ALWAYS DO RIGHT. THIS WILL GRATIFY SOME PEOPLE, AND ASTONISH THE REST.
MARK TWAIN
THE DEVIL CAN CITE SCRIPTURE FOR HIS PURPOSE.
W. SHAKESPEARE

PLATE SIN WITH GOLD
AND STRONG LANCE OF JUSTICE HURTLESS BREAKS;
ARM IT IN RAGS,A PIGMY STRAW DOES PIERCE IT.
W. SHAKESPEARE

PROSPERTY DOTH BEST DISCOVER VICE, BUT ADVERSITY DOTH BEST DISCOVER VIRTUE."
FRANCIS BACON

TIS TRUE THAT WE ARE IN GREAT DANGER;
THE GREATER THEREFORE SHOULD OUR COURAGE BE.
W. SHAKESPEARE

THOSE WHO EXPECT TO REAP THE BLESSINGS OF FREEDOM MUST, LIKE MEN, UNDERGO THE FATIGUE OF SUPPORTING IT. THOMAS PAINE

EGAD, I THINK THE INTERPRETER IS THE HARDEST TO BE UNDERSTOOD OF THE TWO.
RICHARD SHERIDAN

IN A THOUSAND POUNDS OF LAW THERE IS NOT AN OUNCE OF LOVE. JOHN RAY

IS LIFE SO DEAR OR PEACE SO SWEET AS TO BE PURCHASED AT THE PRICE OF CHAINS AND SLAVERY? FORBID IT ALMIGHTY GOD! I KNOW NOT WHAT COURSE OTHERS MAY TAKE; BUT AS FOR ME, GIVE ME LIBERTY, OR GIVE ME DEATH!
PATRICK HENRY

UNDER GOD WE ARE DETERMINED THAT WHERESOEVER,WHENSOEVER, OR HOWSOEVER WE SHALL BE CALLED TO MAKE OUR EXIT, WE WILL DIE FREE MEN.
JOSIAH QUINCY 1774

GOD WILL NOT LOOK YOU OVER FOR MEDALS,DEGREES, OR DIPLOMAS, BUT FOR SCARS.
ELBERT HUBBARD

LET US ENDEAVOUR SO TO LIVE THAT WHEN WE COME TO DIE EVEN THE UNDERTAKER WILL BE SORRY.
MARK TWAIN

I THINK THIS IS THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY COLLECTION OF TALENT, OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE, THAT HAS EVER BEEN GATHERED TOGETHER AT THE WHITE HOUSE WITH THE POSSIBLE EXCEPTION OF WHEN THOMAS JEFFERSON DINED ALONE.
SPEECH TO NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS BY JOHN KENNEDY

WE PREFER WAR IN ALL CASES TO TRIBUTE UNDER ANY FORM, AND TO ANY PEOPLE WHATEVER.
THOMAS JEFFERSON

UNCOMMAN VALOR WAS A COMMAN VIRTUE.
ATTR. MARINES AT IWO JIMA BY CHESTER NIMITZ

THE PUREST TREASURE MORTAL TIMES AFFORD IS SPOTLESS REPUTATION. SHAKESPEARE

THIS ABOVE ALL: TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE,
AND IT MUST FOLLOW, AS THE NIGHT THE DAY,
THOU CANST NOT THEN BE FALSE TO ANY MAN.
SHAKESPEARE

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an
invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." Robert Heinlein

If your attack is going really well, you've walked into an ambush. -- Hannibal

"An armed society is a polite society." Heinlein, from ""Beyond this Horizon""

Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that money can not be eaten.
-- Cree Indian Prophecy

"No one escapes when freedom fails.
The best men rot in filthy jails,
and those who cried, 'Appease, appease!'
are hanged by those they tried to please." unknown

What happens if a big asteroid hits the Earth? Judging from
realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad. - Dave Barry

"Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors --and miss." ---- Robert Heinlein

If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.
Samuel Adams

In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language. --Mark Twain

When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her. Sacha Guitry (1885 - 1957)

Boy Heinlein's a funny Guy! Too bad what Verhoeven did to "Starship Troopers" I have been wondering which book the "armed society" quote came from. I can't remember but is "Beyond the Horizon" the book where he included the return of dueling?

Toolmaker

I see your Heinlein and raise you an Ellison...

"The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity" Harlan Ellison

I believe Ellison wrote the "bladerunner" story... Boy, Scifi writers are a funny bunch!

Toolmaker

Hi Toolmaker! Yep ,a funny bunch with good ideas most of the time. I really don't know about the 'dueling' part....
The original 'Starship Troopers" story would have made a fine movie without help. He also wrote a short story on 'How to be a Survivor' back when it looked like we would have atomic war with the Russians. Terrific little article.It's more likely the Chinese now, as they say LA nuked would teach us a lesson......

You should visit the 'Genius' thread and add him... Dale

I can think of two quotes: 1. I didn't mean anything by it. 2. Did I do anything to make you mad?
Now they may not have been made by famous people but they are used alot.

I did a quick google and confirmed my suspicion that " Beyond this Horizon" is the book I was thinking of. Have you read it? It poses some interesting ideas about "utopia" and man's natural instincts, particulary aggression. Heinlein proposed dueling as a natural outlet for the aggressive tendincies of men in a society without War, poverty, hunger or crime. It also tended to remove from the gene pool specimens that lack prudence - A beligerent who goes around starting duels is going to get his sorry ass killed sooner rather than later. If you haven't read it, I suggest it as a good read.

Toolmaker

Hi Toolmaker! If it is like the rest of his works, it will be well thought out. If I have read it, I can't remember it. It was so long ago that I spent those days in the library. It almost sounds like the premise the 'Mad Max' movies were based on with the fights in the cage. And yes, I will try to read it.

To BAShooter. Hi! Without being too presumptive, I am curious about you, where you live ,and the guns you like. I never fail to learn something interesting from those in another land. Don't feel pressured though. Reply only if you wish to. Thanks, Dale

One I use constantly when people expect me to do work for free "anything worth doing is worth doing for money"

Toolmaker

I wish I could recall where I read this one, but as I recall it was one someone had heard his grandfather direct in his direction:

Son, if you can't find time to do a job right in the first place, where do you think you'll find time to fix the piss poor job you did when the wheels come off? One of the truest statements I know.

A few from my buddy Jack Costella who races out at the Bonneville Salt Flats, and has several speed records to his name:

Suppositions made valid by results.

There are alot of ways not to set a record.