A philosophical contempt of life is no guarantee of courage in the face of death.
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me. Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with it. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
Death is nature's way of saying, 'You can let go of your ankles now'.
Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down.
Death must be distinguished from dying, with which it is often confused. Sydney Smith (1771-1845)
Elvis rocks in his box.
Fish die belly-upward and rise to the surface; it is their way of falling. André Gide (1869-1951)
Hatless, I take off My bicycle clips in awkward reverence.
He had decided to live on forever or die in the attempt. Joseph Heller (1923-)
I believe there would be people alive today if there were a death penalty. Nancy Reagan (1921-)
I detest life-insurance agents; they argue that some day I shall die, which is not so. Stephen Leacock (1869-1944)
I get my exercise acting as a pallbearer to my friends who exercise. Chauncey Depew (1834-1928)
I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with a lot of pleasure. Clarence Darrow (1857-1938)
In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
No hero is mortal until he dies. W.H. Auden (1907-1973)
No one owns life, but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death. William Burroughs (1914-)
Razors pain you
Rivers are damp
Acids stain you
Drugs cause cramp
Guns aren't lawful
Nooses give
Gas smells awful
You may as well live Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)
The best way to get praise is to die.
The difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.
There is no need for sign-posts in the journey of life since the destination is always the same.
There is nothing quite so good as burial at sea. It is simple, tidy, and not very incriminating. Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980)
Where are you dying tonight? Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966)
While other people's deaths are deeply sad, one's own is surely a bit of a joke. James Cameron
A gentleman need not know Latin, but he should at least have forgotten it. Brander Matthews
A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep. W.H. Auden (1907-1973)
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind. Plato (427BC-347BC)
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper. Robert Frost (1874-1963)
Education is the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent. John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)
Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten. B.F. Skinner (1904-)
Everywhere children are schooled to become masters at answering questions and to remain novices at asking them.
For every person wishing to teach there are thirty not wanting to be taught. W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman
God made the Idiot for practice, and then he made the School Board. Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theatre.
I forget what I was taught. I only remember what I have learnt. Patrick White (1912-)
I have learnt to spell hors d'oeuvres, Which grates on many people's nerves.
I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.
I owe a lot to my teachers and mean to pay them back some day. Stephen Leacock (1869-1944)
Learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21st century. S.J. Perelman (1904-1979)
Nowadays the illiterates can read and write. Alberto Moravia (1907-)
The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr. Muhammad (570-632)
The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. Plutarch (46-119)
The theoretical broadening which comes from having many humanities subjects on the campus is offset by the general dopiness of the people who study these things. Richard Feynman (1918-1988)
The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction. William Blake (1752-1827)
There's a lot of knowledge in universities: the freshmen bring a little in; the seniors don't take much away, so knowledge accumulates. Lawrence Lowell
'Whom are you?' said he, for he had been to night school. George Ade (1866-1944)
Yesterday I couldn't spell engineer. Now I are one.
You can always tell a Harvard man, but you can't tell him much. James Barnes
You don't have to think too hard when you talk to teachers. J.D. Salinger (1919-)
You have the capacity to learn from your mistakes. You'll learn a lot today.
A fanatic is someone who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-)
Fanaticism is redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim. George Santayana (1863-1952)
Fanatics have their dreams,
Wherewith they weave
A paradise for a sect. John Keats (1795-1821)
Acquaintance: A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh. W.H. Auden (1907-1973)
Even the best of friends cannot attend each other's funeral.
Friends are not necessarily the people you like best, they merely got there first. Peter Ustinov (1921-)
Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.
Of all the people I know, you're one of them.
The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
Compiled and edited by Luis de Avendaño
Comments, amendments, suggestions and corrections to
Updated on Sunday, 24 January 2010
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