Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

My way of joking is to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the world.

Sir Walter Besant

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

Digging out deeply burried thread. Here goes (not sure about the translation) "Unkempt thoughts" S.J.Lec:

Thoughts, like fleas, jump from man to man, but they don't bite everybody.

Advice to writers: Sometimes you just have to stop writing. Even before you begin.

The first condition of immortality is death.

And one of my favourites, not sure who the author is:

Never argue with a fool, they will lower you to their level and then beat you with experience. :D

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

"Those who can, do, those who can't teach; and those who can do neither, administer."

A guy called Calvin Calverley.

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

If you don't read newspapers, you're uninformed.
If you read newspapers, you're misinformed.

Mark Twain

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

"Poland is not so much a country as a disturbed state of mind."

Quentin Crisp

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

"There is only one duty, one safe course, and that is to try to be right".
(Winston Churchill)

"It is always the easiest way to give up!!"
(Winston Churchill)

"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat".
(Winston Churchill)

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

I'm a massive fan of Winston Churchill, Lukasz.

The quote to Nancy Astor I highlighted is my favourite.





John Petrie’s Collection of
Winston Churchill Quotes

Bulldog goes here.
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

There is no such thing as a good tax.

Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon.

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.

We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile—hoping it will eat him last.

The problems of victory are more agreeable than the problems of defeat, but they are no less difficult.

From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I shall not put.

A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.

Bessie Braddock: “Sir, you are drunk.”
Churchill: “Madam, you are ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober.”

Nancy Astor: “Sir, if you were my husband, I would give you poison.”
Churchill: “If I were your husband I would take it.”

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

Once in a while you will stumble upon the truth but most of us manage to pick ourselves up and hurry along as if nothing had happened.

If you are going to go through hell, keep going.

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.

If you have ten thousand regulations, you destroy all respect for the law.

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing—after they’ve tried everything else.

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.

Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him out to the public.

The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.

A sheep in sheep’s clothing. (On Clement Atlee)

A modest man, who has much to be modest about. (On Clement Atlee)

I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the ordeal of meeting me is another matter.

The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.

Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.

Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.

The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are no longer strong.

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.
-“The Sinews of Peace” speech, Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, March 5, 1945

If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.

Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all the others.

The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.

If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

You ask, What is our policy? I will say; “It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.” You ask, What is our aim? I can answer with one word: Victory—victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.

We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fall, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour!”

Victorywarren whitmore edytował(a) ten post dnia 27.10.08 o godzinie 12:01

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

You can listen to many of his speeches on youtube:

"We shall fight them on the beaches ..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTw3_PmKtc&feature=rel...

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

"Their finest hour".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsKDGM5KTBY

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

Warren,

I like him too, what's more I do believe in his truths, those above are my favourites, as I am sure that you know them pretty well:

"We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival".

"We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it".

"When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise".

"We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out".

They truly inspire or even move me, such a wise and honest man he was. We all shall fallow his truths!!!

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

The much maligned Sir Arthur 'bomber' Harris:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhmRrTsv55Y

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

Oh... I have forgotten about that one also:

"Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent".

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

Bomber Harris in quotations:

Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris: War. The only thing that matters is you win. You bloody well *win*! And then to hell with it.

[responding to criticism over the destruction of Dresden, Germany]
Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris: We've been accused of murder. What would we have been accused of had we let Hitler and *his* bloody gang win the bloody war? As for Dresden, it's simple, any psychiatrist can explain it: it's all to do with German brass bands and Dresden shepherdesses! All I can say is that all the German towns *put together* aren't worth the bones of a British grenadier!

Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris: [Harris advocates the concentration of bombing attacks on major German cities, starting with Berlin] War is a battle between heavyweights. The winner is the one that clobbers hardest, with the maximum effort, in the minimum time. *That means Berlin*!

Sir Charles Portal: I'll say this Bert: If "single-mindedness" was a virtue, *you'd* be *canonized*!
Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris: [amused] "Saint Bert"? No, *you* be "Saint Peter". It's only *The Devil* that wins wars.

Rev. John Collins: [Protesting the destruction of Hamburg, Germany] I realize this is not a popular thing I'm doing...
Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris: Say what you've got to say.
Rev. John Collins: We began the war in the defense of humanity, with God on our side!
Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris: Did *He* tell you that? He didn't tell *me*.
Rev. John Collins: I think it so!
Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris: You're privileged, Collins. I was just told to win the war with every means at my disposal, but not God.
Rev. John Collins: Was it necessary?
Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris: What? Killing people? Barbarism? Savagery? If you are going to win a war, *Yes*!
Rev. John Collins: No! But there are moral limits, *surely*!
Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris: You want me to admit it was a terrible thing we did to Hamburg? Right. It *was* bloody terrible. It was *ghastly*! Feel better now? Unless you can offer me alternative targets that will win the war quicker, shut up! You return to your conscience, and let me get back to the war. Okay?

Wing Commander Harry Weldon: [lecturing on "The Ethics of Bombing"] ... So therefore, it is not a question of *ethics* at all! War is *not* the opposite of *peace*, nor is it a corollary of it! War is a *complete breakdown* in civilization, so it shouldn't have "ethics" thrust upon it. Because that way lies danger; that way, *war becomes acceptable!* The means of death and destruction are immaterial, war was always war, the only *difference* today is the *scale* of it! So, when this war is finally over, the world should accept that there is no limit; there are no "Hague Rules of Combat" anymore! The worse war is, the more *savage* it becomes! When people *understand* this, and stop trying to *limit* it, then perhaps, we shall achieve *lasting peace!*

[Harris is dining with three staff officers at his home]
Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris: [amicably] I'll tell you *my* philosophy: I did so much foot-slogging in the *last* war, that I got into the air as fast as I could... it's far more *comfortable!*
Wing Commander Harry Weldon: Uh, that's not "philosophy"...
Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris: [amused] Isn't it?
Wing Commander Harry Weldon: No sir... that's *common sense.*
Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris: [amused] The army only recognizes a tank if eats hay and *defecates!*

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

I admire him not only because he was a reasoning man, but I look up to him as a man of honour and a great soldier:

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

Łukasz Klejment:

He looks like a gangster above.

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

warren whitmore:

Łukasz Klejment:

He looks like a gangster above.

I fully agree with you Warren!!!

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

Jon M.:
"Poland is not so much a country as a disturbed state of mind."

Quentin Crisp

Do you happen to know in what context he said that? Devoid of context, the statement sounds highly offensive to me as a Pole.
I guess he meant his disturbed state of mind, didn't he?

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

Michał B.:

Jon M.:
"Poland is not so much a country as a disturbed state of mind."

Quentin Crisp

Do you happen to know in what context he said that? Devoid of context, the statement sounds highly offensive to me as a Pole.
I guess he meant his disturbed state of mind, didn't he?

No. Quentin Crisp never offended (except against prejudice! He meant the more exotic elements of the London Polish emigre community back in the 1930s.

Mr Crisp was never really accepted by society due to his appearance and lifestyle, but some of his his closest friends were Polish artists who had moved to London. In the film of his life, The Naked Civil Servant (from whence comes the quote) a particular Polish couple (who have a 'Divorce Party' back in the '30s) figure greatly. One of them ended up going crazy and then living with him.

And in a way, there's something in what he said.

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

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

Temat: The Quotes Thread (funny/ philosophical/ inspirational)

What I'm saying is, if God wanted to send us a message, and ancient writings were the only way he could think of doing it, he could have done a better job.
- Dr. Arroway