We dedicate this book / To our fellow citizens
Who, for love of truth, / Take from their own wants
By taxes and gifts, / And now and then send forth
One of themselves / As dedicated servant
To forward the search / Into the mysteries and marvelous simplicities
Of this strange and beautiful Universe, / Our home.
Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler, in "Gravitation"

Water is composed of two gins. Oxygin and hydrogin. Oxygin is pure gin. Hydrogin is gin and water. (children say)

Fastest car I've ever been in is a Williams FW18. However since it was parked in a shop at the time I reached a top speed of bugger all. (Jonathan McCormack)

You are an idiot - get off the NG now. (usenet)

You are, of course, correct, and I disagree completely. (usenet)

Am I correct in understanding you are defending your work's right to be termed "drivel?" (usenet)

2 + 2 = 5 for extremely large values of 2.

Programmer - A red-eyed, mumbling mammal capable of conversing with inanimate objects.

First of all, real programmers don't work for money. [...] On the other hand, some real programmers are so oblivious to the physical world that $14,000 a year sounds like good pay.

You are so knowledgeable about technology that you feel secure enough to say "I don't know" when someone asks you a technology question instead of feeling compelled to make something up.

One header file had two uses of a `#warning' preprocessor directive. I just commented these out. (usenet)

Reboot isn't as security-sensitive as kill. [...] Reboot is only good for a rather coarse-grained denial of service. (usenet)

Pi is quite misunderstood at times. Consider the expression "pi r square". That's incorrect. Pi are round. Cakes are square. (Ken Plotkin)

Being imprecise with notation to avoid a mess [...] (Marsha Berger)

I have a theory about gravity. One that I sure will die a merciful death once I learn the answer to my question. (laross)

You're in the right place to ask sensible questions to which those in the know will happily respond without putting you down. (usenet)

What is past is prologue. (usenet)

The future of "I give" is "I take." (children say)

Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once. (Woody Allen)

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. (Winston Churchill, 1947)

My twenty-first birthday is coming up on November 12 of this year. If this document made your life easier, and your ssh2 installation a success... please feel free to enjoy a beer on that day. Unfortunately due to varying time zones, synchronization is not possible. But you can assume that I will probably be doing the same thing, at the same time you are. (Lou Rinaldi)

Some people say that I must be a horrible person, but that's not true. I have the heart of a young boy -- in a jar on my desk. (Stephen King)

To resist the frigidity of old age one must combine the body, the mind and the heart - and to keep them in parallel vigor one must exercise, study and love. (Karl von Bonstetten)

In the world of romance, one single rule applies: Make the woman happy. Do something she likes & you get points. Do something she dislikes & points are subtracted. You don't get any points for doing something she expects - sorry, that's the way the game is played. (Make the woman happy)

Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance. (Oscar Wilde)

Woman was created from the rib of man; Not from his head to be thought of only, nor from his hand to be owned, nor from his foot to be beneath, but from under his arm to be protected, from his side to be equal, and from his heart to be loved.

I know the nature of women; When you want to, they don't want to. And when you don't want to, they desire exceedingly. (Terence, 185-159 B.C.)

Decency demanded that such pain and misery be permitted at least privacy.

Remember, beneath every cynic there lies a romantic, and probably an injured one. (Glenn Beck)

You're right, disappointment doesn't kill. Rejection kills. Disappointment only maims. (Abby Barnes in reference to dating, The Truth about Cats and Dogs)

To love is to be vulnerable. (C.S. Lewis)

The magic of first love is our ignorance that it can ever end. (Benjamin Disraeli, English prime minister)

That's the nature of women not to love when we love them, and to love when we love them not. (Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote de la Mancha)

Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says: 'I need you because I love you.' (Erich Fromm)

Love is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction. (Antoine de Saint-Exupery; Wind, Sand and Stars)

It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. (Alfred Tennyson)

If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it is yours. If it does not, it never was.

One world at a time. (Thoreau)

If I swear to him, then all that I am is dead already. (William Wallace, Braveheart)

No one can make you inferior without your consent.

You're never a loser until you quit trying. (Mike Ditka)

All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination. (Earl Nightengale)

Don't be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends. (Richard Bach, Illusions)

A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you today just the way you are. (Robert Louis Stevenson)

A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. (Walter Winchell)

All grown-ups were once children -- although few of them remember it.

The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne. (Chaucer-Parliament of Fowls)

Hard work pays off eventually; laziness pays off today. (Chris Brislawn)

I could have done it in a much more complicated way if I really tried. (Red Queen, Alice and Wonderland)

When in doubt, predict that the present trend will continue. (Merkin's Maxim)

He who hesitates is not only lost, but several miles from the next freeway exit. (Nowlan's Theory)

It's kind of fun to do the impossible. (Walt Disney)

In some ways we are more confused than ever, but we feel that we are confused on a higher level and about more important things.

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18. (Albert Einstein)

The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved. (Victor Hugo)

Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before. (Mae West)

Behind every successful man is a surprised woman! (Lester B. Pearson)

In three words, I can sum up everything I know about life: it goes on. (Robert Frost)

Nothing is as inevitable as a mistake whose time has come. (Tussman)

I have often regretted my speech, never my silence. (Tony Langdon)

Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. (Jim Horning)

For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong. (H. L. Mencken)

Should not we, then, exert ourselves to do good? (Ko Hung, 4th century A.D)

Sort of been there. Sort of done that. Woohoo is the expression, I think. (David Betts)

Walking on two legs is very difficult.

