The scientist has marched in and taken the place of the poet. But one day somebody will find the solution to the problems of the world and remember, it will be a poet, not a scientist.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) via The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives
Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore it if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882) via Self-Reliance, 1841
Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.
—Frank Zappa (1940 – 1993)
Television is chewing gum for the eyes.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959)
It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things.
—Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) via The Prince, Chapter VI (1513)
We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.
—John M. Culkin, Jr. via A Schoolman’s Guide to Marshall McLuhan (The Saturday Review), (typically attributed to Marshall McLuhan)
Confusion is a word we have invented for an order that is not understood.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own.
—李小龍. a.k.a., Bruce Lee via Think exist
Committee—a group of men who keep minutes and waste hours.
—Milton Berlinger a.k.a., Milton Bearle (1908–2002)
If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.
—Milton Berlinger a.k.a., Milton Bearle (1908–2002)
Brevity is the soul of wit.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) via (Polonius in Hamlet)
The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) via Washington Post
It was as undesigned as possible.
—Michael Bierut (b.1957) via New York Observer
There are 3 rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) via QI
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) via QI
Hello, World!
—Brian Kernighan (b. 1945) via Wikipedia