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Common Quotes

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Common Quotes

“If these Essays were worthy of being judged, it might fall out, in my opinion, that they would not find much favour, either with common and vulgar minds, or with uncommon and eminent ones: the former would not find enough in them, the latter would find too much; they might manage to live somewhere in the middle region.”

IfsMindEnoughMightFallCommonOpinionToo MuchMiddleJudgmentWorthyManageFormerLatterRegionsJudgedModerationFavourVulgarEssaysUncommonBeing Judged
Author:Michel de Montaigne
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“Culture is like the sum of special knowledge that accumulates in any large united family and is the common property of all its members. When we of the great Culture Family meet, we exchange reminiscences about Grandfather Homer, and that awful old Dr. Johnson, and Aunt Sappho, and poor Johnny Keats.”

CulturePoorUnitedCommonSpecialMembersPropertyAwfulGrandfatherDrsAuntJohnsonDr JohnsonUnited Family
Book:Complete Essays: 1920-1925
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“A country is strong which consists of wealthy families, every member of whom is interested in defending a common treasure; it is weak when composed of scattered individuals, to whom it matters little whether they obey seven or one, a Russian or a Corsican, so long as each keeps his own plot of land, blind in their wretched egotism, to the fact that the day is coming when this too will be torn from them.”

LittlesLongCountryMatterFactsIndividualStrongWealthCommonFamilyLandMembersWeakBlindUnitySevenTreasurePlotWealthyTornWretchedEgotism
Book:Letters of Two Brides
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“I must remind you that our credulity is not to be measured by the truth of the things we believe. When men believed that the earthwas flat, they were not credulous: they were using their common sense, and, if asked to prove that the earth was flat, would have said simply, "Look at it." Those who refuse to believe that it is round are exercising a wholesome skepticism.”

IfsMenBelieveLooksSaidEarthCommonExerciseProveRoundsRefuseCommon SenseFlatsSkepticismCredulity
Book:The Collected Works of George Bernard Shaw: Plays, Novels, Articles, Lectures, Letters and Essays: Pygmalion, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Candida, Arms and The Man, Man and Superman, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles And The Lion, The New York Times Articles on War, Memories of Oscar Wilde and more
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“Let us not be too prodigal when we are young, nor too parsimonious when we are old. Otherwise we shall fall into the common error of those, who, when they had the power to enjoy, had not the prudence to acquire; and when they had the prudence to acquire, had no longer the power to enjoy.”

YoungFallEnjoyCommonErrorsEnjoymentAcquirePrudenceProdigals
Book:Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think
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“For human nature, being more highly pitched, selved, and distinctive than anything in the world, can have been developed, evolved,condensed, from the vastness of the world not anyhow or by the working of common powers but only by one of finer or higher pitch and determination than itself.”

WorldHumansHas BeensSelfCommonHuman NatureHigherDeterminationDistinctiveVastness
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins (Illustrated)
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“The electrical matter consists of particles extremely subtile, since it can permeate common matter, even the densest metals, with such ease and freedom as not to receive any perceptible resistance. If anyone should doubt whether the electrical matter passes through the substance of bodies, or only over along their surfaces, a shock from an electrified large glass jar, taken through his own body, will probably convince him. Electrical matter differs from common matter in this, that the parts of the latter mutually attract, those of the former mutually repel each other.”

IfsShouldMatterBodyCommonTakenDoubtGlassesSurfaceResistanceFormerSubstanceEaseShockConvinceLatterMetalsElectricityParticlesJarsElectrical
Author:Benjamin Franklin
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“There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent confidence and honors are reposed in and conferred upon lawyers by the people, it appears improbable that their impression of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid. Yet the impression is common, almost universal.”

PeopleBeliefCommonHonorUniversalLawyerImpressionVagueVividDishonestyImprobable
Book:Lincoln on Democracy
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“As a general rule never take your whole fee in advance, nor any more than a small retainer. When fully paid beforehand, you are more than a common mortal if you can feel the same interest in the case, as if something was still in prospect for you, as well as for your client.”

IfsFeelsWellsStillsWholeInterestCommonCasesPaidMortalsClientsFeesRetainers
Book:Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln(1832-1865) (EasyRead Super Large 20pt Edition)
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“Musick is certainly a very agreeable Entertainment, but if it would take the entire Possession of our Ears, if it would make us incapable of hearing Sense, if it would exclude Arts that have a much greater Tendency to the Refinement of human Nature; I must confess I would allow it no better Quarter than Plato has done, who banishes it out of his Common-wealth.”

