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PRETENSION --- PRIDE --- PRINCIPLES
PRIORITIES --- PRISON
PRIVACY

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PRETENSION

see: "VANITY"
see: "DECEPTION" for other related links


A bad man is worse when he pretends to be a saint.
--Francis Bacon (1561—1626)
English philosopher and essayist.
"Ornamental Rationalia, of Elegant Sentences" in _The Essays
of Lord Bacon_ [Henry Altemus, Philadelphia, 1900].

The higher the rank the less pretence,
because there is less to pretend to.
--Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803—1873)
British novelist, playwright, and politician.
_Pelham: or The Adventures of a Gentleman_ [1828]

Always suspect a man who affects great softness of
manner, an unruffled evenness of temper, and an
enunciation studied, slow, and deliberate. These
things are all unnatural, and bespeak a degree of
mental discipline into which he that has no purposes
of craft or design to answer, can not submit to drill
himself. The most successful knaves are usually of
this description, as smooth as razors dipped in oil,
and as sharp. They affect the innocence of the dove,
which they have not, in order to hide the cunning
of the serpent, which they have.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.
_Lacon: or, Many Things in Few Words_, CXXIV [1821 ed.]

-

Affectation proceeds from one of these two causes,— vanity or
hypocrisy; for as vanity puts us on affecting false characters, in
order to purchase applause; so hypocrisy sets us on an endeavor
to avoid censure, by concealing our vices under an appearance
of their opposite virtues.
--Henry Fielding (1707—1754)
English novelist and dramatist.
_The Adventures of Joseph Andrews_ [1742] "Author's Preface"


Great vices are the proper objects of our detestation, smaller
faults of our pity, but affectation appears to me the only true
source of the Ridiculous.
--Henry Fielding (1707—1754)
English novelist and dramatist.
_The Adventures of Joseph Andrews_ [1742] "Author's Preface"

-

No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to
himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting
bewildered as to which may be the true.
--Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804—1864)
American novelist and short-story writer.
_The Scarlet Letter_ [1850]

-

We all wear some disguise, make some professions,
use some artifice, to set ourselves off as being
better than we are; and yet it is not denied that
we have some good intentions and praiseworthy
qualities at bottom.
--William Hazlitt (1778—1830)
English essayist.
"On Cant and Hypocrisy" [written 1829] in _Sketches and Essays_ [1839].


Cant is the voluntary overcharging or prolongation of a real
sentiment; hypocrisy is the setting up a pretension to a feeling
you never had and have no wish for.
--William Hazlitt (1778—1830)
English essayist.
"On Cant and Hypocrisy" [written 1829] in _Sketches and Essays_ [1839].

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The greatest cosmopolites are generally the neediest beggars,
and they who embrace the entire universe with love, for the
most part, love nothing but their narrow self.
--Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744—1803)
German philosopher.
_Ideas for the Philosophy of History of Humanity_ [1784-91]

It is just those books which a man possesses, but does
not read, which constitute the most suspicious evidence
against him.
--Victor Hugo (1802—1885)
French poet, dramatist, and novelist.
_Toilers of the Sea_, bk. 1, iv [1866]

Put silk on a goat, and it's still a goat.
--Irish Proverb

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Affectation is to be always distinguished from hypocrisy
as being the art of counterfeiting those qualities, which
we might with innocence and safety, be known to want.
Hypocrisy is the necessary burden of villainy; affectation
part of the chosen trappings of folly.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
_The Rambler_ (English twice-weekly journal 1750-52), #20 [26 May 1750]


Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display
qualities which he does not possess, and to gain applause
which he cannot keep.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
_The Rambler_ (English journal) [7 January 1752]

-

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The qualities we have do not make us so ridiculous
as those which we affect to have.
[Fr., On n'est jamais si ridicule par les qualites que
l'on a que par celles que l'on affecte d'avoir.]
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
_Maxims_, # 134 [1665]


There is no disguise that can for long conceal love
where it exists or simulate it where it does not.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
_Maxims_, # 70 [1665]

-

There is a pleasure in affecting affectation.
--Charles Lamb (1775—1834)
English essayist.
"On Books and Reading" in _The London Magazine_ [July 1822].

