But Charlie, remember what happened to the man who suddenly
got everything he always wanted. . . . He lived happily ever after.
Roald Dahl Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
Why be annoying, when with a little bit of
effort, you can be completely impossible?
This is my simple
religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our
own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.
The Dalai Lama (b. 1935) Tibetan
Buddhist spiritual leader [b. Tenzin Gyatso]
Help others, failing in that
do no harm.
The Dalai Lama
(b. 1935) Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader [b. Tenzin Gyatso]
Just as I am astonished that
a bank clerk never eats a cheque, so too am I astonished that no painter before
me ever thought of painting a soft watch.
The only difference
between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.
Fight for your
opinions, but do not believe that they contain the whole truth or the only
truth.
Charles A. Dana
The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of
moral crisis maintain their neutrality.
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian
poet quoted by John F. Kennedy,
Abandon Hope, All
Ye Who Enter Here.
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet
“Inferno” Sign at the entrance to Hell
I wept
not, so to stone within I grew.
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian
poet
I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with a lot of
pleasure.
Clarence Darrow (1857-1938) American
lawyer "Medley"
Sometimes when reading
Goethe I have the paralyzing suspicion that he is trying to be funny.
Guy Davenport
For here is spiritual pride, the ultimate sin, in action -- the sin of
believing in one's own righteousness. The true prophet says humbly, "To
me, a sinful man, God spoke." But the scribes and Pharisees declare,
"When we speak, God agrees." They feel no need of a special
revelation, for they are always, in their own view, infallible. It is this
self-righteousness of the pious that most breeds atheism, by inspiring all
decent, ordinary men with loathing of the enormous lie.
Joy Davidman (1915-1960) American
poet; wife of C.S. Lewis [Joy Davidman Gresham] Smoke
on the Mountain (1955)
Book lovers are
thought by unbookish people to be gentle and unworldly, and perhaps a few of
them are so. But there are others who will lie and scheme and steal to get
books as wildly and unconscionably as the dope-taker in pursuit of his drug.
They may not want the books to read immediately, or at all; they want them to
possess, to range on their shelves, to have at command. They want books as a
Turk is thought to want concubines-- not to be hastily deflowered, but to be
kept at their master’s call, and enjoyed more often in thought than in reality.
Robertson Davies (1913-1995) Canadian
author, editor, publisher Tempest-Tost (1951)
Authors like cats because
they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the
same reasons.
Robertson Davies (1913-1995) Canadian author, editor, publisher
I never heard of
anyone who was really literate or who ever really loved books who wanted to
suppress any of them. Censors only read a book with great difficulty, moving
their lips as they puzzle out each syllable, when someone tells them that the
book is unfit to read.
Robertson Davies (1913-1995) Canadian author, editor,
publisher
Wisdom is a variable
possession. Every man is wise when pursued by a mad dog, fewer when pursued by
a mad woman; only the wisest survive when attacked by a mad notion.
Robertson Davies (1913-1995) Canadian author, editor, publisher
And
no, reason and logic are not
masculine instruments of oppression. To suggest that they are is an insult to
women.
Richard Dawkins
Unweaving the Rainbow
As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then
their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to
destroy.
Christopher Dawson (1889-1970) English
historian The Judgement of Nations (1942)
Dream as if
you’ll live forever and live as if you’ll die tomorrow.
James Dean
There is love, and there is
work; and we have only one heart.
Edgar Degas
(1834 – 1917)
A memory is what is left when
something happens, and does not completely unhappen.
Edward de Bono
The graveyards are full of indispensable men.
Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) French
statesman and soldier
No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made.
Destiny is made known silently.
Agnes De Mille (1905-1993) American
dancer, choreographer
To dance is to be
out of yourself, larger, more powerful, more beautiful. This is power, it is
glory on earth and it is yours for the taking.
Agnes De Mille (1905-1993) American
dancer, choreographer
I'm not a big one for "my nation, right or wrong." I've always
been extremely uneasy with the argument that "might makes right". But
sometimes my nation is right, and sometimes might is the correct answer.
Sometimes when the entire world condemns you all it proves is that they value
different things. What's good for them may not be good for us. War is bad, but
sometimes all the alternatives are worse.
Steven Den Beste (contemp.) American
essayist, engineer U.S.S. Clueless (
Every day, the dog
and I, we go for a tramp in the woods. And he loves it! Mind you, the tramp is
getting a bit fed up!
Jerry Dennis
Bravery
is not a function of firepower.
J. C. Denton, Deus Ex
A
bomb's a bad choice for close-range combat.
J. C. Denton, Deus
Ex
There
is always, in any good list, a sort called “other”.
Morlenden
Deren
Memorize quotes.
They’re useful in ending and winning arguments. Then again, so are
semi-automatic weapons.
Tony Detharidge
[But] I've spent a lot of my life working in New Guinea Jared Diamond, Guns Germs and Steel
Never attribute to malice
what can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Nick Diamos
One time I figured out this: if you aren't brave, it doesn't matter what
other virtues you have, because you aren't going to act them out. What good
does it do to be able to see truth if you're too chickenshit to act on the
basis of what you see? I finally reduced all human virtues to one: bravery.
Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) American
writer
What he did not
know then is that it is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go
insane.
Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) American
writer VALIS
The basic tool
for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can
control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the
words.
Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) American
writer
I hope, for His sake, that
God does not exist -- because if He does, He has an awful lot to answer for.
Philip K. Dick
(1928-1982) American writer
It is a far, far
better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest
that I go to, than I have ever known.