IfsHumansArtDoneWealthCommonMusicGreaterHuman NatureMusicianEarsEntertainmentPossessionHearingTendenciesQuartersIncapablePlatoRefinement
Book:The Works of Joseph Addison: Including the Whole Contents of Bp. Hurd's Edition, with Letters and Other Pieces Not Found in Ay Previous Collection; and Macaulay's Essay on His Life and Works
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“Governments which have a regard to the common interest are constituted in accordance with strict principles of justice, and are therefore true forms; but those which regard only the interest of the rulers are all defective and perverted forms, for they are despotic, whereas a state is a community of freemen.”

StatesGovernmentFormInterestCommunityJusticeCommonPrinciplesRegardTyrantsRulersStrictDefectiveFreemanCommon Interests
Book:Aristotle's Politics: Writings from the Complete Works: Politics, Economics, Constitution of Athens
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“That author who draws a character, even though to common view incongruous in its parts, as the flying-squirrel, and, at differentperiods, as much at variance with itself as the caterpillar is with the butterfly into which it changes, may yet, in so doing, be not false but faithful to facts.”

MayCharacterFactsViewsCommonFictionCreativityDrawsFlyingFaithfulButterflySquirrelsCaterpillarsVariance
Book:The Confidence-man: His Masquerade
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“There are at the present time two great nations in the world--the Russians and the Americans. The American relies upon his personal interest to accomplish his ends and gives free scope to the unguided exertions and common sense of the people. The Russian centers all his authority of society in a single arm. The principal instrument of the former is freedom; of the latter, servitude. Their starting point is different and their courses are not the same; yet each of them seems marked by the will of Heaven to sway the destinies of half the globe.”

PeopleWorldGivingTwoDifferentEndsSeemsCoursesHeavenNationsInterestCommonHalfDestinyUnited StatesArmsAuthorityInstrumentsStartingAccomplishCommon SenseFormerRelyLatterPrincipalGlobesScopeStarting PointServitudeExertionGreat NationsPresent TimeRely UponPersonal Interest
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
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“A novel which survives, which withstands and outlives time, does do something more than merely survive. It does not stand still. It accumulates round itself the understanding of all these persons who bring to it something of their own. It acquires associations, it becomes a form of experience in itself, so that two people who meet can often make friends, find an approach to each other, because of this one great common experience they have had.”

PeoplePersonsDoeStillsTwoFormReadingUnderstandingCommunityCommonNovelApproachRoundsAcquireAssociationLife TimeCommon Experience
Author:Elizabeth Bowen
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“In the progress of politics, as in the common occurrences of life, we are not only apt to forget the ground we have travelled over, but frequently neglect to gather up experiences as we go.”

PoliticsForgetCommonProgressTravelNeglect
Book:Brief sketch of the life of Thomas Paine. Common sense. Epistle to Quakers. The crisis. Public good. Letter to the Abbe Raynal. Dissertations on government, the affairs of the bank, and paper money. Miscellaneous
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“Men of widely divergent views in our own country live in peace together because they share certain common aspirations which are more important than their differences.... The common responsibility of all Americans is to become effective, helpful participants in a way of life that blends and harmonizes the fiercely competitive demands of the individual and society.”

MenWayImportantCountryTogetherAmericaCertainIndividualDifferencesViewsCommonResponsibilityShareDemandAspirationHelpfulParticipantsDivergentIndividuals And Society
Author:Dwight D. Eisenhower
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“With a full century of contrary proof in our possession and despite our demonstrated capacity for cooperative teamwork, some among us seem to accept the shibboleth of an unbridgeable gap between those who hire and those who are employed. We miserably fail to challenge the lie that what is good for management is necessarily bad for labor; that for one side to profit, the other must be depressed. Such distorted doctrine is false and foreign to the American scene where common ideals and purpose permit us a common approach toward the common good.”

SeemsLyingPurposeSidesChallengesCommonAcceptingFailingCenturySceneApproachCapacityIdealsLaborManagementProfitPossessionProofContraryDoctrineDespiteGapsTeamworkPermitEmployedEmployersCommon GoodCooperatives
Author:Dwight D. Eisenhower
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