“men who are called practical; and the much more practical pertinacity of the man who is called theoretical.”
G.K. Chesterton, Saint Thomas Aquinas: “The Dumb Ox”
“Yes, he [Santayana] is urging us to remember our mistakes so that we do not repeat them. But he wants us to remember, as well, our glories. To forget our mistakes is bad. But to forget our successes may be worse.”
Neil Postman Building a Bridge to the 18th Century
“I do not think that we can hope to understand the problems and policies of our own day if we do not know the problems and policies out of which they grew.”
Lionel Robbins The Theory of Economic Policy in English Classical Political Economy
“The most basic form of human stupidity is forgetting what we are trying to accomplish.”
Friedrich Nietzsche (https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7517225-the-most-basic-form-of-human-stupidity-is-forgetting-what) {BTW I have found this in various forms including “common” rather than “basic” - it’s apparently from Human, All Too Human but I couldn’t track down the German original]
"J'ai décidé de vivre"
Title of a book by Philippe Croizon, who swam the English channel after losing both arms and both legs in an electrical accident, and who has also skydived, quoted on MSNBC September 19, 2010
“In the heart of the remotest mountains rises the little Kirk…”
Thomas Carlyle The French Revolution
Jim Hacker: “Was I good?” (about a TV interview) Sir Humphrey Appleby: “A most remarkable performance.”
Yes Minister, “Big Brother” episode
“the acknowledged Elizabethan habit of viewing history as a series of object lessons for present conduct.”
Sylvan Barnet’s “Overview” in the 1986 Signet Classic edition of William Shakespeare Julius Caesar