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Ought Quotes

“If it be true that men of strong imaginations are usually dogmatists--and I am inclined to think it is so--it ought to follow that men of weak imaginations are the reverse; in which case we should have some compensation for stupidity. But it unfortunately happens that no dogmatist is more obstinate or less open to conviction than a fool.”

IfsThinkingMenShouldHappensStrongImaginationCasesFoolOughtWeakShould HaveConvictionStupidityBeing TrueReverseCompensationObstinateObstinacy
Book:Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think
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“Should you happen to notice that another person is extremely tall or overweight, eats too much or declines convivial drinks, has red hair or goes about in a wheelchair, ought to get married or ought not to be pregnant -- see if you can refrain from bringing these astonishing observations to that person's attention.”

IfsShouldPersonsHappensAttentionToo MuchHairOughtDrinkMarriedRedObservationTallDeclinePregnantAstonishingRefrainOverweightWheelchairsRed Hair
Author:Judith Martin
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“Our friends should be our incentives to right, but not only our guiding, but our prophetic, stars. To love by right is much, to love by faith is more; both are the entire love, without which heart, mind, and soul cannot be alike satisfied. We love and ought to love one another, not merely for the absolute worth of each, but on account of a mutual fitness of temporary character.”

ShouldMindHeartSoulCharacterStarsFriendsOughtAccountsAbsolutesSatisfiedMutualTemporaryIncentivesLove One AnotherPropheticHeart Mind And Soul
Author:Margaret Fuller
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“Detective stories keep alive a view of the world which ought to be true. Of course people read them for fun ... But underneath they feed a hunger for justice ... you offer to divert them, and you show them by stealth the orderly world in which we should all try to be living.”

PeopleWorldShouldTryingStoriesShowsCoursesFunJusticeViewsNovelAliveMysteryOughtOffersHungerBeing TrueDetectivesOrderlyMystery NovelsStealthDetective Stories
Book:Thrones, Dominations
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“Although all men are born free, slavery has been the general lot of the human race. Ignorant--they have been cheated; asleep--they have been surprised; divided--the yoke has been forced upon them. But what is the lesson...? The people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united, that after establishing a government they should watch over it.... It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently free.”

PeopleMenShouldHumansWellsHas BeensGovernmentBornUnitedRaceWatchesOughtLessonsSlaveryIgnorantHuman RaceEnlightenedOver ItDividedAwakenedCheatedYokeBorn Free
Author:James Madison
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“People say nice things to me -- like that I ought to run for president -- which tells me that they like me. But I have my own deadline for how long I should be in Washington. I think you can get accustomed to red tape and many unfair things that go on in government. Once you stop getting angry about inefficiencies, waste, and injustice, you ought to get out. That's my time limit.”

PeopleThinkingShouldLongGovernmentRunningPresidentMy OwnNiceGoes OnOughtLimitsWasteRedAngryInjusticeLike MeMy TimeTapeUnfairAccustomedDeadlineNice ThingsInefficiencyRed TapeTime Limit
Author:Elizabeth Holtzman
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“It is quite likely that the modern contrivances for making Sunday-schools amusing have given them a distate for the more solemn services of the sanctuary. If so, the amusement is a sin. The schools should feed the church. Children ought to be led by one into the other, exposed to the preaching of the gospel, taught the ways of God's house, and brought up under its influence, with all its hallowed and elevating influences.”

IfsWayShouldChildrenSchoolHouseGivenChurchSinInfluenceModernTaughtOughtSundayExposedPreachingAmusementSolemnAmusingSanctuarySunday SchoolElevating
Author:Samuel I. Prime
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“We ought, in humanity, no more to despise a man for the misfortunes of the mind than for those of the body, when they are such as he cannot help; were this thoroughly considered we should no more laugh at a man for having his brains cracked than for having his head broke.”