A wolf who stands alone will soon die alone.

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. (Frank Herbert, Dune)

I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn't frighten me. (Richard P. Feynman)

The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts. (Paul Ehrlich)

Be aware that however you treat me, I'll NEVER forget it. (Ten Commandments for a Responsible Pet Owner)

Human beings are the only creatures who are able to behave irrationally in the name of reason. (Ashley Montagu, English anthropologist, by way of C.)

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

We often think that when we have completed our study of one we know all about two, because "two" is "one and one." We forget that we still have to make a study of "and." (Sir Arthur Eddington)

Fiction gives us the second chance that life denies us. (Paul Theroux)

Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand. (Emily Kimbrough)

Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed. (Irene Peter)

All generalizations are dangerous, even this one. (Alexandre Dumas)

Patience carries a lot of wait.

Time takes everything and everything takes time. (M. Khan)

there are many things worth living for
there are a few things worth dying for
there are no things worth killing for

Because we do not know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustable well. And yet everything happens only a certain number of times; and a very small number really. How many times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood; an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps 4 or 5 times more? Perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps, 20. And yet it all seems limitless. (Brandon Lee)

People with goals succeed because they know where they're going. (Earl Nightingale)

We are all lost at sea, washed between hope and despair, hailing something that may never come to rescue us. (Julian Barnes)

It is largely left to her own natural bodily perfection, and she has no special need to resort to artificial coloring and powdering to look beautiful. Daisetz Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture (referring to life)

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. (Norman Cousins)

If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. (Mark Twain)

There are no perfect man, only perfect intentions. (Robin Hood, in Prince of Thieves)

Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back. (Marcus Aurelius, in Gladiator)

Every man dies, not every man really lives. (William Wallace, in Braveheart)

After all, it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. (Angus Dumbledore, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone)

We do what we do, because of who we are. If we did otherwise, we would not be ourselves. (Neil Gaiman)

Nothing for nothing is nothing.

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. (Seneca)

I'm almost what you see. Almost! (Mel Brooks)

Almost everything in life is easier to get into than out of. (Agnes' Law)

Beauty is only shell deep.

I can't complain, but sometimes I still do. (Joe Walsh)

It's irony. It's fine. It occurs everywhere in life. Even without trying. (Eugen Miya)

"Sometimes" is sometimes "not never". (Leslie Lamport)

You can't have everything... where would you put it? (Steven Wright)

It was then that the fox appeared. "Good morning," said the fox. "Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing. "I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree." "Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added "You are very pretty to look at." "I am a fox," the fox said. "Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy." "I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed." "Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince. But, after some thought, he added: "What does that mean - `Tame'?" "You do not live here," said the fox. "What is it that you are looking for?" "I am looking for men," said the little prince. "What does that mean - `Tame'?" "Men," said the fox. "They have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?" "No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean - `Tame'?" "It is an act TOO OFTEN NEGLECTED," said the fox. "It means ~ `To Establish TIES." "To Establish TIES?" "Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on you part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you `Tame' me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..." "I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower... I think she has tamed me..." "It is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of things." "Oh, but this in not on the Earth!" said the little prince. The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious. "On another planet?" "Yes." "Are there hunters on that planet?" "No." "Ah, this is interesting! Are there chickens?" "No." "Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox. But he came back to his idea. "My life is very monotonous," he said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All chickens are just alike, and all men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the Sun came to shine on my life. I shall KNOW the sound of a step that will different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have Nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of Gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have `Tamed' me! The grain, which is golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat..." The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time. "Please - `Tame' me!!" he said.

And then to wake up. To wake up later, when I don't think any more, when I don't wander, when I never wander any more, not even in thoughts. Someone will come to me, take me by the hand, take care of me, take me by the hand and say: "My name is Olga. Close your eyes. I'm going to tell you about everything."

One Day, Edward Stachura

"How strangely this girl talks" - I thought. "How did she manage to survive and how did her oldfashioned thinking survive in this world, among these people who - unable to love so strongly and simply - do everything to oppress, to degrade, to disgrace, to destroy such love (for otherness irritates likeness). And they have created for this destructive purpose a special philosophy, special art, special specialists-artists, all the special world. And, sure, it's true, tomorrow the Sun may go out or it may be obscured by a horrible monstrous mushroom. For ever, tomorrow, the next day, for ever, it may well happen."
"And you know" - she resumed - "maybe that's obvious to you, but I want to tell you as well, tell you simply that I am for faithfulness, for absolute faithfulness . . ."

With My Willpower I'll Fall in Love with Her, Edward Stachura

"Have you ever been in love? Horrible, isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens your heart and it means someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defences. You build up this whole armour, for years, so nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They don't ask for it. They do something dumb one day like kiss you, or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so a simple phrase like "maybe we should just be friends" or "how very perceptive" turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a body-hurt, a real gets-inside- you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love."

Neil Gaiman

I said so little.
Days were short.

Short days.
Short nights.
Short years.

I said so little.
I couldn't keep up. [...]