Charles Dickens A Tale of Two
Cities, spoken by Sydney Carter
Because I could
not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me. The carriage held but just
ourselves, and immortality.
Emiliy Dickinson
It is the friends you can call up at
Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992)
German-American actress, singer
All things can be cured by salt water: sweat, tears, or the ocean.
Isak Dinesen (1885-1962) Danish
writer [pseud. of Karen Christence, Countess Blixen]
If they're selling elephants two for a quarter, that's a great bargain.
But only if you have a quarter -- and only if you need elephants.
David N. Dinkins (b. 1927) American
politician On a great land deal for
the city; quoted by Leonard Buder, _New York Times_
Cat-lovers will no doubt point out that the elegance and dignity of cats
are the consequence of their sojourn in the temples of the gods, where their
attitudes and movements were regarded as divine prognostications. Be that as it
may, it is obvious that the cat's wealth of expressions make it an ideal
candidate for such a role. Unlike the dog, which either wags its tail or does
not wag its tail, the cat possesses a wide range of means to convey its
emotions: It arches its back, makes its fur stand on end, meows, rubs itself
against furniture and against humans, purrs, lashes its tail, spits, and
hisses. The priests of Bacht, therefore, had ample material for interpretation.
Philippe Diolé, French biologist. "At the Service of the Heart"
A woman did what
a woman had to, the best way she knew how. To do more was impossible, to do
less, unthinkable.
Dirisha, “The Man Who Never Missed”
Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for
truth.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) English
politician and author
Frank and explicit — that is the right line to take when you wish to
conceal your own mind and confuse the minds of others.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) English
politician and author Sybil, "The Gentleman in
Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in
life is to know when to forego an advantage.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) English
politician and author The Infernal Marriage (1834)
"I'd totally forgotten," Sagar [Mrs. Dutta's son] says.
"How can you keep track of all those old, old things?"
Because it is the
lot of mothers to remember what no one else cares to, Mrs. Dutta thinks. To tell those stories over and over, until
they are lodged, perforce, in family lore. We are the keepers of the heart's
dusty corners.
Chitra Divakaruni, "Mrs. Dutta
Writes a Letter," in The Best
American Short Stories 1999, ed. Amy Tan
Some people say
that cats are sneaky, evil, and cruel. True, and they have many other fine
qualities as well.
You know how dumb
the average person is? Well, by definition, half of them are dumber than
“that”!
J.R. “Bob” Dobbs
Then
there's the giant tentacle creature. Which is probably the most awesome
collection of polygons we've seen in a 3D game. Naturally you want to unload
several thousand rounds into its face. Except it hasn't got a face. And anyway,
that's the worst thing you can do because it hunts by sound, menacingly
tippity-tapping away on the metal grates surrounding it.... The tentacle
beast... obviously resides in the lovely warmth of a missile silo, just below
the main engines of a rocket. Firing that rocket immediately becomes your sole
reason for existence.
Mark Donald of PC Gamer
No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the
Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is
the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends
or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in
Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for
thee.
John Donne (1572-1631) English
poet Devotions on Emergent Occasions,
Meditation XVII (1624)
No one holds
command over me. No man. No god. No prince. What is the claim of age for ones
who are immortal? Call your damnable hunt. We shall see who I drag screaming
into hell with me.
Gunther Dorn; Vampire:
the Masquerade
Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) Russian
novelist "Celebrating
a Lie"
Living in
Justice William O.
Douglas (1898-1980)
I used to want to
die so bad, it was all I could think about, like oh, if I was dead would this
person care, or oh, if I was dead, I wouldn’t feel like this, etc. But then one
day I began to realize that I really did not want to die at all. What I REALLY
wanted, was to start living.
Jacey Dowery
Beware the fury of a patient man.
John Dryden (1631-1700) English
poet, dramatist, critic Absalom and Achitophel, pt. 1, l. 1005
(1681)
They
have so much. No wonder they understand us so little, who are so poor. Perhaps
they don’t even understand the anger that the hungry feel when the full go by,
unthinking . . .
Diane Duane -----My
Enemy, My Ally
The
meek had, after all, inherited Vulcan: The Rihannsu had gone out and conquered
the stars.
Diane Duane -----The
The important thing is this:
to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.
Charles Du Bos
If I could tell you what it meant, there would be no point in dancing it.
Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) American
dancer, feminist
Efficiency is intelligent laziness.
A woman needs a man like a
fish needs a bicycle.
Irina Dunn, commonly misattributed to Gloria Steinem who had quoted
Dunn
And that's the world in a nutshell, an appropriate receptacle.
A fanatic is a man that does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew
the facts of the case.
Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936) American
humorist and journalist Mr. Dooley's Opinions, "Casual
Observations" (1901)
A man is a very small thing,
and the night is very large and full of wonders.
Lord Dunsany The Laughter of the Gods
Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with
blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians
usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love,
raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of
civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are
pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.
William James Durant (1885-1981) American
historian, teacher, philosopher
Life (
Why is it the biggest
outcries against same sex marriage always come from places attempting to uphold
the sacred bond between a man and his cousin?
Will Durst
You are always a
valuable, worthwhile human being, not because anybody says so, not because
you’re successful, not because you make a lot of money, but because you decide
to believe it and for no other reason.
Wayne Dyer
People seldom do
what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent.
Bob Dylan
Technology is a gift of God.
After the gift of life it is perhaps the greatest of God's gifts. It is the
mother of civilizations, of arts and of sciences.
Freeman Dyson Infinite in All Directions