“If human nature never changes, why is it that we not only don’t practice cannibalism any more, but don’t even want to?”

George Orwell, quoted as “Thought du jour” in Globe & Mail Feb. 27, 2002

“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”

Attributed to Tony Robbins (in this exact formulation) and many others in similar words on the Internet (for instance “Do what you have always done and you’ll get what you have always got” sourced to Sue Knight) - I have no idea who first said it or in what words. But a very large number of people have demonstrated its truth in practice... including me. Dang.

“First catch your hare, said Mrs Beeton’s famous cooking instructions for the jugged variety.”

The Economist February 23, 1991

“Indeed, it would be paradoxical if the end were amusement; if we toiled and suffered all our lives long to amuse ourselves. For we choose practically everything for the sake of something else, except happiness, because it is the end. To spend effort and toil for the sake of amusement seems silly and unduly childish; but, on the other hand the maxim of Anacharsis, ‘Play to work harder,’ seems to be on the right lines, because amusement is a form of relaxation, and people need relaxation because they cannot exert themselves continuously.”

Aristotle Ethics

“Who am I that the children of men should have shaped and carved for me four extra wooden legs besides the two that were given me by the gods?”

G.K. Chesterton, “On Being Moved,” in Alberto Manguel, ed., On Lying in Bed and Other Essays by G.K. Chesterton

“There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself.”

Philip Marlowe’s internal monologue in Raymond Chandler The Long Goodbye

“And now, as we birds say, nests before eggs.”

The Raven in C.S. Lewis The Horse and His Boy

“What’s the point of being a hedonist if you’re not having a good time?”

Lily Tomlin’s "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" show, quoted in The New Republic Oct. 7, 1991