Clever jabs
277 quotes from 161 people
No man can be a pure specialist without being in the strict sense an idiot.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Maxims for Revolutionists (1903), #41Lawyer — One who protects us against robbers by taking away the temptation.
H. L. Mencken1880–1956A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949)If there is one thing that is bipartisan in Washington, it is brazen hypocrisy.
Thomas Sowellborn 1930“Supreme Hypocrisy”, 29 March 2016Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.
Samuel Johnson1709–1784Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV (June 1784) p. 545Great families of yesterday we show,
And lords whose parents were the Lord knows who.
Daniel Defoe1660–1731The True-Born Englishman (1701), Pt. I, l. 374.The specialist is one who never makes small mistakes while moving towards the grand fallacy.
Marshall McLuhan1911–1980Understanding Media (1964) (p. 154)When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Caesar and Cleopatra (1898), Act IIIHe knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Major Barbara (1905)Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
Nikita Khrushchev1894–1971Comment on the construction of a bridge in Belgrade (22 August 1963), quoted in Chicago Tribune (22 August 1963) “Khrushchev Needles Peking”Knowing that religion does not furnish grosser bigots than law, I expect little from old judges.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Letter to Thomas Cooper (1810)OATS — A grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.
Samuel Johnson1709–1784A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)It was subtle of God to learn Greek when he wished to become an author – and not to learn it better.
Friedrich Nietzsche1844–1900Beyond Good and Evil (1886), Chapter IV, aphorism 121Like the British Constitution, she owes her success in practice to her inconsistencies in principle.
Thomas Hardy1840–1928The Hand of Ethelberta (1876), Ch. 9- EDEdsger W. Dijkstra1930–2002How do we tell truths that might hurt? (1975)
Henry James1843–1916“Greville Fane”, from The Real Thing: and Other Tales (1893)