Ale, Man, Ale's the Stuff

Oh many a peer of England brews
Livelier liquor than the Muse,
And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God's way to man
Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink
For fellows whom it hurts to think

-A.E. Housman

The Cross of Fortune

The more we amplify our need and possession, the more we engage our selves to the crosses of fortune and adversity.

-Montaigne

What Faults?

No weakness of the human mind has more frequently occured animadversion, than the negligence with which men overlook their own faults, however flagrant, and the easiness with which they pardon them, however frequently repeated.

-Samuel Johnson

Costumes of Invention

The arts and inventions of each period are only its costume, and do not invigorate men. Society is a wave. The wave moves onward but the water of which it is composed does not.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

On Flatterers

Take care not to be made a fool by flatterers, for even the wisest men are abused by these.

Know therefore that flatterers are the worst kind of traitors; for they will strengthen thy imperfections, encourage thee in all evils, correct thee in nothing, but so shadow and paint all thy vices and follies, as thou shalt never, by their will, discern evil from good or vice from virtue.

- Sir Walter Raleigh

Hedging Your Bets

It is safer that a wicked man should never be accused, than that he should be acquitted.

-Livy

A Good Excuse Is Worse Than None

There are some people who are very resourceful
At being remorseful
And who apparently feel that the best way to make friends
Is to do something terrible and then make amends.

And they are always sure that today you don't mind their
inflicting on you any sorrow,
Because they'll give you so much pleasure when they
smilingly apologize tomorrow.

But I myself would rather have a rude word from
someone who has done me no harm
Than a graceful letter from the King of England
saying he's sorry he broke my arm.

-Ogden Nash

The Worth of Praise

He who does not know what the world is, does not know where he is. And he who knows not for what purpose the world exists, does not know who he is, nor what the world is. But he who has failed in any one of these things could not even say for what purpose he exists himself. What then dost thou think of him who seeks praise of those who applaud, of men who know not either where they are or who they are?

-Marcus Aurelius

Rallying the Masses

Suppose a historical situation has arisen (a war, an agrarian crises, etc.) in which the proletariat, constituting a minority of the population, has an opportunity to rally the masses; why should it not take power then? Why should the proletariat not take advantage of a favorable international and internal situation to pierce the front of capitalism and hasten the general denouement?

- Joseph Stalin (Not Rahm Emanuel).

A Blunt Man

Is one whose wit is better pointed than his behavior, and that coarse and unpolished, not out of ignorance so much as humor. He is the great enemy to the fine gentleman, and these things of compliment, and hates ceremony and conversation, as the Puritan in religion. He distinguishes not betwixt fair and double dealing, and suspects all smoothness for the dress of knavery. He starts at the encounter of a salutation as an assault, and beseeches you in choler to forbear your courtesy. He loves not anything in discourse that comes before the purpose, and is always suspicious of a preface. Himself falls rudely still on his matter without any circumstance, except he use an old proverb for an introduction.

- John Earle

On Marriage

Dost thou know what marriage is? 'Tis the curing of love the dearest way, or waking a losing gamester out of a winning dream, and after a long expectation of a strange banquet, a presentation of a homeley meal.

-Sir John Suckling

On Trade

To export things things of necessity and bring in foreign needless toys, makes a rich merchant, and a poor kingdom.

-Thomas Fuller

Rage and Frenzy

Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years.

-Edmund Burke

More than Men

For certainly as some men have sinned, in the principals of humanity, and must answer for not being men, others have offended if they be not more.

-Sir Thomas Browne

Reading Books

A few Books well studied, and thoroughly digested, nourish the understanding more than hundreds but gargled in the mouth.

-Francis Osborn

The Fallacy of Socialism

The great fallacy of socialist schemes is that they break off the social reaction. A man is to have something simply because he is a man - that is, simply because he is here. He is not called upon to make any return for it, except to stay. On the other hand, the tax-payer, who has provided all there is, is not on that account to be entitled to recompense of any kind. He has incurred a new liability, viz., to do the next thing which is demanded of him.

- William Graham Sumner

The Astronomer and the Philosopher

Two Chinamen traveling in Europe went to the theater for the first time. One of them did nothing but study the machinery, and he succeeded in finding out how it worked. The other tried to get at the meaning of the piece in spite of his ignorance of the language. Here you have the difference between the Astronomer and the Philosopher.

- Schopenhauer

A Matter of Worth

Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.

- Thomas Paine