MenShouldMindHelpingBodyHumanityBrainLaughingOughtBrokeMisfortunesDespiseCracked
Book:The works of Alexander Pope. With a selection of explanatory notes, and the account of his life by dr. Johnson
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“The laws are, and ought to be, relative to the constitution, and not the constitution to the laws. A constitution is the organization of offices in a state, and determines what is to be the governing body, and what is the end of each community. But laws are not to be confounded with the principles of the constitution; they are the rules according to which the magistrates should administer the state, and proceed against offenders.”

ShouldEndsStatesBodyLawCommunityPrinciplesOughtOfficeOrganizationConstitutionDetermineRelativeGoverningOffendersMagistrates
Book:Aristotle
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“Special care should be taken of the health of the inhabitants, which will depend chiefly on the healthiness of the locality and of the quarter to which they are exposed, and secondly on the use of pure water; this latter point is by no means a secondary consideration. For the elements which we use the most and oftenest for the support of the body contribute most to health, and among those are water and air. Wherefore, in all wise states, if there is want of pure water, and the supply is not all equally good, the drinking water ought to be separated from that which is used for other purposes.”

IfsWantShouldMeanStatesUseBodyCareUsedPurposeWaterEducationSupportTakenWiseAirSpecialDependsOughtPureElementsDrinkingConsiderationLatterExposedQuartersDrinking WaterLocalityPure Water
Author:Aristotle
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“Women who are with child should be careful of themselves; they should take exercise and have a nourishing diet. The first of these prescriptions the legislator will easily carry into effect by requiring that they should take a walk daily to some temple, where they can worship the gods who preside over birth. Their minds, however, unlike their bodies, they ought to keep quiet, for the offspring derive their natures from their mothers as plants do from earth.”

ShouldMindFirstsChildrenBodyEarthMotherWalksEducationEffectsOughtBirthExerciseQuietWorshipPlantCarefulDietsTemplesBe CarefulPrescriptionsOffspringLegislators
Book:Aristotle's Politics: Writings from the Complete Works: Politics, Economics, Constitution of Athens
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“Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered. As in other sciences, so in politics, it is impossible that all things should be precisely set down in writing; for enactments must be universal, but actions are concerned with particulars. Hence we infer that sometimes and in certain cases laws may be changed.”

ShouldWritingMayHas BeensSometimesActionLawCertainJusticeCasesImpossibleWrittenChangedOughtConcernedAll ThingsUniversal
Book:The Essential Aristotle
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“Another thing very injurious to the child is the tying and cutting of the navel string too soon, which should always be left till the child has not only repeatedly breathed but till all pulsation in the cord ceases. As otherwise the child is much weaker than it ought to be, a part of the blood being left in the placenta which ought to have been in the child and at the same time the placenta does not so naturally collapse, and withdraw itself from the sides of the uterus, and is not therefore removed with so much safety and certainty.”

ShouldChildrenDoeHas BeensLeftSidesCuttingBloodOughtSafetyCeaseCertaintyStringsCollapseCordsNavelUterusPlacenta
Author:Erasmus Darwin
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“Children of God should not make a general confession by acknowledging their innumerable sins in a vague manner, because such confession does not provide conscience opportunity to do its perfect work. They ought to allow the Holy Spirit through their conscience to point out their sins one by one. Christians must accept its reproach and be willing, according to the mind of the Spirit, to eliminate everything which is contrary to God.”

ShouldMindChildrenDoeChristianSpiritOpportunitySinPerfectAcceptingWillingOughtHolyConscienceContraryHoly SpiritConfessionVagueChild Of GodReproachPerfect Work
Book:The Spiritual Man
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“The ministers are in duty bound to denounce all intellectual pride, and show that we are never quite so dear to God as when we admit that we are poor, corrupt and idiotic worms; that we never should have been born; that we ought to be damned without the least delay.... The old creed is still taught. They still insist that God is infinitely wise, powerful and good, and that all men are totally depraved. They insist that the best man god ever made, deserved to be damned the moment he was finished.”