Affectation endeavours to correct natural defects,
and has always the laudable aim of pleasing,
though it always misses it.
--John Locke (1632—1704)
English political and educational philosopher.
Attributed in _Encyclopaedia Londinensis_, vol XII [1814].

There is nothing more contemptible than
a bald man who pretends to have hair.
--Martial [Marcus Valerius Martialis] (38/41—103)
Roman poet.
_Epigrams_, bk. X, ep. 83 [86-98]

It is in vain that we get upon stilts, for once
on them, it is still with our legs that we must
walk. And on the highest throne in the world
we are still sitting on our own ass.
--Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533—1592)
French moralist and essayist.
_Essais_ (Essays) [94 chapters written 1571—1580 & published 1580;
the last 13 chapters were written 1585—1587 & published 1588.]
"Of Experience"

Those who wish to appear wise among
fools, among the wise appear foolish.
--Quintilian (c. 35—100)
Roman rhetorician.
_De Institution Oratoria_

No one shows himself as he is, but wears his mask and plays his
part. Indeed, the whole of our social arrangements may be likened
to a perpetual comedy; and this is why a man who is worth anything
finds society so insipid, while a blockhead is quite at home in it.
--Arthur Schopenhauer (1788—1860)
German philosopher.
_Studies in Pessimism_ [1851]

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All that glisters is not gold.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_The Merchant of Venice_, II, vii [1596-98]


The devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Hamlet_, II, ii [1601]


To show an unfelt sorrow is an office
Which the false man does easy.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Macbeth_, II, ii [1606]

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For in religion as in friendship, they who
profess most are ever the least sincere.
--Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751—1816)
Anglo-Irish dramatist.
_The Duenna_, III, iii [1775]

It's a naοve domestic Burgundy without any breeding,
but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.
--James Thurber (1894—1961)
Caption for _New Yorker_ cartoon [27 March 1937].

To act with common sense according to the moment,
is the best wisdom I know; and the best philosophy,
to do one's duties, take the world as it comes, submit
respectfully to one's lot; bless the Goodness that has
given so much happiness with it, whatever it is; and
despise affectation.
--Horace Walpole (1717—1797)
English writer and connoisseur.
Letter to Sir Horace Mann [27 May 1776].

It is worth noticing that those who assume an imposing demeanor
and seek to pass themselves off for something beyond what they
are, are not unfrequently as much underrated by some as overrated
by others.
--Richard Whately (1787—1863)
English philosopher and theologian.
Attributed in Louis Klopsch _Many Thoughts of Many Minds_, p. 232 [1896].

If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very
seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn't. Such
is the astounding stupidity of optimism.
--Oscar Wilde (1854—1900)
Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet.
Lord Darlington, in _Lady Windermere's Fan_, act 1 [1892]

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feign [FEYN], verb:
1. To represent fictitiously; put on an appearance of.
2. To invent fictitiously or deceptively, as a story or an excuse.
3. To make believe; pretend.

ostentation [os-ten-TAY-shuhn], noun:
Excessive or pretentious display; boastful showiness.

pretentious (adj.) [pri-'ten-shuh s]
Full of pretense; that is, ostentatious, assuming dignity or importance.

tarradiddle, noun:
1. A petty falsehood; a fib.
2. Pretentious nonsense.





PRIDE

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see: "BRAGGING"
see: "CONCEIT"
see: "SELF-LOVE"
see: "SNOBS"
see: "VANITY"
see: "EMOTIONS & FEELINGS" for other related links

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A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he
never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.
--Henry Ward Beecher (1813—1887)
American Congregational minister; brother of
Harriet Beecher Stowe, son of Lyman Beecher.
In Henry Ward Beecher and Edna Dean Proctor,
_Life Thoughts: Gathered From the Extemporaneous
Discourses of Henry Ward Beecher_, p. 115 [1858].


