QOTD category archive

Rex Stout, in the voice of Archie Goodwin:

I have no TV favorites, because most of the programs seem to be intended for either the under-brained or the over-brained and I come in between . . . .

Stout, Rex, If Death Ever Slept (New York: Bantam, 1992), p. 35.

Leon Jaworski:

I would rather have a competent extremist than an incompetent moderate.

Aside:

I wonder what he would have thought about an incompetent extremist?

Rick Kaplan:

People mature with age and experience. I hope I more resemble a fine wine than bad vinegar.

Spiro Malas, as George Cannon:

Only fools and young men go to war.

Rex Stout, in the voice or Archie Goodwin:

. . . eavesdropping is vulgar if you can’t distinguish words . . . .

Stout, Rex, Before Midnight (New York: Bantam, 1993), p. 120.

Michi Kaku:

It’s pointless to have a nice clean desk, because it means you’re not doing anything.

James Tobin:

The miserable failures of capitalist economies in the Great Depression were root causes of worldwide social and political disasters.

Pythagoras:

The oldest, shortest words – ‘yes’ and ‘no’ – are those which require the most thought.

Linus Torvalds:

Intelligence is the ability to avoid doing work, yet getting the work done.

(Misplet wrod fxied.)

Quentin Crisp:

Though intelligence is powerless to modify character, it is a dab hand at finding euphemisms for its weaknesses.

Robert Winston:

In reality, both religion and science are expressions of man’s uncertainty. Perhaps the paradox is that certainty, whether it be in science or religion, is dangerous.

Louis Lamour:

A wise man fights to win, but he is twice a fool who has no plan for possible defeat.

Rex Stout, in the voice of Archie Goodwin:

It’s amazing what lengths a man will go to for envy.

Stout, Rex, “Easter Parade” in And Four To Go (New York: Bantam, 1992), p. 74.

Sidney Buchman:

I told you, the dopes are gonna inherit the earth anyway.

Francois de la Rochefoucald:

Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them.

(Open tag fixed.)

Aeschylus:

Everyone’s quick to blame the alien.

Edward de Bono:

Most executives, many scientists, and almost all business school graduates believe that if you analyze data, this will give you new ideas. Unfortunately, this belief is totally wrong. The mind can only see what it is prepared to see.

Rex Stout, in the voice of Nero Wolfe:

One of the prime ambitions of a jackass is to bray louder than any other jackass . . . .

Stout, Rex, “The Cop Killer” in Triple Jeopardy (New York: Bantam, 1957), p. 76

Pericles:

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.

Hippolyte Taine:

I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.