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Proverbs and Sayings
Other-=-
Cheese—milk's leap toward immortality.
—Clifton Fadiman
%
For most men life is a search for the proper manila envelope in which to
get themselves filed.
—Clifton Fadiman
%
One measure of friendship consists not in the number of things friends can
discuss, but in the number of things they need no longer mention.
—Clifton Fadiman
%
We prefer to believe that the absence of inverted commas guarantees the
originality of a thought, whereas it may be merely that the utterer has
forgotten its source.
—Clifton Fadiman
%
When you read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did
before. You see more in you than there was before.
—Clifton Fadiman
%
The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.
—Philip Jose Farmer
%
The whole world is in revolt. Soon there will be only five Kings
left—the King of England, the King of Spades, the King of Clubs, the
King of Hearts, and the King of Diamonds.
—King Farouk of Egypt, 1948
%
When women hold off from marrying men, we call it independence. When men
hold off from marrying women, we call it fear of commitment.
—Warren Farrell
%
Given a choice between grief and nothing, I'd choose grief.
—William Faulkner
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I decline to accept the end of man.
—William Faulkner
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Dance in the light of the pale cold moon to the sound of a wild
violin.
—Erika Fawcett
%
God gave women intuition and femininity. Used properly, the combination
easily jumbles the brain of any man I've ever met.
—Farrah Fawcett
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Early morning cheerfulness can be extremely obnoxious.
—William Feather
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If people really liked to work, we'd still be plowing the land with sticks
and transporting goods on our backs.
—William Feather
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A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.
—James Feibleman
%
I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I wasn't poor, I was
needy. Then they told me it was self-defeating to think of myself as
needy. I was deprived. (Oh, not deprived but rather underprivileged.) Then
they told me that underprivileged was overused. I was disadvantaged. I
still don't have a dime. But I have a great vocabulary.
—Jules Feiffer
%
Maturity is only a short break in adolescence.
—Jules Feiffer
%
The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write
with.
—Marty Feldman
%
All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers...Each one owes
infinitely more to the human race than to the particular country in which
he was born.
—François Fenelon
%
A woman can look both moral and exciting—if she also looks as if it
were quite a struggle.
—Edna Ferber
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Being an old maid is like death by drowning, a really delightful sensation
after you cease to struggle.
—Edna Ferber
%
Writers should be read but not seen. Rarely are they a winsome sight.
—Edna Ferber
%
If the King's English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for
me!
—Ma Ferguson, Governor of Texas (circa 1920)
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Aaah! You're not allowed to say "adjective" for two more classes!
—Ted Fernald, Linguistics professor
%
English poetry is like a rose, but Navajo poetry is like a cactus
plant.
—Ted Fernald, Linguistics professor, making a point on how weird
language is
%
We do it the old-fashioned way: we use brute force.
—Ted Fernald
%
MTV is the lava lamp of the 1980's.
—Doug Ferrari
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For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public
relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
—Richard Feynman
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I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as
dumb as the next guy.
—Richard Feynman
%
I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here
and there.
—Richard Feynman
%
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the
easiest person to fool.
—Richard Feynman
%
I used to worry about what life was for—now being alive seems
sufficient reason.
—Joanna Field
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I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is two weeks.
—Totie Fields
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Hell, I never vote for anybody. I always vote against.
—W. C. Fields
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Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on
people.
—W. C. Fields
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I always keep a supply of stimulant handy in case I see a snake—which
I also keep handy.
—W. C. Fields
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I am free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally.
—W. C. Fields
%
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point
in being a damn fool about it.
—W. C. Fields
%
Last week, I went to Philadelphia, but it was closed.
—W. C. Fields
%
Never give a sucker an even break.
—W. C. Fields
%
Some things are better than sex, and some are worse, but there's nothing
exactly like it.
—W. C. Fields
%
Some weasel took the cork out of my lunch.
—W. C. Fields
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Start every day off with a smile and get it over with.
—W. C. Fields
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The cost of living has gone up another dollar a quart.