The prouder a man is, the more he thinks he
deserves; and the more he thinks he deserves,
the less he really does deserve.
--Henry Ward Beecher (1813—1887)
American Congregational minister; brother of
Harriet Beecher Stowe, son of Lyman Beecher.
_Royal Truths_ [1866]

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Pride goeth before destruction, and
a haughty spirit before a fall.
--Bible
"Proverbs" 16:18

One ov the best temporary cures for pride and
affektashun that i have ever seen tried iz sea
sickness; a man who wants tew vomit never
puts on airs.
--Josh Billings [Henry Wheeler Shaw] (1818—1885)
American humorist.
_Josh Billings' Wit and Humor_ [1874] "Ods and Ens"

Pride makes us esteem ourselves; vanity
makes us desire the esteem of others.
--Hugh Blair (1718—1800)
Scottish minister, author, and rhetorician.
_Lectures on Rhetoric_ [originally pub. 1783, 1808 ed.]

Pride is like the beautiful acacia, that lifts its head proudly
above its neighbor plants— forgetting that it too, like them,
has its roots in the dirt.
--Christian Nestell Bovee (1820—1904)
American writer.
_Intuitions and Summaries of Thought_ [2 vols. 1862]

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It is with nations as with individuals, those who know the least
of others think the highest of themselves; for the whole family
of pride and ignorance are incestuous, and mutually beget each
other.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.
_Lacon: or, Many Things in Few Words_, CCCCXLIII [1821 ed.]


It is with antiquity as with ancestry, nations are proud
of the one, and individuals of the other; but if they are
nothing in themselves, that which is their pride ought
to be their humiliation.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.
_Lacon: or, Many Things in Few Words_, CXIII [1826 ed.]

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If you could see your ancestors,
All standing in a row,
There might be some among them
Whom you wouldn't care to know.
But there's another matter which
Requires a different view;
If you could see your ancestors,
Would they be proud of you?
--Rufus Craig
Attributed in _National Genealogical Society Quarterly_, [1949]

We mortals, men and women, devour many a disappointment
between breakfast and dinner-time; keep back the tears and
look a little pale about the lips, and in answer to inquiries say,
'Oh, nothing!' Pride helps us; and pride is not a bad thing
when it only urges us to hide our own hurts — not to hurt
others.
--George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (1819—1880)
English novelist.
_Middlemarch_, bk. I, ch. VI [1871-72]

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In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard
to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle
it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every
now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps,
often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I had
completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
_Autobiography_, ch. 9 [1798]


Pride is as loud a beggar as want, and a great deal more saucy.
When you have bought one fine thing, you must buy ten more,
that your appearance may be all of a piece; but it is easier to
suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
Quoted in _The Works of Benjamin Franklin_ [1836], edited by Jared Sparks.

-

When a proud Man hears another praised,
he thinks himself injured.
--Thomas Fuller (1654—1734)
English writer and physician.
Comp., _Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs_ [1732]

Be humble, learn thyself to scan;
Know, pride was never made for man.
--John Gay (1685—1732)
English poet and dramatist.
"The Man and the Flea"

My family pride is something inconceivable.
I can't help it. I was born sneering.
--W. S. Gilbert (1836—1911)
English writer of comic and satirical verse.
_The Mikado_, act I [1885]

Nationalist pride, like other variants of pride,
can be a substitute for self-respect.
--Eric Hoffer (1902—1983)
American longshoreman, philosopher,
and author who received the Presidential
Medal of Freedom in 1982.
_The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms_ [1954], Aphorism 38.

It is hardly possible to overvalue ourselves
but by undervaluing our neighbors.
--Edward Hyde, 1st earl of Clarendon (1609—1674)
English statesman and historian.
Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Treasury of Thought_, p. 418 [15th ed. 1894].

Haughty people seem to me to have, like the dwarfs,
the stature of a child and the face of a man.
--Joseph Joubert (1754—1824)
French philosopher.
Attributed in A.N. Coleman _Proverbial Wisdom: Proverbs,
Maxims and Ethical Sentences_, p. 226 [3rd ed. 1903].

