Quotations

When I was in college, one of my hobbies was collecting quotes. Since it was the early days of the internet (at least before most people knew about the internet, the days of 56k modems and bulletin boards), I decided to make a webpage. One of the first things I did was start a quotation page. As I said, this was the early days of the internet, so my 200+ quotes was actually a huge number by the standards of the day. After a couple of years, someone even thought highly enough about my page that he plagiarized it. Of course, taking quotes from my page was fine, but I did object to wholesale copying of my page...

When I was in grad school, I discovered that one of my pages was actually referenced in a journal article. I had trolled the internet for a while trying to find the proper citation for the quote, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." Most sources listed Mark Twain, but he thought it came from Benjamin Disraeli. Benjamin Disraeli is not known to have said it however. Anyway, my explanation got cited which I thought was pretty cool.

But, that was college. I really haven't touched the quotation page I set up since then, except to transfer it from my school's computer system to Geocities. Recently, Yahoo has decided to close Geocities, so my pages are going to be taken down before the end of the month. I spent some time today copying all the files to my computer.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the quotes from one of my favorite sources Publilius Syrus. He was an ancient Roman who came up with a number of clever sentences. Many of them are relatively common today, and most are just as pertinent:

• Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.
• To do two things at once is to do neither.
• The eyes are not responsible when the mind does the seeing.
• God looks at the clean hands, not the full ones.
• As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.
• We are interested in others when they are interested in us.
• Every one excels in something in which another fails.
• A god could hardly love and be wise.
• Learn to see in another's calamity the ills which you should avoid.
• Many receive advice, few profit by it.
• You should hammer your iron when it is glowing hot.
• What is left when honour is lost?
• When Fortune flatters, she does it to betray.
• Fortune is like glass,--the brighter the glitter, the more easily broken.
• It is more easy to get a favour from fortune than to keep it.
• There are some remedies worse than the disease.
• Powerful indeed is the empire of habit.
• When two do the same thing, it is not the same thing after all.
• No tears are shed when an enemy dies.
• The bow too tensely strung is easily broken.
• Treat your friend as if he might become an enemy.
• The judge is condemned when the criminal is acquitted.
• When innocence is frightened, the judge is condemned.
• Practice is the best of all instructors.
• Never find your delight in another's misfortune.
• The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself.
• A rolling stone gathers no moss.
• Never promise more than you can perform.
• It is not every question that deserves an answer.
• No man is happy who does not think himself so.
• Never find your delight in another's misfortune.
• A guilty conscience never feels secure.
• Familiarity breeds contempt.
• It is a very hard undertaking to seek to please everybody.
• It matters not what you are thought to be, but what you are.
• No one knows what he can do till he tries.
• It matters not how long you live, but how well.
• Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.
• Better be ignorant of a matter than half know it.
• Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them.
• Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.
• It is a consolation to the wretched to have companions in misery.
• Confession of our faults is the next thing to innocency.
• I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.
• Speech is a mirror of the soul: as a man speaks, so is he.
• In quarreling the truth is always lost.
• No one reaches a high position without daring.
• For a good cause, crime is virtuous.
• No pleasure endures unseasoned by variety.
• Beware the fury of a patient man
• It is only the ignorant who despise education.
• Do not despise the bottom rungs in the ascent to greatness.
• He who flees from trial confesses his guilt.
• It is his nature, not his standing, that makes a good man.
• You can accomplish by kindness what you cannot do by force.
• A friendship that can end never really began.
• It's a bad plan that can't be changed.
• An angry man is again angry with himself when he returns to reason.
• The remedy for wrongs is to forget them.
• From the errors of others a wise man corrects his own.
• It is better to learn late than never.
• A Rooster has great influence on its own dunghill