Return
Home
The
Credits
The
Cast
Act
1
Act
2
Act
3
The
End
The
Reviews
Photos
     
 
PRETENTIONS --- PRIDE --- PRINCIPLES
PRIORITIES --- PRISON
PRIVACY

.
.
.


PRETENTIONS

see "DECEPTION" for related links


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 twice-weekly journal 1750—1752), #189

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_

-----

ostentation /os-ten-TAY-shuhn/, noun:
Excessive or pretentious display; boastful showiness.
Ex.: The Puritan leadership was especially distressed by
the sartorial ostentation of the lower classes, who were
supposed to content themselves with 'raiment suitable
to the order in which God's providence has placed them.'
--Patricia O'Toole,
_Money & Morals in America: A History _

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




PRIDE

.
.

see "EMOTIONS & FEELINGS" for related links


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

One of the best temporary cures for pride and
affectation is seasickness; a man who wants
to vomit never puts on airs.
--Josh Billings [Henry Wheeler Shaw] (1818—1885)
American humorist.

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.

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]

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.

-

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]

-

-

I pointed out a moment ago that 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.

--C.S. [Clive Staples] Lewis (1898—1963)
British scholar and novelist.
_Mere Christianity_ [1952], Book 3, Chapter 8

-

The devil, proud spirit, cannot endure to be mocked.
--Thomas Moore (1779—1852)
Irish poet, satirist, composer, and musician.

'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_ [1885-1886],
tr. William Kaufmann [1966].

Would the boy you were be proud of the man you are?
--Laurence J. Peter (1919—1990)
Canadian teacher and author.

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

-----

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

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



PRINCIPLES

.
.

see "CHARACTER" for related links


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.

-

In matter of principle, stand like a rock; in
matters of taste, swim with the current.
--Thomas Jefferson (1743—1826)
American statesman and president [1801—1809].


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—1809].
In a letter to Benjamin Rush [20 December 1801].

-

The probability that we may fail in the struggle
ought not to deter us from the support of a cause
we believe to be just.
--Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865)
American Republican statesman, President [1861—1865].

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].

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

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].

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.

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




PRIORITIES

.
.

see "SUCCESS" for related links


One resolution I have made, and try always to keep,
is this: "To rise above little things."
--John Burroughs (1837—1921)
American naturalist and writer.

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 (1932— )
American author.
_The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People_

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.

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 (1937— )
American autor and poet.
In Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen
_Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Stories to Open
the Heart & Rekindle the Spirit_, p. 111 [1993].

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 [1715-1774]

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.]

^

Whatever it is, if it doesn't make you happy, walk
away, give it away to someone else who wants it.
Let it be THEIR next dream; let it flee from you.
You're emptying out your limitations when you do
that. Then you have ROOM to grow, to allow
magnificent things to fill the vacuum of those
seemingly empty places. When you hold onto
yesterday, when you hold onto dead and dying
adventures, you have no room in your box for
greatness.
--Ramtha

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

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_ [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.

We hear of a silent generation, more concerned
with security than integrity, with conforming
than performing, with imitating than creating.
--Thomas J. Watson, Sr. (1874—1956)
American industrialist and founder of IBM.




Click picture to ZOOM
PRISON

.
.

see "CRIME & PUNISHMENT" for related links


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—1865].
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—1815].

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]

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 (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.
Ex.: Not surprisingly, Sally shuddered at the thought of being
immured in the black cave, to die slowly and hopelessly, far
below the sunny hillside.
--Peter Pierce,
"The Fiction of Gabrielle Lord,"
Australian Literary Studies [October 1999]
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

.
.

from government: see "FREEDOM" for related links
at home: see "HOME & FAMILY" for 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.

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—1939].
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_ [1605-1615]

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.

I never said, `I want to be alone.' I only said,
`I want to be left alone.' There is all the
difference.
--Greta Garbo [Greta Lovisa Gustafsson]
(1905—1990) Swedish actress.

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—1761, 1766—1768].
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].

If the country ever finds itself in an uncomfortable
position with respect to privacy, it will not be the
result of a grand collusion executing a master plan.
Rather, it will be the end point of a series of decisions,
each made by a bureaucrat; and each having been
seen, at the time, as a valuable thing to have done
and serving a commendable social cause.
--Willis Ware,
_NorthStar_ [29 September 1996]

-

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



| PACIFISM & PAIN | PAINTING - PARENTING | PARIS - PASSPORTS | PAST (THE) - PATRIOTISM | PEACE - PERCENTAGES | PEOPLE | PERCEPTIONS - PERSUASION | PESSIMISM - PHOBIAS | PHONIES - PHYSICS | PI - PLANS | PLACES | PLANTS - POETRY | POISON - POLITICAL PARTIES | POLITICS & POLITICIANS | POLLS - POPES | POPEYE - POTENTIAL | POVERTY | POWER | PRACTICALITY - PRAYER | PREACHERS - PREPARED (BE) | PRESENT (THE) - PRETENDING | PRETENTIONS - PRIVACY | PROBLEMS - PROGRESSIVES | PROGRESS - PROPAGANDA | PROPOSALS - PUBLIC (THE) | PUBLIC OPINION - PURPOSE (ON HAVING A) | QUALITIES - QUIPS | QUIRKS - QUOTATIONS |
| H | I - J | K - L | M | N - O | P - Q |
| Return Home | The Credits | The Cast | Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3 | The End | The Reviews | Photos |
 
     



Copyright © 2008, someworthwhilequotes.com. All rights reserved.