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Nature [...] endowed us with pride to spare
us the pain of knowing our imperfections.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
_Maxims_, 36, [1665], tr. Louis Kronenberger [1959]


Pride [...] is never so well disguised and able to
take people in as when masquerading as humility.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
_Maxims_, 254, [1665], tr. Leonard Tancock [1959]


There are various sorts of curiosity; one is from interest,
which makes us desire to know what may be useful to us;
another is from pride, and arises from a desire of knowing
what others are ignorant of.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
In _Moral Reflections, Sentences and Maxims of Francis, Duc de
La Rochefoucauld_, # 176 [William Gowans, New York, 1851].

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The more pride one had, the more one disliked
pride in others. In fact, if you want to find out
how proud you are, the easiest way is to ask
yourself, "How much do I dislike it when other
people snub me, or refuse to take any notice of
me, or shove their oar in, or patronize me, or
show off?" The point is that each person's pride
is in competition with every one else's pride. It
is because I wanted to be the big noise at the
party that I am so annoyed at someone else
being the big noise.
[...]
Pride gets no pleasure out of having something,
only out of having more of it than the next man.
--C.S. [Clive Staples] Lewis (1898—1963)
British scholar and novelist.
_Mere Christianity_, bk. 3, ch. 8 [1952]

One may be humble out of pride.
--Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533—1592)
French moralist and essayist.
_Essais_ (Essays) [pub. 1580-88] "Of Presumption"

'I have done that,' says my memory. 'I cannot have
done that' — says my pride, and remains adamant.
At last — memory yields.
--Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844—1900)
German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture.
_Beyond Good and Evil_ [1885-86], tr. William Kaufmann [1966].

Say nothing good of yourself, you will be distrusted;
say nothing bad of yourself, you will be taken at your
word.
--Joseph Roux (1834—1886)
French parish priest and writer.
_Meditations of a Parish Priest_, # 22 "Joy" [1886].

Pride is therefore pleasure arising from
a man's thinking too highly of himself.
--Benedict de Spinoza (1632—1677)
Dutch-Jewish philosopher, the foremost exponent of 17th century Rationalism.
_Ethics_ [1677], pt. III

If a man has a right to be proud of anything,
it is of a good action done as it ought to be,
without any base interest lurking at the
bottom of it.
--Laurence Sterne (1713—1768)
Irish-born English novelist.
Quoted in _The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction_ [14 August 1841].

Every act of conscious learning requires the
willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-
esteem. That is why young children, before
they are aware of their own self-importance,
learn so easily; and why older persons,
especially if vain or important, cannot
learn at all.
--Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)
American psychiatrist.
_The Second Sin_ [1973]

The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great.
--Voltaire (Franηois Marie Arouet) (1694—1778)
French writer and philosopher.
Attributed in Rev. James Wood (ed.) _Dictionary of Quotations ..._ [1893].

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hubris [HYOO-bruhs], noun:
Overbearing pride or presumption.

vainglory [VAYN-glor-ee; vayn-GLOR-ee], noun:
1. Excessive pride in one's achievements, abilities, or qualities.
2. Vain display.




PRINCIPLES

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see: "BELIEF"
see: "CONSCIENCE"
see: "CONVICTION"
see: "HONOR"
see: "MORALITY"
see: "OPINION"
see: "CHARACTER" for other related links


A general dissolution of the principles and manners will more
surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force
of the common enemy. ... While the people are virtuous they
cannot be subdued; but once they lose their virtue, they will
be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or
internal invader. ... If virtue and knowledge are diffused among
the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great
security.
--Samuel Adams (1722—1803)
American revolutionary leader.
Letter to James Warren [12 February 1779].

It is always easier to fight for one's
principles than to live up to them.
--Alfred Adler (1870—1937)
Austrian psychologist.
In Phyllis Bottome _Alfred Adler: Apostle of Freedom_ [1939].

I am a man of fixed and unbending principles,
the first of which is to be flexible at all times.
--Everett McKinley Dirksen (1896—1959)
American congressman and senator.
Attributed in Peter McWilliams
_Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do_ [1993].

Whenever two good people argue
over principles, they are both right.
--attributed to Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830—1916)
Austrian writer.

