V > V's Quotes

“But still, if it's true, how can it be a lie?”
― Astrid Lindgren, Pippi Longstocking

“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisioned by the enemy, don't we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we're partisans of liberty, then it's our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien

“We, the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.”
― Konstantin Josef Jireček

“Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life. ”
― Eleanor Roosevelt

“Slippery slope. I carry a spare shirt, pretty soon I'm carrying spare pants. Then I'd need a suitcase. Next thing I know, I've got a house and a car and a savings plan and I'm filling out all kinds of forms.”
― Lee Child, Bad Luck and Trouble

“I'm a rich man. To have everything you need is the definition of affluence.”
― Lee Child, Gone Tomorrow

“I'm not a vagrant. I'm a hobo. Big difference.”
― Lee Child, Killing Floor

“Now they broke my toothbrush, I don't own anything.”
― Lee Child, Bad Luck and Trouble

“To fill a small bag means selecting,and choosing, and evaluating. There's no logicial end to that process. Pretty soon I would have a big bag, and then two or three. A month later I'd be like the rest of you.”
― Lee Child, 61 Hours

“What would you do if you weren't afraid?”
― Spencer Johnson, Who Moved My Cheese?

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“How glorious it is – and also how painful – to be an exception. ”
― Alfred de Musset

“Perfection does not exist. To understand it is the triumph of human intelligence; the desire to possess it is the most dangerous kind of madness.”
― Alfred de Musset

“Le mal existe, mais pas sans le bien, comme l'ombre existe, mais pas sans la lumière. (III, 3)

Evil exists, but not without the good, as the shadow exists, but not without the light.”
― Alfred de Musset, Lorenzaccio

“L’homme sans patience, c’est comme une lampe sans huile.”
― - Alfred de Musset

“La perfection n'existe pas ; la comprendre est le triomphe de l'intelligence humaine ; la désirer pour la posséder est la plus dangereuse des folies.

P 29”
― Alfred de Musset, La confession d'un enfant du siècle

“Les grands artistes n'ont pas de patrie.

Great artists have no country.”
― Alfred de Musset, Lorenzaccio

“Meurs ! tu es l'ennemi de tout ce qui aime ; affaisse-toi sur ta solitude, n'attends pas la vieillesse ; ne laisse pas d'enfant sur la terre, ne féconde pas un sang corrompu ; efface-toi comme la fumée, ne prive pas le grain de blé qui pousse d'un rayon de soleil !”
― Alfred de Musset, La confession d'un enfant du siècle

“Great artists have no country.”
― Alfred de Musset

“a man is not his body, for he receives his body accidentally. He is not his skills, for those are frequently born of necessity. He is not his talents, which are produced by heredity and by early environmental factors. He is not the sicknesses to which he may be predisposed, and he is not the environment that shapes him. A man contains all these things, but he is greater than their total.”
― Robert Sheckley, Immortality Inc.

“You must realize, Mr. Blaine, that a man is not his body, for he receives his body accidentally. He is not his skills, for those are frequently born of necessity. He is not his talents, which are produced by heredity and by early environmental factors. He is not the sicknesses to which he may be predisposed, and he is not the environment that shapes him.”
― Robert Sheckley, Immortality, Inc.

“Is there anything you can do?'
'Well, in college I was studying-'
'Don't give me your goddamned life story! I'm interested in your trade, skill, talent, profession, ability, whatever you want to call it. What, specifically, can you do?'
'Well,'Marvin said, 'I guess, when you put it that way, I can't do anything much.”
― Robert Sheckley, Mindswap

“Very well, you possess free will; but now you must use your free will to enslave yourself to God and to us.”
― Robert Sheckley, Dimension of Miracles

“A great majority of Terrans were idealists, and they believed fervently in concepts such as truth, justice, mercy, and the like. And not only did they believe, they also let those noble concepts guide their actions—except when it would be inconvenient or unprofitable. When that happened, they acted expediently, but continued to talk moralistically. This meant that they were “hypocrites” —a term which every race has its counterpart of.”
― Robert Sheckley, Store of the Worlds: The Stories of Robert Sheckley

“When you have a project, do it exactly as you see fit; then fit the facts around the event, not the other way around.”
― Robert Sheckley, Dimension of Miracles

“All of us live by the employment of countless untested assumptions, the truth of falsehood of which we can determine only through the hazard of our lives. Since most of us value our lives more than the truth, we leave such drastic tests for the fanatics.”
― Robert Sheckley, Mindswap

“If justice really existed, there would be no need for law.”
― Robert Sheckley, Mindswap

“But that's crazy, " George said. "How can I be the Average American Man? I'm only five foot eight and my name is Blaxter spelled with an "l", and I'm of Armenian and Latvian ancestry and I was born in Ship's Bottom, New Jersey. What's that average of, for Chrissakes? They better recheck their results. What they're looking for is some Iowa farmboy with blond hair and a Mercury and 2.4 children."
"That's the old, outdated stereotype," the reporter said. "America today is composed of racial and ethnic minorities whose sheer ubiquity precludes the possibility of choosing an Anglo-Saxon model. The average man of today has to be unique to be average, if you see what I mean."

The Shaggy Average American Man Story”
― Robert Sheckley

“I could probably sit here in my office and do nothing, and the criminal would find his way to me. That’s how strong the probabilities are in my favor.”
― Robert Sheckley, Mindswap

“Если бы справедливость действительно существовала, то отпала бы необходимость в законе.”
― Robert Sheckley