Entertainer and actual genius Marlene Dietrich said: “I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognised wiser than oneself.”
To be fair, there weren’t many wiser or smarter than Marlene Dietrich. If you haven’t learned her story, now’s the time!
For the rest of us, Frau Dietrich’s quote is bang on the nail: We often have thoughts that might feel or may even be profound, but we can usually trust that somebody, somewhere, has said it before – and very likely better than we ever could.
So, here are some of my favourite quotes. I’ve been collecting these for a while in my own files, but hey, why not share them?
I don’t have citations for all of these, but I’ll include them where I’ve been able to find them.
I apologise for such a long letter, I didn’t have time to write a short one.
Blaise Pascal, mathematician and physicist, inventor, philosopher.
(Often attributed to Mark Twain, but he apparently never said anything like it – although other famous folk have.)
Opening proceedings with my all-time favourite quote. Whatever the source, I absolutely love the message: in important matters, often complex, brevity and clarity take significant effort. Writing a concise note takes careful thought and editing to distill ideas down to their essentials without losing meaning. And so it ends up being easier to ramble and apologise! If you’ve ever received one of my run-on emails, you understand. 😉
Never mistake a clear view for a short distance.
Paul Saffo, technology forecaster
Simply: you can see how an idea could work, but you can’t get it to work.
Everyone will not ‘just’. If your solution to some problem relies on “if everyone would just…”, then you do not have a solution. Everyone is not going to just. At no time in the history of the universe has everyone just, and they’re not going to start now.
Ben Goldenacre, science writer
Friends are God’s way of apologising for your relatives.
Wayne Dwyer, psychologist, author & motivation speaker
If I said it fits like a glove, it’d be giving gloves too much credit.
unknown
I’d rather be someone’s shot of whiskey than everyone’s cup of tea.
unknown
Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.
Brené Brown, researcher
I’ve heard this one phrased as ‘clarity is kindness’, and I do prefer that version. I think it helps to bring the correct perspective to the better-known phrase, “you’ve got to be cruel to be kind” – the idea being that the truth often hurts, but lying or dancing around an issue is only doing somebody a disservice, or an unkindness. I think ‘clarity is kindness’ is a more thoughtful phrasing, though, because honesty doesn’t need to be delivered with cruelty.
Wisened to the point of jaded.
unknown
I like the alliteration of this one, but the meaning also resonates with me. It suggests that someone has gained so much experience or wisdom — whether through repeated exposure to the same issues, disappointments, or hardships — that they’ve become emotionally weary or cynical. They’ve seen enough to no longer be easily impressed or surprised and may feel a sense of disillusionment or loss of enthusiasm because of all they’ve encountered or learned. Grim, I know!
Let’s get back on track…
Sometimes the greener grass is really just astro turf.
– unknown
I love this twist on that old go-to, “the grass is always greener on the other side.” The original quote suggests that those who choose to jump the fence will often find that it wasn’t as magical a world as it looked from the other side. This more modern version twists the knife a little more, reminding us that sometimes the green grass isn’t only more work and more complicated than we think, but that it’s often designed specifically to fool us.
There are memories I choose not to live with, but we hang out at the same bar.
Robert Breault, American operatic tenor
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.
Isaac Asimov, author and roboticist
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.
Isaac Asimov, author and roboticist
Adulting is a soup, and all I ever seem to have is a fork.
unknown
What’s past is prologue.
William Shakespeare
A quote from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. In modern use, the phrase stands for the idea that history sets the context for the present.
Don’t leave anything for later. Later, the coffee gets cold. Later, you lose interest. Later, the day turns into night. Later, people grow up. Later, people grow old. Later, life goes by. Later, you regret not doing something – and you had the chance.
Boucar Ciouf, scientist and teacher, writer, poet, storyteller, comedian and columnist
In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know, that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,’ and then they actually change their minds, and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human, and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
Carl Sagan, astronomer, planetary scientist, science communicator – and perhaps our greatest lost mind
I’ve finally quit drinking for good. Now I drink for evil.
unknown
And a few from the screen…
It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everybody would do it. The hard is what makes it good.
Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) in A League of Their Own
There’s no crying in basebaaaaall! 😂
The world is made for people who aren’t cursed with self awareness.
Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) in Bull Durham
This place where so many people would die to work, you only deign to work.
Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) in The Devil Wears Prada
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