A people that values its privileges above
its principles soon loses both.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890—1969),
American Army General, supreme Allied commander WWII,
NATO commander, American President [1953-61].
First Inaugural Address [20 January 1953]

Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
--Alex Hamilton (b. 1936)
British writer and broadcaster.
"Born Old" (radio broadcast), quoted in "Listener" [9 November 1978].

When a fellow says, 'It hain't the money, but
the principle o' the thing,' it's th' money.
--Frank McKinney (Kin) Hubbard (1868—1930)
American humorist.
_Abe Martin: Hoss Sense and Nonsense_ [1926]

Change your opinions, keep to your principles;
change your leaves, keep intact your roots.
--Victor Hugo (1802—1885)
French poet, dramatist, and novelist.
In Lorenzo O'Rourke (tr.) _Victor Hugo's Intellectual Autobiography_ [1907].

-

Every honest man will suppose honest acts to
flow from honest principles, and the rogues
may rail without intermission.
--Thomas Jefferson (1743—1826)
American statesman and president [1801-09].
In a letter to Benjamin Rush [20 December 1801].


In matters of style, swim with the current;
in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
--attributed to Thomas Jefferson (1743—1826)
American statesman and president [1801-09].

-

The *probability* that we may fail in the struggle
*ought not* deter us from the support of a cause
we believe to be just; it *shall not* deter me.
--Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865)
American Republican statesman, President [1861—1865].
"The Sub-Treasury" speech in the House of
Representatives at Springfield, Illinois [26 December 1839].

It is never right to compromise with dishonesty.
--Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (1902—1985)
American senator and diplomat.
In a 1952 conversation with Republican leaders, quoted in Richard
Norton Smith _Thomas E. Dewey and His Times_ [1982].

Give us clear vision, that we may know where to stand
and what to stand for — because unless we stand for
something, we shall fall for anything.
--Peter Marshall (1902—1949)
Clergyman, author, and Senate chaplain.
In a Senate prayer [1947].

A thing moderately good is not so good as it
ought to be. Moderation in temper is always
a virtue, but moderation in principle is always
a vice.
--Thomas Paine [spelled Pane prior to 1774] (1737—1809)
English-American writer and political pamphleteer.
_The Rights of Man_ [1792], pt. II, ch. 5

The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum.
Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the
moral failure of those who evade the fact that
there can be no compromise on basic principles.
--Ayn Rand (1905—1982)
Russian-born American writer.
_Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal_ [1966]

One, with God, is always a majority, but many
a martyr has been burned at the stake while
the votes were being counted.
--Thomas Brackett Reed (1839—1902)
American lawyer and politician.
In a speech in the House of Representatives [1885].

There is nothing so bad or good that you will not
find an Englishman doing it; but you will never find
an Englishman in the wrong. He does everything
on principle. He fights you on patriotic principles;
he robs you on business principles; he enslaves
you on imperial principles.
--George Bernard Shaw (1856—1950)
Irish comic dramatist, literary critic, Socialist
propagandist, and winner of the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1925 [he didn't accept it.]
_The Man of Destiny_ [1898]

It is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.
--Adlai E. Stevenson (1900—1965)
American Democratic politician.
"The Nature of Patriotism", speech in New York City [27 August 1952].

-

If you mean whiskey, the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the
bloody monster that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys
the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread
from the mouths of little children; if you mean that evil drink that
topples Christian men and women from the pinnacles of righteous
and gracious living into the bottomless pits of degradation, shame,
despair, helplessness, and hopelessness, then, my friend, I am
opposed to it with every fibre of my being.

However, if by whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the
philosophic wine, the elixir of life, the ale that is consumed when
good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and the
warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas
cheer, the stimulating sip that puts a little spring in the step of an
elderly gentleman on a frosty morning; if you mean that drink that
enables man to magnify his joy, and to forget life's great tragedies
and heartbreaks and sorrow; if you mean that drink the sale of which
pours into Texas treasuries untold millions of dollars each year, that
provides tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our
deaf, our dumb, our pitifully aged and infirm, to build the finest
highways, hospitals, universities, and community colleges in this
nation, then my friend, I am absolutely, unequivocally in favour
of it.

This is my position, and as always, I refuse to be compromised
on matters of principle.