—W. C. Fields
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I may appear to be just sitting here like a bucket of tapioca, but don't
let appearances fool you. I'm approaching old age...at the speed of
light.
—Professor Cosmo Fishhawk
%
An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics
of the next, and the schoolmaster of ever afterwards.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald
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The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed
ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to
function.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald
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The victor belongs to the spoils.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald
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The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar
territory.
—Paul Fix
%
We're mortal—which is to say, we're ignorant, stupid, and
sinful—but those are only handicaps. Our pride is that nevertheless,
now and then, we do our best. A few times we succeed. What more dare we
ask for?
—Ensign Flandry
%
Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for
bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the
stars.
—Gustave Flaubert
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Although Venice is the one town in the world that can swallow up a hundred
thousand tourists as easily as it can a thousand—hiding them down its
side streets, using them for crowd scenes in the piazzas, stuffing them
into the vaporetti—it is still better to share Venice with the
minimum
number of packaged tours and lederhosen.
—Ian Fleming
%
You can get far in North America with laconic grunts. "Huh," "hun," and
"hi!" in their various modulations, together with "sure," "guess
so," "that so?" and "nuts!" will meet almost any contingency.
—Ian Fleming
%
It isn't what they say about you, it's what they whisper.
—Errol Flynn
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Airplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value.
—Marshal Foch, 1911
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My husband said he wanted to have a relationship with a redhead, so I dyed
my hair.
—Jane Fonda
%
Anyone who says businessmen deal in facts, not fiction, has never read old
five-year projections.
—Malcolm Forbes
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Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
—Malcolm Forbes
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History is more or less bunk.
—Henry Ford
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Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
—Henry Ford
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My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.
—Henry Ford
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People can have the Model T in any color—so long as it's black.
—Henry Ford
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You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.
—Henry Ford
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We're not lost. We're locationally challenged.
—John M. Ford
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Nonsense and beauty have close connections.
—E. M. Forster
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Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.
—Harry Emerson Fosdick
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He who chooses the beginning of the road chooses the place it leads to. It
is the means that determines the end.
—Harry Emerson Fosdick
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The woods were made for the hunter of dreams, the brooks for the fishes of
song.
—Sam Walter Foss
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One of the greatest labour-saving inventions of today is tomorrow.
—Vincent T. Foss
%
Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting.
—Alan Dean Foster
%
Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops
of blood form on your forehead.
—Gene Fowler
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Beauty may be skin deep, but ugly goes clear to the bone.
—Redd Foxx
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A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance.
—Anatole France
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Chance is perhaps the work of God when He did not want to sign.
—Anatole France
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If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.
—Anatole France
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The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the poor,
to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.
—Anatole France
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When a thing has been said and well, have no scruple. Take it and copy
it.
—Anatole France
%
I am responsible only to God and history.
—Francisco Franco
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A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the
edges.
—Benjamin Franklin
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Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life
is made of.
—Benjamin Franklin
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Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other.
—Benjamin Franklin
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He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.
—Benjamin Franklin
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I saw few die of hunger; of eating, a hundred thousand.
—Benjamin Franklin
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If you would know the value of money, go try to borrow some.
—Benjamin Franklin
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In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.
—Benjamin Franklin
%
Never confuse motion with action.
—Benjamin Franklin
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The use of money is all the advantage there is in having it.
—Benjamin Franklin
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There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more
easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.
—Benjamin Franklin
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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
—Benjamin Franklin
%
To err is human; to repent, divine; to persist, devilish.
—Benjamin Franklin
%
Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.
—Benjamin Franklin
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We get too soon old and too late smart.
—Frank Kelly Freas
%
I do not care if half the league strikes. Those who do will encounter
quick retribution. All will be suspended, and I don't care if it wrecks
the National League for five years. This is the United States of America
and one citizen has as much right to play as another.
—Ford Frick, National League President, reacting to a threatened
strike by some Cardinal players in 1947 if Jackie Robinson took the field
against St. Louis. The Cardinals backed down and played.
