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THE INNER COMMONPLACE
QUOTATIONS FROM A LIFETIME OF COLLECTION AND REFLECTION
TITLE QUOTATION AUTHOR SOURCE SUBJECT
A POT ON THE BOIL A | 41 | A pot on the boil all the time will soon run dry. | Old proverb | Unknown | Effort |
HE DOESN'T KNOW THE | 42 | He doesn't know the meaning of the word fear. In fact, I just saw his grades, and he doesn't know the meaning of a lot of words. | Bobby Bowden | Press Conference | Football Players |
MARRY FOR MONEY AND | 43 | Marry for money, and you'll spend the rest of your life earning it. | A mother's advice | Unknown | Marriage |
THERE ARE PLENTY OF | 44 | There are plenty of fish in the ocean, but look out for the sharks. | A mother's advice | Unknown | The Opposite Sex |
FIRST YOU SINK INTO | 45 | First you sink into his arms; later you'll find your arms in his sink. | Anon | Unknown | Marriage |
WHERE PEOPLE GO POL | 146 | Where people go, politics follow. | Bruce Sterling | Unknown | Politics |
THE LINE BETWEEN HU | 147 | The line between hunger and anger is a thin line. | John Steinbeck | The Grapes of Wrath | Poverty |
WHOM THE GODS WOULD | 148 | Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad with power. | Anon | Unknown | Power |
IN A WORLD WHERE NO | 149 | In a world where nobody is sure of anything, impertinence rules. | Anon | Unknown | Power |
PUTTING OUT A NEWSP | 150 | Putting out a newspaper without promotion is like winking at a girl in the dark: well-intentioned but ineffective. | William Randolph Hearst | Unknown | Promotion |
YOU MUST BE IMPATIE | 51 | You must be impatient enough to get the job done, and patient enough to do it right the first time. | Eric Pettigrew | DEP | Achievement |
AFTER ALL IS SAID A | 52 | After all is said and done, a lot more will be said than done. | David Mullins | The Federal Reserve news | Achievement |
ENTRE LES PAROLES E | 53 | Entre les paroles et l'action il y a quinze kilometres et dix ans. | Jean Jacques Rousseau | Haitian Taxi Driver | Action |
IT IS A WISE MAN WH | 54 | It is a wise man who sets his goals high; it is a fool who dreams of things he cannot have. | Eric Pettigrew | DEP | Ambition |
EVERY ACT OF CREATI | 55 | Every act of creation is above all an act of destruction. | Pablo Picasso | Unknown | Art |
ADVERSITY IS A TEMP | 56 | Adversity is a temporary thing; a good attitude lasts a lifetime. | Eric Pettigrew | DEP | Attitude |
IF YOU'VE GOT YOURS | 57 | If you've got yourself into a hole, you'd better stop digging. | John Harvey Jones | Unknown | Bad Situations |
PUT ALL YOUR WOOD B | 58 | Put all your wood behind one arrowhead. | Scott McNeally | President of Sun Microsystems | Commitment |
ONLY IN THE RATRACE | 59 | Only in the ratrace of the arena can the heart learn to beat. | Rainer Rilke | Unknown | Competition |
IT IS BEST TO WIN W | 60 | It is best to win without fighting. | Sun Tzu | Unknown | Conflict |
A PLAN IS ONLY VALI | 61 | A plan is only valid until your opponent makes his first move. | Count Molke | Unknown | Conflict |
THERE AIN'T NOTHING | 62 | There ain't nothing in the middle of the road except yellow lines and dead armadillos. | Jim Hightower | Texas Senator | Conservatism |
NEVER WRITE A WORD | 63 | Never write a word unless the not writing of it drives you crazy. | F.Scott Fitzgerald | Unknown | Creativity |
IF YOUR EFFORTS ARE | 64 | If your efforts are criticized, you must have done something worthwhile. | Anon | Unknown | Criticism |
ANY JACK*** CAN KIC | 65 | Any jack*** can kick down a barn; it takes a carpenter to build one. | Sam Rayburn | US Senator | Criticism |
ON A FINE DAY THE E | 66 | On a fine day the English climate is like looking up a chimney; on a foul day, it is like looking down one. | Anon | Unknown | England |
LE CIEL EST TROP BA | 67 | Le ciel est trop bas dans ce pays. | Jean the French restaurant owner | Le Provence, Kew | England |
THERE ARE ONLY TWO | 68 | There are only two things I don't like about her: her face. | Anon | Unknown | Liars |