--Noah S. "Soggy" Sweat, Jr. (1922—1996)
American judge and politician.
[1952 speech]

-

My policies are based not on some economic theory, but
on things I and millions like me were brought up with:
an honest day's work for an honest day's pay; live within
your means; put by a nest egg for a rainy day; pay your
bills on time; support the police.
--Margaret Thatcher (b. 1925)
British conservative stateswoman and Prime Minister [1979-90].
Quoted in Chris Ogden _Maggie: An Intimate
Portrait of a Woman in Power_, p. 342 [1990].

-

These are my principles. If you don't like them I have others.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.
Quoted in "Legal Times" [7 February 1983].
(Often attributed to Groucho Marx.)


Principles have no real force except when one is well fed.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.
"Extracts From Adam's Diary", pub. in _The
Niagara Book: A Complete Souvenir Of Niagara
Falls_ [Underhill & Nichols, Buffalo, 1893].

-

I make no defense of expediency, military, political, temporary,
or otherwise. For I believe the moral losses of expediency always
far outweigh the temporary gains. And I believe that every drop
of blood saved through expediency will be paid for by twenty
drawn by the sword.
--Wendell Wilkie (1892—1944)
American lawyer and the Republican nominee
for the 1940 presidential election (won by FDR).
_One World_ [1943]

Their feet through faithless leather met the dirt,
And oftener chang'd their principles than shirt.
--Edward Young (1683—1765)
English poet.
"To Mr. Pope" (epistle I, l. 283)

-----

reprobate (noun)
A morally unprincipled person.
Synonym: miscreant




Click picture to ZOOM
PRIORITIES

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.

see: "IMPORTANT"
see: "SUCCESS" for other related links


You have to decide what your highest priorities
are and have the courage — pleasantly, smilingly,
nonapologetically — to say "no" to other things.
And the way you do that is by having a bigger
"yes" burning inside.
--Stephen Covey (b. 1932)
American author.
_The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People_ [1989]

One resolution I have made, and try always
to keep, is this: "To rise above little things."
--Jonathan Edwards (1703—1758)
American philosopher and preacher.
Attributed in "The Christian Advocate" [1911].

When I get a little money I buy books;
and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.
--Desiderius Erasmus (1469—1536)
Dutch humanist and theologian.
Attributed in Tryon Edwards _A Dictionary of Thoughts_ [1891].

It is easier to be a "humanitarian" than to render your own
country its proper due; it is easier to be a "patriot" than to
make your community a better place to live in; it is easier
to be a "civic leader" than to treat your own family with
loving understanding; for the smaller the focus of attention,
the harder the task.
--Sydney J. Harris (1917—1986)
American journalist.
Quoted in "Reader's Digest", vol. 117 [1980].

^

George Kelly (1887—1974)
American playwright.

On his deathbed Kelly was visited by his sister
Mary's daughter, who had come to see her uncle
for the last time. As she leaned forward to kiss
him the old man whispered softly, 'My dear,
before you kiss me goodbye, fix your hair.
It's a mess.'

--_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.]

^

If you were going to die soon and had only one
phone call you could make, who would you call
and what would you say? And why are you
waiting?
--Stephen Levine (b. 1937)
American autor and poet.
Quoted in Frank Andrews _The Art and Practice of Loving_ [1990].

Kissing your hand may make you feel very, very good,
but a diamond and sapphire bracelet lasts forever.
--Anita Loos (1893—1981)
American novelist and Hollywood screenwriter.
_Gentlemen Prefer Blondes_ [1925]

^

Louis XV (1710—1774)
King of France [1715-74]

Louis was playing cards with members of his
entourage when a certain M. de Chauvelin was
stricken by a fit of apoplexy, of which he died.
'M. de Chauvelin is ill,' exclaimed a courtier,
seeing him fall. Louis turned and surveyed
the fallen body coldly. 'Ill?' he said. 'He is
dead. Take him away. Spades are trumps,
gentlemen.'

--_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.]

