Curious Quotations
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- "It is a truism that no row is ever about what it is about."
- Simon Barnes (English journalist) writing in The Times about the infamous boot incident between David Beckham and Sir Alex Ferguson, 01/09/03.
- "I'm not young enough to know everything."
- J.M. Barrie (Scottish novelist and dramatist. 1860–1937), The Admirable Crichton, Act I, 1903.
- "a lot of men fish all their lives without ever realizing that fish isn’t really what they’re after."
- Michael Baughman (Author) paraphrasing from Thoreau's Walden in A River Seen Right, Lyons Press, 1995.
- "I want Brooklyn to be christened, but I don't know into what religion yet."
- David Beckham (English Footballer. 1975– ) speaking after the birth of his first son.
- I look forward to the invention of faster-than-light travel. What I'm not looking forward to is the long wait in the dark once I arrive at my destination.
- Marc Béland (Canadian Actor 1958– )
- The paradox about paradoxes is that they themselves are not paradoxical.
- John Berndt
- "Nobody goes there anymore - it's too crowded."
- Yogi Berra (American baseball player and manager. 1925– ) referring to a popular restuarant.
- "Anybody who can't hear the difference between a ball hitting wood & a ball hitting concrete must be blind.
- Yogi Berra
- "Les utopies apparaissent comme bien plus réalisables qu'on ne le croyait autrefois. Et nous nous trouvons
actuellement devant une question bien autrement angoissant: Comment éviter leurs réalisation définitive?...Les utopies sont réalisables.
La vie marche vers les utopies. Et peut-être un siècle nouveau commence-t-il, un siècle où les intellectuels et la classe cultivée rêveront au
moyens d'éviter les utopies et de retourner a une société non utopique, moins 'parfaite' et plus libre."
- Nikolai Berdyaev (Russian philosopher. 1874–1948) This quotation appears as a preface to Aldous Huxley's "Brave New Word."
- Only someone who is well prepared has the opportunity to improvise.
- Ingmar Bergman (Swedish film director. 1918–2007)
- "Time is a great teacher. Unfortunately, it kills all its pupils."
- Hector Louis Berlioz (French composer. 1803–69)
- I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered
- George Best (Northern Irish professional footballer. 1946–2005)
- Abstainer -- a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.
- Ambrose Bierce (American journalist and writer. 1842–?1914), The Devil's Dictionary, 1906.
- "Today is not a time for soundbites...But I feel that the hand of history is on our shoulder."
- Tony Blair (British Prime Minister. 1953– ), standing on the steps of Hillsborough Castle, having arrived to try and rescue the Good Friday Agreement (1998).
- It was mentioned on CNN that the new prime number discovered
recently is four times bigger than the previous record.
- John Blasik
- Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.
- Niels Bohr (Danish physicist. 1885–1962) Various variations on this theme have been attributed to Bohr but it is unclear whether he ever spoke these words.
- "We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question that divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct."
- Niels Bohr These words are reported to have been said to Wolfgang Pauli after his presentation of Heisenberg's and Pauli's nonlinear field theory of elementary particles at Columbia University in 1958.
- Logic is invincible because in order to combat logic it is necessary to use logic.
- Pierre Boutroux French mathematician (1880–1922) Quoted in Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times by Morris Kline.
- What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
(German dramatist. 1898–1956)
- "Terribe is the temptation to be good."
- Bertolt Brecht
, The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1948).
- "The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit on infinite error."
- Bertolt Brecht
, The Life of Galileo (1939) sc. 9.
- "Because I don't trust him, we are friends."
- Bertolt Brecht
, Mother Courage (1939) sc. 3.
- "Just because a politician said something doesn’t mean he said it"
- Rory Bremner (British comedian. 1961– ) All out politics, Sky news podcast: it’s a general election, actually. 11 Dec 2019.
- "The years go fast and the days go slow."
- Isaac K. Brock (Musician, songwriter. 1975– ), lyric in the song "Heart Cooks Brain" (1999) by Modest Mouse
- "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?"
- Robert Browning (English poet. 1812–89), Andrea del Sarto (1855) L. 97.
- "The less one knows about the universe, the easier it is to explain."
- Leon Brunschvicg (French philosopher. 1869–1944)
- "Poker language is funny. Fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing."
- Doyle Brunson
(US professional poker player. 1933– )
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“I still believe in the philosophy – FORTUNE quoted me saying this 20 years ago – that a very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything but not enough to do nothing.”
- Warren Buffet (US investor and philanthropist. 1930– ) FORTUNE articles, June 25, 2006 & September 29, 1986
- "I'm still an atheist, thank God."
- Luis Buñuel (Spanish film director. 1900–83)
- I want it to be said that the Bush administration was a results-oriented administration,
because I believe the results of focusing our attention and energy on teaching children to read
and having an education system that's responsive to the child and to the parents, as opposed to mired
in a system that refuses to change, will make America what we want it to be a literate country and a
hopefuller country.
- George W. Bush (US President. 1946–)
- The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.
- George W. Bush
- If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.
- George W. Bush
- One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
- George W. Bush
- I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.
- George W. Bush
- The future will be better tomorrow.
- George W. Bush
- We're going to have the best educated American people in the world.
- George W. Bush
- I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.
- George W. Bush
- We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe.
- George W. Bush
- Public speaking is very easy.
- George W. Bush
- A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.
- George W. Bush
- We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.
- George W. Bush
- Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.
- George W. Bush
- It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.
- George W. Bush
- It's time for the human race to enter the solar system.
- George W. Bush
To read more curious quotations, please select a letter from the alphabet below.