“There never was yet a people who must not have somebody or something to represent the dignity of the state, the majesty of the people, call it what you will - a doge, an avoyer, an archon, a president, a consul, a syndic; this becomes at once an object of ambition and dispute, and, in time, of division, faction, sedition, and rebellion.”
Quote collection
People Quotes — page 1105 of 5018
“It already appears, that there must be in every society of men superiors and inferiors, because God has laid in the constitution and course of nature the foundations of the distinction.”
“Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. But if unlimited or unbalanced power of disposing property, be put into the hands of those who have no property, France will find, as we have found, the lamb committed to the custody of the world. In such a case, all the pathetic exhortations and addresses of the national assembly to the people, to respect property, will be regarded no more than the warbles of the songsters of the forest.”
“There never was yet a people who must not have somebody or something to represent the dignity of the state.”
“The proposition that the people are the best keepers of their own liberties is not true. They are the worst conceivable, they are no keepers at all; they can neither judge, act, think, or will, as a political body.”
“We wanted a name that people would remember and get pissed off about. Nothing too deep, believe me.”
“Writing is the act of saying "I," of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying "listen to me, see it my way, change your mind."”
“Before I'd written movies, I never could do big set-piece scenes with a lot of different speakers - when you've got twelve people around a dinner table talking at cross purposes. I had always been impressed by other people's ability to do that.”
“I don't lead a writer's life. And I think that can be a source of suspicion and irritation to some people.”
“Most death now happens in hospitals. It's been medicalized. It happens away from where we deal with it directly. And that's a huge change. At the beginning of the 20th century most people died at home. Death was much more common.”
“It was the United States of America in the cold late spring of 1967, and the market was steady and the G.N.P. high and a great many articulate people seemed to have a sense of high social purpose and it might have been a spring of brave hopes and national promise, but it was not, and more and more people had the uneasy apprehension that it was not.”
“Becoming a parent is actually terrifying. A lot of people have that feeling about their dogs. And if you're the kind of person who's going to have that feeling about a dog you're definitely going to have that about a child.”
“A good addiction is a contradiction in terms. Anything people can't give up or must have is not healthy, no matter what the activity.”
“People think I must have all these superstitions, but I don't. I use my batting gloves 'til they wear out. I broke four or five bats during the streak, and I didn't cry over any of them.”
“When people asked Socrates, ‘What is wisdom?’ he always gave the same answer: ‘I don’t know’. In fact, Socrates never claimed to know much of anything except how to ask questions. And by asking questions, he would prove to other people that they didn’t know what they thought they knew.”
“Things don't change, people change.”
“The more valuable you become [in your company], the more influence you have, the better communicator you are, you manage your time better, and you recognize people for their contributions. You also become more valuable as a spouse, parent and friend.”
“Give a lecture to a thousand people.One walks out and says,I'm going to change my life." Another one walks out with a yawn and says,"I've heard all this before."Why is that? Why wouldn't both be affected the same way?Another mystery."”
“When you're younger, you go out and you're convivial because you have to be. But once you don't have to meet people anymore, what's your motivation in going out?”
“They say the one thing that people who live the longest have in common is that they have a religious belief.”