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T. H. White

T. H. White Quotes

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Famous T. H. White Quotes

“Nobody can be saved from anything, unless they save themselves. It is hopeless doing things for people - it is often very dangerous to do things at all - and the only thing worth doing for the race is to increase its stock of ideas. Then, if you make available a larger stock, people are at liberty to help themselves from out of it. By this process the means of improvement is offered, to be accepted or rejected freely, and there is a faint hope of progress in the course of millennia. Such is the business of the philosopher, to open new ideas. It is not his business to impose them on people.”

PeopleIfsMeanIdeasHelpingCoursesProcessRaceLibertyProgressDangerousIncreasePhilosopherAvailableAcceptedSavedImprovementHopelessNew IdeasRejected
Author:T. H. White
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“It is a pity that there are no big creatures to prey on humanity. If there were enough dragons and rocs, perhaps mankind would turn its might against them. Unfortunately man is preyed upon by microbes, which are too small to be appreciated.”

IfsMenEnoughBigsMightHumanityTurnsMankindCreaturesPityDragonsAppreciatedPreyMicrobes
Book:The Book of Merlyn: The Unpublished Conclusion to The Once and Future King
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“But there was a time when each of us stood naked before the world, confronting life as a serious problem with which we were intimately and passionately concerned... There was a time when Free Love versus Catholic Morality was a question of as much importance to our hot bodies as if a pistol had been clapped to our heads. Further back, there were times when we wondered with all our souls what the world was, what love was, what we were ourselves.”

IfsWorldSoulProblemBodySeriousMoralityConcernedImportanceHotCatholicNakedVersusConfrontingPistolsFree LoveHot Body
Author:T. H. White
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“There is one fairly good reason for fighting - and that is, if the other man starts it. You see, wars are a great wickedness, perhaps the greatest wickedness of a wicked species. They are so wicked that they must not be allowed. When you can be perfectly certain that the other man started them, then is the time when you might have a sort of duty to stop them.”

IfsMenWarReasonMightCertainFightingDutySpeciesWickedWickedness
Book:THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING
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“Life is such unutterable hell, solely because it is sometimes beautiful. If we could only be miserable all the time, if there could be no such things as love or beauty or faith or hope, if I could be absolutely certain that my love would never be returned: how much more simple life would be. One could plod through the Siberian salt mines of existence without being bothered about happiness.”

IfsSometimesWould BeBeautifulLife IsCertainSimpleExistenceHellMinesMiserableIf I CouldSaltBotheredSimple Life
Book:The Maharajah and Other Stories
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“Why can't you harness Might so that it works for Right? I know it sounds nonsense, but, I mean, you can't just say there is no such thing. The Might is there, in the bad half of people, and you can't neglect it. You can't cut it out but you might be able to direct it, if you see what I mean, so that it was useful instead of bad.”

PeopleIfsKnowsMeanMightAbleSoundHalfCuttingDirectNonsenseNeglectHarness
Book:THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING
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“The weather behaved itself. In the spring, the little flowers came out obediently in the meads, and the dew sparkled, and the birds sang. In the summer it was beautifully hot for no less than four months, and, if it did rain just enough for agricultural purposes, they managed to arrange it so that it rained while you were in bed. In the autumn the leaves flamed and rattled before the west winds, tempering their sad adieu with glory. And in the winter, which was confined by statute to two months, the snow lay evenly, three feet thick, but never turned into slush.”

IfsLittlesTwoEnoughPurposeThreeFourFeetWindFlowerMonthsBedSummerSpringGloryBirdRainHotLaysWestWinterSnowWeatherAutumnThickConfinedDewTwo MonthsStatutesMeadAdieuSlush
Book:THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING
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