“It is better to play for nothing than to work for nothing.”
Adam Smith, quoted in Jan de Vries The Economy of Europe in an Age of Crisis, 1600-1750
“I had a great idea this morning but I didn’t like it.”
A piece of “Samuel Goldwyn apocrypha” quoted in “Social Studies” in Globe & Mail December 28, 2004
“The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.”
Confederate General Richard Ewell quoted in James M. McPherson, Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War & Reconstruction
“These old wild images [of centaurs and mermaids, noble in their human parts] included a crucial truth. Man is a monster. And he is all the more a monster because one part of him is perfect.”
G.K. Chesterton “Questions of Divorce,” in Alvaro De Silva, ed. Brave New Family Brave New Family: G.K. Chesterton on Men & Women, Children, Sex, Divorce, Marriage & the Family
“‘He’s... he’s an extraordinary man.’”
Chief Inspector Dreyfuss re Jacques Clouseau in A Shot in the Dark
“A true friend is someone who likes you despite your achievements.”
Arnold Bennett, quoted on www.hound-dog-media.com
“As no one ever reads history, it was natural enough that there should be a great deal of disappointment, and a great deal of astonishment.”
Hugh Walpole, “Major Wilbraham,” in Chancellor Press Great Ghost Stories [the specific focus of the disappointment is with the immediate results of the end of World War I]
“1st Officer Spock: Consider the alternatives, Mr. Scott./ Lt.-Cmd. Scott: We have no fuel! What alternatives?/ Mr. Spock: Mr. Scott, there are always alternatives.”
Star Trek “The Galileo Seven (1967)” quoted on imdb.com