%
The perfect friend sees the best in you—sees it constantly—not
just when you occasionally are that way, but also when you waver, when you
forget yourself, act like less than you are. In time, you become more like
his vision of you—which is the person you have always wanted to
be.
—Nancy Friday
%
It is easier to live through someone else than to become complete
yourself.
—Betty Friedan
%
Men are not the enemy, but the fellow victims. The real enemy is women's
denigration of themselves.
—Betty Friedan
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Just because it happened in a fictional movie about a robot policeman
doesn't mean it's right.
—Daniel Friedman
%
The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is
generally employed only by small children and large nations.
—David Friedman
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Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.
—Milton Friedman
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Technology is a way of organizing the universe so that man doesn't have to
experience it.
—Max Frisch
%
As we ascend the social ladder, viciousness wears a thicker mask.
—Erich Fromm
%
Immature love says, "I love you because I need you." Mature love says, "I
need you because I love you."
—Erich Fromm
%
Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself.
—Erich Fromm
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Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.
—Erich Fromm
%
The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a
criminal.
—Erich Fromm
%
Television enables you to be entertained in your home by people you
wouldn't have in your home.
—David Frost
%
A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask
for it back when it begins to rain.
—Robert Frost
%
A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never her
age.
—Robert Frost
%
A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better
lawyer.
—Robert Frost
%
A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel.
—Robert Frost
%
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your
temper.
—Robert Frost
%
Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't,
and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.
—Robert Frost
%
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you
in.
—Robert Frost
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I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own
way.
—Robert Frost
%
I would like to know
What I was fencing in
And what I was fencing out.
—Robert Frost
%
If society fits you comfortably enough, you call it freedom.
—Robert Frost
%
The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in
the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.
—Robert Frost
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The only way round is through.
—Robert Frost
%
The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry
than work.
—Robert Frost
%
The world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest
willing to let them.
—Robert Frost
%
You can be a rank insider as well as a rank outsider.
—Robert Frost
%
All my friends tell me I actually exist, and by an act of faith I've come
to believe them.
—Christopher Fry, "The Lady's Not for Burning"
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I made my viol commit such sins of sound, and I didn't mind.
—Christopher Fry, "The Lady's Not for Burning"
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I shall be loath to forego one day of you.
—Christopher Fry, "The Lady's Not for Burning"
%
I should like to think of you as someone I knew many years ago and, alas,
wouldn't see again. That would be charming.
—Christopher Fry, "The Lady's Not for Burning"
%
What, after all, is a halo? It's only one more thing to keep clean.
—Christopher Fry
%
You really mustn't expect me to be Christian in twodirections at once.
—Christopher Fry, "The Lady's Not for Burning"
%
Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do,
and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the
graduate school mountain but there in the sandbox at nursery school.
These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit
people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own
mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt
someone. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk
are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw
and paint and sing and dance and play and work some every day.
Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for
traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the
little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up
and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and
hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic
cup—they
all die. So do we.
And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you
learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK. Everything you need to know is in
there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology
and politics and sane living.
Think of what a better world it would be if we all—the whole
world—had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then
lay
down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our
nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and
cleaned up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you
are, when you go out into the world it is best to hold hands and stick
together.
—Robert Fulghum, "All I ever really needed to know I learned in
kindergarten"
%
Sticks and stones will break our bones, but words will break our
hearts.
—Robert Fulghum
%
Everything you've learned in school as "obvious" becomes less and less
obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there are no
solids in the universe. There's not even a suggestion of a solid. There
are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces. There are no straight
lines.
—R. Buckminster Fuller
%
Faith is much better than belief. Belief is when someone else does the
thinking.
—R. Buckminster Fuller
%
How often I found where I should be going only by setting out for
somewhere else.
—R. Buckminster Fuller
%
The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun.
—R. Buckminster Fuller
%
The most important thing about Spaceship Earth—an instruction book
didn't come with it.
—R. Buckminster Fuller
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Music is nothing else but wild sounds civilized into time and tune.
—Thomas Fuller
%
The biggest difference between time and space is that you can't reuse
time.
—Merrick Furst
%
Innovation is hard to schedule.
—Dan Fylstra