I CAN'T BELIEVE OUT | 69 | I can't believe out of 100 million sperm yours was the quickest. | Steven Pearl | Unknown | Insults |
WHAT HE LACKS IN IN | 70 | What he lacks in intelligence, he makes up for in stupidity. | Anon | Unknown | Stupidity |
IF YOU SEE A SNAKE | 71 | If you see a snake, just kill it. Don't appoint a committee on snakes. | Ross Perot | Unknown | Committees |
THERE IS NO SUCH TH | 72 | There is no such thing as a small enemy. | Anon | Unknown | Enemies |
A SUNNY DAY IN ENGL | 73 | A sunny day in England is rarer than rocking horse manure. | Anon | Unknown | England |
A SONG FOR ENGLAND | 74 | A Song for England An'a so de rain a-fall/An'a so de snow a'rain/An'a so the fog a-fall/An'a so the sun a-fail/An'so the seasons mix/An'so de bag of tricks/But a so me understand/De misery o'de Englishman. | Andrew Salker | Unknown | England |
A MAN CUT OFF FROM | 75 | A man cut off from his family has lost the staff of life. | Eric Pettigrew | DEP | Family |
DO YOU THINK YOU CA | 76 | Do you think you can change the universe and improve upon it?
I do not think it can be done.
The universe is sacred.
You cannot improve upon it.
If you try to change it, you will ruin it.
If you try to hold it, you will lose it.
So sometimes one is ahead and sometimes behind.
Sometimes one is weak and sometimes strong.
Sometimes breathing comes easily, and sometimes it is difficult.
Therefore the sage avoids extremes, excesses, and complacency. | Lao Tse | Tao Te Ching | Fate |
INVICTUS
OUT OF TH | 77 | INVICTUS
Out of the night which covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods may be
For mine unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of curcumstance
I have not winced, nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed
Beyond this vale of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid
It matters not how straight the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the Master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul. | William Ernest Henley | Invictus | Fate |
L'HOMME PROPOSE ET | 78 | L'homme propose, et Dieu dispose. | French proverb | Unknown | Fate |
MAN IS PARTIAL; FAT | 79 | Man is partial; Fate is not. | Ralph Waldo Emerson | Unknown | Fate |
IN A WORLD WHERE NO | 80 | In a world where normal can turn to strange, the only constant thing is change. | Eric Pettigrew | DEP | Change |
WE ARE NOT PERMITTE | 81 | We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny; but what we put into it is ours. | Dag Hammerskjold | Unknown | Fate |
WHAT CANNOT BE AVOI | 82 | What cannot be avoided, must be welcomed. | William Boyd | Brazzaville Beach | Fate |
WANT TO MAKE GOD LA | 83 | Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans for the future. | Woody Allen | Unknown | Fate |
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL | 84 | The most beautiful idea on the face of the earth is the belief the child has that his father knows everything. | Jack Kerouac | The Town and the City | Fathers |
FICTION ACTS AS A S | 85 | Fiction acts as a sluice; it's the waste matter from one's mind. | Jonathan Meades | Unknown | Fiction |
TRUTH IS STRANGER T | 86 | Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't. | Mark Twain | Unknown | Fiction |
THERE IS NOTHING SA | 87 | There is nothing sadder than the child whose happy home has been made desolate by the foolishness of adults. | Eric Pettigrew | DEP | Folly |
DEL AGUA MANSA DIOS | 88 | Del agua mansa Dios me libre
Del agua brava me librare yo.
From still waters God deliver me
From rough waters I can save myself. | Anon | Unknown | God |
TO BE WITHOUT GOD I | 89 | To be without God is to lose man's great source of consolation and coherence. | Peggy Noonan | Forbes Magazine | God |
YOU ARE NEVER DEDIC | 90 | You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. | Robert Pirsig | Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance | Belief |
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