"It's a lot to ask of one creature, it's a lot to ask, that he should first behave as if he were not, then as if he were, before being admitted to that peace where he neither is, nor is not, and where the language dies that permits of such expressions."
Firsts quotes
Firsts
8.8K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Topics related to Firsts
Browse quotes that often appear alongside firsts — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Firsts quotes (page 18 of 439)
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"Don't invest in what you don't know. Learn first then invest."
"I think this is the start of something really big. Sometimes that first step is the hardest one, and we've just taken it."
"Well, I would - if they realized that we - again if - if we led them back to that stalemate only because our retaliatory power, our seconds, or strike at them after our first strike, would be so destructive they they couldn't afford it, that would hold them off."
"A good first impression can work wonders"
"Achievable goals are the first step to self improvement."
"I see the first lady as another means to keep a president from becoming isolated."
"To exercise no-thought and rest in nothing is the first step toward resting in Tao. To start from nowhere and follow no road is the first step toward attaining Tao."
"First, I write down all I know about the story, at length and in detail. Then I sink the iceberg and let some of it float up just a little."
"In the first place, Descartes stands for the most explicit and uncompromising dualism between mind and matter."
"If you can, you will quickly find that the greatest rate of return you will earn is on your own personal spending. Being a smart shopper is the first step to getting rich."
"To have more, you must first be more."
"We resort, frankly, to pies, which is a comedy staple that's gone back, I guess, to since the first pie was ever baked."
"When virtues are pointed out first, flaws seem less insurmountable."
"The principal rule of art is to please and to move. All the other rules were created to achieve this first one."
"There are just two questions to ask to attain success in business: First, "What business am I in?" Second, "How's business?""
"For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norms, even our cultural ideal."
"You had better be a round peg in a square hole than a square peg in a square hole. The latter is in for life, while the first is only an indeterminate sentence."
"By playing at Chess then, we may learn... First: Foresight. Second: Circumspection. Third: Caution."
"Marie Stopes had established the first birth control clinic in Britain; the whole question of informing women, especially those who were poor, about methods of contraception, began to be discussed."