
- Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand. - Putt's Law
- no.42
- The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein, (1879-1955).
- no.41
- The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly', meaning 'many', and the word 'tics', meaning 'blood sucking parasites'. - Larry Hardiman
- no.40
- If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can't be done. - Peter Ustinov, actor and author, (1921 - 2004)
- no.39
- You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. - Jack London, US adventurer, author, and sailor (1876-1916)
- no.38
- I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. - Stephen Hawking, cosmologist and physicist, (1942-).
- no.37
- The best writing is rewriting. - E.B. White, writer (1899-1985)
- no.36
- I and the public know, What all schoolchildren learn; Those to whom evil is done, Do evil in return. - W.H. Auden, poet (1907-1973)
- no.35
- Many highly intelligent people are poor thinkers. Many people of average intelligence are skilled thinkers. The power of the car is separate from the way the car is driven. - Edward De Bono, consultant, writer, and speaker (1933- )
- no.34
- Did you know that the worldwide food shortage that threatens up to five hundred million children could be alleviated at the cost of only one day, only ONE day, of modern warfare. - Peter Ustinov, actor, writer and director (1921-2004)
- no.33
- Silent gratitude isn't very much use to anyone. - Gertrude Stein, author (1874 - 1946)
- no.32
- I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. - Douglas Adams, English humorist & science fiction novelist, (1952-2001).
- no.31
- "To give pleasure to a single heart by a single kind act is better than a thousand head-bowings in prayer. - Saadi, poet (c. 1200 AD)
- no.30
- Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them. - Bill Vaughan, journalist and author (1915-1977).
- no.29
- The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes - ah, that is where the art resides. - Artur Schnabel, pianist (1882-1951)
- no.28
- The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn - Alvin Toffler, author and futurist, (1928 - )
- no.27
- As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. - Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President (1861-1865)
- no.26
- Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying to build bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning. - Rick Cook, The Wizardry Compiled.
- no.25
- Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back. - Chinese proverb
- no.24
- When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity. - Albert Einstein (1879-1955).
- no.23
- Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
- no.22
- As you journey through life take a minute every now and then to give a thought for the other fellow. He could be plotting something. - Hagar the Horrible
- no.21
- Dealing with network executives is like being nibbled to death by ducks. - Eric Sevareid, journalist (1912-1992).
- no.20
- Neurosis is the inability to tolerate ambiguity. - Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
- no.19
- In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists." - Eric Hoffer, philosopher and author (1902-1983)
- no.18
- One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time. - Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)
- no.17
- An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't." - Anatole France (1844 - 1924), French novelist
- no.16
- I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. - Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
- no.15
- The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...'. - Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992), US science fiction novelist & scholar
- no.14
- Life is like a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use. - Charles Schulz, cartoonist (1922-2000)
- no.13
- There are people who, instead of listening to what is being said to them, are already listening to what they are going to say themselves. - Albert Guinon (1863 - 1923)
- no.12
- An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today. - Laurence J. Peter (1919 - 1988), educator and writer.
- no.11
- Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults. - Socrates, philosopher (469?-399 BCE)
- no.10
- Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seuss, author, cartoonist (1904-1991)
- no.9
- If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside. - Robert X. Cringely (1959-), author, TV host, I.T. consultant.
- no.8
- There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. - Dalai Lama (1935 - )
- no.7
- A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men. - Roald Dahl, author, (1916-1990)
- no.6
- Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults." - Socrates, philosopher (469?-399 BCE)
- no.5
- The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard Feynman (1918 - 1988)
- no.4
- The best way to predict the future is to invent it. - Alan Kay, inventor (1940- )
- no.3
- Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults. - Socrates, philosopher, (469?-399 BCE)
- no.2
- May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (1927-1989)
- no.1
- Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds. - George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), novelist (1819-1880)