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People here argue about religion interminably, but it appears that they are competing at the same time to see who can be the least devout.
Montesquieu1689–1755Lettres Persanes (Persian Letters, 1721), No. 46. (Usbek writing to Rhedi)
- Clever Jabs
- Religion
People talk vaguely about the innocence of a little child, but they take mighty good care not to let it out of their sight for twenty minutes.
Saki1870–1916Reginald (1904)
- Children
It is easier for a man to be loyal to his club than to his planet; the bylaws are shorter, and he is personally acquainted with the other members.
E. B. White1899–1985“Intimations” (December 1941)
- Patriotism
Judges of elegance and taste consider themselves as benefactors to the human race, whilst they are really only the interrupters of their pleasure.
Jeremy Bentham1748–1832Théorie des peines et des récompenses (1811); translation by Richard Smith, The Rationale of Reward, J. & H. L. Hunt, London, 1825, Bk. 3, Ch. 1
- Art
- Clever Jabs
There is, perhaps, no greater hardship at present inflicted on mankind in civilised and free countries, than the necessity of listening to sermons.
Anthony Trollope1815–1882Barchester Towers (1857), Ch. 6
- Religion
Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true and the tendency to miss lunch.
Tim Berners-Leeborn 1955Interview by Kris Herbst for Internet World (June 1994)
- Computers
My dear Kepler, what would you say of the learned here, who, replete with the pertinacity of the asp, have steadfastly refused to cast a glance through the telescope?
Galileo Galilei1564–1642Letter to Johannes Kepler (1610), as quoted in The Crime of Galileo (1955) by Giorgio De Santillana
- Clever Jabs
- Science
If I were reincarnated, I’d want to come back a buzzard. Nothing hates him or envies him or wants him or needs him. He is never bothered or in danger, and he can eat anything.
William Faulkner1897–1962Interview with Jean Stein, The Paris Review, No. 12 (Spring 1956)
- Animals
Pascal proves nothing in favour of Religion, unless that a man of genius may be foolish on some subjects, and is but a child, when he is weak enough to listen to his prejudices.
Baron d'Holbach1723–1789Good Sense without God (Le Bon Sens, 1772), sect. 167
- Anti-Religion
- Clever Jabs
Sigmund Freud was a novelist with a scientific background. He just didn’t know he was a novelist. All those damn psychiatrists after him, they didn’t know he was a novelist either.
John Irvingborn 1942Interview in Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews (1988)
- Clever Jabs
- Writing
I am amazed that Congressmen can pass a bill imposing severe penalties on anyone who burns the American flag, whereas they are responsible for burning that for which the flag stands.
Alan Watts1915–1973Audio lecture “Individual and Society”
- America
- Clever Jabs
I do not like broccoli and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.
George H. W. Bush1924–2018News conference (22 March 1990)
- Food
- Presidency
You don’t accidentally become an asshole. It takes a bit of work.
Ozzy Osbourne1948–2025What I’ve Learned (2005)
I know what’s going to be on my tombstone, and there’s no getting around it: “Here lies Ozzy Osbourne, the ex–Black Sabbath singer who bit the head off a bat.”
Ozzy Osbourne1948–2025What I’ve Learned (2005)
- Fame
The Force is within you. Force yourself.
Harrison Fordborn 1942Barbara Walters interview (March 1997)
- Motivation & Goals