^

When your schedule leaves you brain-drained
and stressed to exhaustion, it's time to give up
something. Delegate. Say "No." Be brutal. It's
like cleaning out a closet — after a while, it
gets easier to get rid of things. You discover
that you really didn't need them anyway.
--Marilyn Ruman
Clinical psychologist.
Quoted in Carolyn Warner _The Last Word: A Treasury of Women's Quotes_ [1992].

The church is near but the road is icy; the
tavern is far away but I will walk carefully.
--Russian proverb

Superfluous branches
We lop away, that bearing boughs may live.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Richard II_III, iv [1595]

It is not worthwhile to go around the
world to count the cats in Zanzibar.
--Henry David Thoreau (1817—1862)
American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher.
_Walden_ [1854]




Click picture to ZOOM
PRISON

.
.

see: "CRIME & PUNISHMENT" for related links


Young Crime's finishing-school.
--Clara Lucas Balfour [nιe Liddell] (1808—1878)
English novelist and temperance activist.
Quoted in _The Furniture Gazette_ [25 October 1879].

A robin red breast in a cage
Puts all Heaven in a rage.
--William Blake (1757—1827)
English poet.
_Auguries of Innocence_, l. 5 [c. 1803]

Better build schoolrooms for 'the boy',
Than cells and gibbets for 'the man'.
--Eliza Cook (1818—1889)
English poet.
"A Song for the Ragged Schools" [1853]

The degree of civilization in a society is revealed by entering its prisons.
--Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821—1881)
Russian novelist, journalist, and short story writer.
_The House of the Dead_ [1862] , tr. Constance Garnett [1957]

-

[Guantanamo is] a model prison, where people are
better treated than in Belgian prisons.
--Alain Grignard,
visiting Guantanamo in 2006 with a delegation
from the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe.

& note:

[...] A Reuters dispatch from Moscow, dated Aug. 8, 2003,
reported that Amina Khasanova, whose son was a detainee
there, told a Russian newspaper that she was "terribly
scared of a Russian prison or a Russian court" for him and
hence presumably was in no hurry to have him released.
"At Guantanamo they treat him humanely, the conditions
are fine," she said.

Her son, Andrei Bakhitov, one of the eight Russian detainees
at Guantanamo, had written her: "I think that there is not
even a health resort in Russia on the level of this place."

--Richard Pipes
"Letter to the Editor"
_The Wall Street Journal_ [5 June 2009]

-

I can tell you this on a stack of Bibles: prisons
are archaic, brutal, unregenerative, overcrowded
hell holes where the inmates are treated like
animals with absolutely not one humane thought
given to what they are going to do once they are
released. You're an animal in a cage and you're
treated like one.
--Jimmy Hoffa (1913—1975 [disappeared])
American labor leader.
_Hoffa: The Real Story_ [1975]

A governor of a certain state was visiting the state prison,
and stopped to talk with a number of prisoners. They told
him their story, and in every instance it was one of wrong
suffered by an innocent person. There was one man,
however, who admitted his crime and the justice of his
sentence. 'I must pardon you,' said the governor; 'I can't
have you in here corrupting all these good men.'
--Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865)
American Republican statesman, President [1861-65].
In _Lincoln's Wit_ [1958]

The contagion of crime is like that of the plague.
Criminals collected together corrupt each other;
they are worse than ever when at the termination
of their punishment they re-enter society.
--Napoleon I (1769—1821)
Emperor of France [1804-15].
In _The Table Talk And Opinions Of Napoleon Buonaparte_
[pub. by S. Low, and Marston, London, 1868].

Let us reform our schools, and we shall
find little reform needed in our prisons.
--John Ruskin (1819—1900)
English art and social critic.
_Unto This Last_, essay 2 [1862]

I never go to a menagerie because I cannot endure the sight
of the misery of the captive animals. The exhibiting of
trained animals I abhor. What an amount of suffering and
cruel punishment the poor creatures have to endure in order
to give a few moments' pleasure to men devoid of all thought
and feeling for them!
--Albert Schweitzer (1875—1965)
Franco-German theologian, philosopher, and mission doctor.
_Memories of Childhood and Youth_ [1949]

Any one who has been to an English public school
will always feel comparatively at home in prison.
--Evelyn Waugh (1903—1966)
English novelist.
_Decline and Fall_, pt. 3, ch. 4 [1928]

We think caged birds sing, when indeed they cry.
--John Webster (c. 1580—c. 1625)
English dramatist.
_The White Devil_, 5. 4 [1612]

I want to see the word laogai in every dictionary
in every language in the world. I want to see the
laogai ended. Before 1974, the word "gulag" did
not appear in any dictionary. Today, this single
word conveys the meaning of Soviet political
violence and its labor camp system. "Laogai"
also deserves a place in our dictionaries.
--Harry Wu (b. 1937)
Chinese-born American political activist.
In "Washington Post" [26 May 1996].

