Al’s Quotes & Quips – March 2010

“If we can but prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy.” – Thomas Jefferson (quoted in a letter to Thomas Cooper, November 29, 1802)

“Ultimately, the bond of all companionship is conversation.” (Oscar Wilde, quoted in the Martha’s Vineyand, Mass., Times)

“Credit is a system whereby a person who cannot pay gets another person who cannot pay to guarantee that he can pay.” (Charles Dickens, quoted in BookReporter.com)

“It ain’t what you don’t know that hurts you, it’s what you know that ain’t so.” (Satchel Paige)

“An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he’s in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.” (Charles Kettering, inventor, quoted in Reader’s Digest)

“I feel and grieve; but, by the grace of God, I fret at nothing.” (John Wesley at age 73, quoted in The Sword of the Lord)

“There are two ways to slide easily through life; to believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking.” (Alfred Korzybski, quoted in The San Diego Union-Tribune)

“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation and only one bad one to lose it.” (Benjamin Franklin)

“Nothing is easier than spending public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody.” (Calvin Coolidge, quoted in the London Independent)

“I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.” (Martha Washington)

“Sometimes the best way to show someone he is wrong is to let him have his way.”

“One nice thing about egotists is they don’t talk about other people!”

Quote of the month: “Humans hate lines. We reserve a most intimate loathing for our fellow liners-up, who are of course blameless in every respect but one: They are ahead of us. But consider this: Queuing is what separates us from the beasts. If it doesn’t drive you insane, the line—eventually—will straighten you out. I have a problem, you have a problem, we all have a big problem, and within this homely and rather stagnant arrangement of persons is the cure for it. You can’t slow down, but you must slow down. You are irritated by people who trespass on the magnificent urgency of your needs—but there you are, stuck with them. Get in line, baby.” (James Parker, quoted in The Boston Globe)