20th century

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When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

Arthur C. Clarke

Also known as Clarke's First Law.

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Clarke, Arthur C. "Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination." Profiles of the Future. Gollancz, 1962.

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There are one hundred and ninety-three living species of monkeys and apes. One hundred and ninety-two of them are covered with hair. The exception is a naked ape self-named Homo sapiens.

Desmond Morris

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Morris, Desmond. The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal. Jonathan Cape, 1967, introduction.

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Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room. Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America—not the battlefields of Vietnam.

Marshall McLuhan

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McLuhan, Marshall. Montreal Gazette. 16 May 1975.

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At eleven o'clock this morning came to an end the cruelest and most terrible war that has ever scourged mankind. I hope we may say thus, this fateful morning, came to an end all wars.

David Lloyd George

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George, David Lloyd. Address about the signing of an armistice. House of Commons. 11 Nov. 1918, The Palace of Westminster, London, England, UK.

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The truth is that we need invertebrates but they don't need us. If human beings were to disappear tomorrow, the world would go on with little change... But if invertebrates were to disappear, I doubt that the human species could last more than a few months.

E.O. Wilson

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Wilson, Edward Osborne. "The Little Things That Run the World." The opening of the invertebrates exhibit. 7 May 1987, National Zoological Park, Washington, DC, USA.

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True, we build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures-unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth our difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.

John W. Davis

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On lawyers.

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Davis, John W. Address in New York. 16 Mar. 1946, New York, NY, USA.

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You cannot be a success in any business without believing that it is the greatest business in the world... You have to put your heart in the business and the business in your heart.

Thomas Watson

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Watson, Thomas. Quoted in IBM: Colossus in Transition, written by Robert Sobel. Truman Talley Books, 1981.

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Private property is a necessary institution, at least in a fallen world; men work more and dispute less when goods are private than when they are common. But it is to be tolerated as a concession to human frailty, not applauded as desirable in itself.

R.H. Tawney

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Tawney, Richard Henry. Religion and the Rise of Capitalism. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1926, ch. 1.

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Tawney, Richard Henry. Religion and the Rise of Capitalism. Angelico Press, 2021, ch. 1.

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We are like sailors who must rebuild their ship on the open sea, never able to dismantle it in dry-dock and to reconstruct it there out of the best materials.

Otto Neurath

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Neurath, Otto. Anti-Spengler. G.D.W. Callwey, 1921.

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Neurath, Otto. Quoted in Otto Neurath: Philosophy Between Science and Politics, written by Nancy Cartwright, Jordi Cat, Lola Fleck and Thomas E. Uebel. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

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Were a language ever completely "grammatical," it would be a perfect engine of conceptual expression. Unfortunately, or luckily, no language is tyrannically consistent. All grammars leak.

Edward Sapir

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Sapir, Edward. Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1921, ch. 2.

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Cure yourself of the condition of bothering about how you look to other people. Concern yourself only with how you appear to God, with the idea that God has of you.

Miguel de Unamuno

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De Unamuno, Miguel. "El Sepulcro de Don Quijote [The Sepulcher of Don Quixote]." Vida de Don Quijote Y Sancho [The Life of Don Quixote and Sancho]. Madrid: Renacimiento, 1914, foreward.

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To be conservative, then, is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible, the limited to the unbounded, the near to the distant, the sufficient to the superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss.

Michael Oakeshott

On Being Conservative

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Oakeshott, Michael. "On Being Conservative. " Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays. Methuen, 1962.

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The most dangerous of devotions, in my opinion, is the one endemic to Christianity: I was not born to be of this world. With a second life waiting, suffering can be endured-especially in other people. The natural environment can be used up. Enemies of the faith can be savaged and suicidal martyrdom praised.

E.O. Wilson

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Wilson, Edward Osborne. Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. Alfred A. Knopf, 1998, ch. 11.

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A long line of cases shows that it is not merely of some importance, but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.

Gordon Hewart

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Rex v. Sussex Justices

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Hewart, Gordon, CJ. The United Kingdom, The King's Bench Division. Rex v Sussex Justices, ex parte McCarthy. 9 Nov. 1923. ([1924] 1 KB 256, [1923] All ER Rep 233].

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The priest persuades humble people to endure their hard lot; the politician urges them to rebel against it; and the scientist thinks of a method that does away with the hard lot altogether.

Max Perutz

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Perutz, Max. Is Science Necessary? Essays on Science and Scientists. E.P. Dutton, 1989.

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North American civilization is one of the ugliest to have emerged in human history, and it has engulfed the world. Asphalt and exhaust fumes clog the villages... This great, though disastrous, culture can only change as we begin to stand off and see... The inveterate materialism which has become the model for cultures around the globe.

Arthur Charles Erickson

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Erickson, Arthur Charles. Speech recieving an honorary university degree, LL.D. (Honoris Causa). 1973, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

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For over against the convenience of instantaneous communication is the fact that the great economical abstractions of writing, reading, and drawing, the media of reflective thought and deliberate action, will be weakened.

Lewis Mumford

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Mumford, Lewis. Technics and Civilization. Harcourt, Brace and Company/Routledge, 1934, ch. 5, sect. 7.

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Slowly the reality of it all formed in my mind: we were expendable! It was difficult to accept. We come from a nature and a culture that values life and the individual. To find oneself in a situation where your life seems of little value is the ultimate in loneliness. It is a humbling experience.

Eugene Sledge

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Sledge, Eugene B., Jr. With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. Presidio Press, 1981, pt. 1, ch. 4.

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It is the lone worker who makes the first advance in a subject: the details may be worked out by a team, but the prime idea is due to the enterprise, thought, and perception of an individual.

Alexander Fleming

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Fleming, Alexander. Address at Edinburgh University. 1951, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, Scotland.

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My funny valentine,
Sweet comic valentine,
You make me smile with my heart.
Your looks are laughable,
Unphotographable,
Yet you're my fav'rite work of art.

Lorenz Milton Hart

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Hart, Lorenz. "My Funny Valentine." Babes in Arms. Composed by Richard Rodgers. 14 Apr. 1937, Shubert Theatre, New York City, New York, USA.

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