--

A man escaped jail by digging a hole from his jail cell to the outside
world. When finally his work was done, he emerged in the middle
of a preschool playground. “I’m free, I’m free!” he shouted.

“So what,” said a little girl. “I’m four.”

-----

gulag (noun) ['gu-lahg]
One of the prison camps spread across the Soviet Union
from Vladimir, Russia eastward used ostensibly to reeducate
criminals, most of whom were political prisoners until the
rise of Khrushchev. A particularly harsh prison.

immure [ih-MYUR], transitive verb:
1. To enclose within walls, or as if within walls;
hence, to shut up; to imprison; to incarcerate.
2. To build into a wall.
3. To entomb in a wall.
Synonyms: cloister, imprison, incarcerate.

oubliette (noun) [oo-bli-'yet]
A cell or dungeon room with only a trapdoor
at the top for entry and exit.





PRIVACY

.
.

see: "BUSYBODIES"
see: "SOLITUDE"
see: "FREEDOM" for other related links
see: "HOME & FAMILY" for other related links


The public good is in nothing more essentially
interested, than in the protection of every
individual's private rights.
--William Blackstone (1723—1780)
English jurist.
_Commentaries on the Laws of England_, Book the First, ch. 1 [1765]

They [the makers of the Constitution] conferred,
as against the government, the right to be let
alone—the most comprehensive of rights and
the right most valued by civilized men.
--Louis Brandeis (1856—1941)
American lawyer and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court [1916-39].
In a dissenting Supreme Court opinion "Olnstead v. United States" [1928].

Let every man mind his own business.
--Miguel de Cervantes (1547—1616)
Spanish novelist.
_Don Quixote de la Mancha_ Part I, Book III, ch. 8 [1605]

If you would be known and not know, vegetate in a
village. If you would know and not be known, live
in a city.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.
_Lacon: or, Many Things in Few Words_, CCCXXXIV [1821 ed.]

I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said,
'I want to be *let* alone.' There is all the
difference.
--Greta Garbo [Greta Lovisa Gustafsson] (1905—1990)
Swedish actress.
Quoted in John Bainbridge _Garbo_ [1955].

New York City is a place where one can
weep on the sidewalk in perfect privacy.
--Edward Hirsch (b. 1950)
American poet.
"Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man" (essay) in _A William Maxwell Portrait_ [2004].

In Czechoslovakia there is no such thing as freedom of the
press. In the United States there is no such thing as freedom
from the press.
--Martina Navratilova (b. 1957)
Czech-born American tennis player.
Quoted in Lee Green _Sportswit_ [1984].

The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the
forces of the Crown. It may be frail — its roof may shake
— the wind may blow through it — the storm may enter
— the rain may enter — but the King of England cannot
enter! — all his forces dare not cross the threshold of
the ruined tenement.
--William Pitt, the Elder, also called (from 1766) 1st Earl of Chatham (1708—1778)
British statesman, twice virtual prime minister [1756-61, 1766-68].
House of Commons speech [March 1763]

The Fourth Amendment, and the personal rights
which it secures, have a long history. At the very
core stands the right of a man to retreat into his
own home and there be free from unreasonable
governmental intrusion.
--Potter Stewart (1915—1985)
Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court [1958—1981].
On electronic eavesdropping, "Silverman v. United States" [1961].

-

The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no
warrents shall issue but upon probable cause, supported
by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the
place to be searched, and the persons or things to
be seized.
--Constitution of the United States,
Fourth Amendment [15 December 1791].


end page



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