Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. 

~ Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1928) 

There are two possible outcomes: If the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery. 

~ Enrico Fermi, physicist and Nobel laureate (1901-1954)

No battle is ever won, he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. 
~ William Faulkner, novelist (1897-1962) 

Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent. 

~ Horace Walpole, novelist and essayist (1717-1797) 

Our conscience is not the vessel of eternal verities. It grows with our social life, and a new social condition means a radical change in conscience. 

~ Walter Lippmann, journalist (1889-1974)

Results are gained by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems.

~ Peter Drucker

Loyalty to a petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul. 

~ Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910) 

People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.

~ Peter Drucker

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not. 

~ Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784) 

Doing the right thing is more important than doing the thing right.

~ Peter Drucker

The man who is always waving the flag usually waives what it stands for. 

~ Laurence J. Peter, educator and author (1919-1990) 

There is no disguise that can for long conceal love where it exists or simulate it where it does not. 

~ Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld, aphorist (1613-1680) 

You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty. 

~ Jessica Mitford, author, journalist, and civil rights activist (1917-1996) 

There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth. 

~ Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (1828-1910)

If more politicians in this country were thinking about the next generation instead of the next election, it might be better for the United States and the world. 

~ Claude Pepper, senator and representative (1900-1989) 

Plenty of kind, decent, caring people have no religious beliefs, and they act out of the goodness of their hearts. Conversely, plenty of people who profess to be religious, even those who worship regularly, show no particular interest in the world beyond themselves. 

~ John Danforth, priest, ambassador, senator (b. 1936) 

In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy. 

~ Ivan Illich, philosopher and priest (1926-2002) 

If a rabbit defined intelligence the way man does, then the most intelligent animal would be a rabbit, followed by the animal most willing to obey the commands of a rabbit. 

~ Robert Brault, writer (b. 1938) 

The only way to escape the corruptible effect of praise is to go on working. 

~ Albert Einstein 

I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone. 

~ Edith Cavell, nurse and humanitarian (1865-1915) 

Every burned book or house enlightens the world; every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side. 

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)