Monday, June 11, 2007
Doubt is a Virtue
This quote was attributed to JFK in some recent bits of media.
There was some meme a good while ago where you were supposed to collect 5 quotes that define you. I went to my favorite quotes engine and found a bunch. I couldn't narrow it down to 5 (and not all were about ME, but instead about things I believe or find particulary true and funny) but I found a handful that were of this subject. This quote reminded me of the meme, so I'm sort of resurrecting it.
For anyone who cares, I'm just going to post all the quotes I picked.
Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.'
Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)
Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.
Andre Gide (1869 - 1951)
Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.
Laurens Van der Post, The Lost World of the Kalahari (1958)
If you couple a skepticism of all things with the tendency to apply Occam's razor to most issues, you have my general philosophy down.
And then my other quotes:
He who laughs, lasts!
Mary Pettibone Poole
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
Isaac Newton (1642 - 1727)
What I look forward to is continued immaturity followed by death.
Dave Barry (1947 - )
We cannot control the evil tongues of others; but a good life enables us to disregard them.
Cato the Elder (234 BC - 149 BC)
I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is two weeks.
Totie Fields
I also saw some quotes that seemed particularly appropriate to people I know. Some of these are more deep or meaningful than others, but I only post them here because these people immediately came to mind when I read the quotes.
For Mark:
I no longer prepare food or drink with more than one ingredient.
Cyra McFadden
I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
For Sean:
If you make it plain you like people, it's hard for them to resist liking you back.
Lois McMaster Bujold, Diplomatic Immunity, 2002
For my charming Grandma:
Charm is the quality in others that makes us more satisfied with ourselves.
Henri-Frédéric Amiel
And for Mom:
Aim at the sun, and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if aimed at an object on a level with yourself.
Joel Hawes
Advice for Dad:
Never fight an inanimate object.
P. J. O'Rourke (1947 - )
For that entire class of people that claim not to understand why people on welfare don't just get off their arses and go to work:
I've known what it is to be hungry, but I always went right to a restaurant.
Ring Lardner (1885 - 1933)
There was some meme a good while ago where you were supposed to collect 5 quotes that define you. I went to my favorite quotes engine and found a bunch. I couldn't narrow it down to 5 (and not all were about ME, but instead about things I believe or find particulary true and funny) but I found a handful that were of this subject. This quote reminded me of the meme, so I'm sort of resurrecting it.
For anyone who cares, I'm just going to post all the quotes I picked.
Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.'
Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)
Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.
Andre Gide (1869 - 1951)
Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.
Laurens Van der Post, The Lost World of the Kalahari (1958)
If you couple a skepticism of all things with the tendency to apply Occam's razor to most issues, you have my general philosophy down.
And then my other quotes:
He who laughs, lasts!
Mary Pettibone Poole
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
Isaac Newton (1642 - 1727)
What I look forward to is continued immaturity followed by death.
Dave Barry (1947 - )
We cannot control the evil tongues of others; but a good life enables us to disregard them.
Cato the Elder (234 BC - 149 BC)
I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is two weeks.
Totie Fields
I also saw some quotes that seemed particularly appropriate to people I know. Some of these are more deep or meaningful than others, but I only post them here because these people immediately came to mind when I read the quotes.
For Mark:
I no longer prepare food or drink with more than one ingredient.
Cyra McFadden
I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
For Sean:
If you make it plain you like people, it's hard for them to resist liking you back.
Lois McMaster Bujold, Diplomatic Immunity, 2002
For my charming Grandma:
Charm is the quality in others that makes us more satisfied with ourselves.
Henri-Frédéric Amiel
And for Mom:
Aim at the sun, and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if aimed at an object on a level with yourself.
Joel Hawes
Advice for Dad:
Never fight an inanimate object.
P. J. O'Rourke (1947 - )
For that entire class of people that claim not to understand why people on welfare don't just get off their arses and go to work:
I've known what it is to be hungry, but I always went right to a restaurant.
Ring Lardner (1885 - 1933)