MenShouldHas BeensMadeStillsMomentsShowsBornPoorPowerfulWiseAtheismTaughtDutyPrideOughtIntellectualShould HaveBoundsDearPositive AtheismFinishedMinistersCreedsDelayWormsNever QuitShould Have BeenIdioticDepravedIntellectual Pride
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“In this age of space flight, when we use the modern tools of science to advance into new regions of human activity, the Bible... remains in every way an up-to-date book. Our knowledge and use of the laws of nature that enable us to fly to the Moon also enable us to destroy our home planet with the atom bomb. Science itself does not address the question whether we should use the power at our disposal for good or for evil. The guidelines of what we ought to do are furnished in the moral law of God.”

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Author:Wernher von Braun
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“The past is of no importance. The present is of no importance. It is with the future that we have to deal. For the past is what man should not have been. The present is what man ought not to be. The future is what artists are. The facts: nothing matters but the facts: worship of the facts leads to everything, to happiness first of all and then to wealth.”

MenShouldFirstsHas BeensMatterFactsPastArtistWealthDealsOughtWorshipImportanceNothing Matters
Author:Edmond de Goncourt
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“When a doctor arrives to attend some patient of the working class, he ought not to feel his pulse the moment he enters, as is nearly always done without regard to the circumstances of the man who lies sick; he should not remain standing while he considers what he ought to do, as though the fate of a human being were a mere trifle; rather let him condescend to sit down for awhile.”

MenFeelsShouldHumansDoneMomentsLyingHuman BeingsClassFateHe ManOughtCircumstancesStandingDoctorsSickRegardMerePatientOccupationWorking ClassPulseTrifles
Book:Diseases of Workers
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“Genesis 1 logs God's commitment to excellence when it says, "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good" (v. 31). Christians should always do good work. Christians ought to be the best workers wherever they are. They ought to have the best attitude, the best integrity, and be the best in dependability.”

ShouldMadeChristianAttitudeSawsOughtIntegrityCommitmentExcellenceWorkersVery GoodBeing The BestGood WorkGenesisBest AttitudeDependabilityCommitment To Excellence
Author:R. Kent Hughes
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“A love of the republic in a democracy is a love of the democracy, as the latter is that of equality. A love of the democracy is likewise that of frugality. Since every individual ought here to enjoy the same happiness, and the same advantages, they should consequently taste the same pleasures and form the same hopes, which cannot be expected but from a general frugality.”

ShouldFormIndividualEnjoyPleasureDemocracyOughtTasteAdvantageExpectedLatterRepublicFrugality
Book:The Spirit of Laws
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“Were you to converse with a king, you ought to be as easy and unembarrassed as with your own valet-de chambre; but yet every look,word, and action should imply the utmost respect.... You must wait till you are spoken to; you must receive, not give, the subject of conversation, and you must even take care that the given subject of such conversation do not lead you into any impropriety.”

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Book:Lord Chesterfield's Letters
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“One of the greatest difficulties in civil war is, that more art is required to know what should be concealed from our friends, than what ought to be done against our enemies.”

KnowsShouldArtWarDoneEnemyFriendsOughtArt IsDifficultyCivil WarConcealed
Book:The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author
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“I could wish there were a treaty made between the French and the English theatres, in which both parties should make considerableconcessions. The English ought to give up their notorious violations of the unities, and all their massacres, racks, dead bodies, and mangled carcasses, which they so frequently exhibit upon their stage. The French should engage to have more action, and less declamation, and not to cram and to crowd things together to almost a degree of impossibility from a too scrupulous adherence to the unities.”

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Book:Lord Chesterfield's Letters
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“There is a certain jargon, which, in French, I should call un Persiflage d'Affaires, that a foreign Minister ought to be perfectlymaster of, and may be used very advantageously at great entertainments, in mixed companies, and in all occasions where he must speak, and should say nothing. Well turned and well spoken, it seems to mean something, though in truth it means nothing. It is a kind of political badinage, which prevents or removes a thousand difficulties, to which a foreign Minister is exposed in mixed conversations.”

ShouldWellsKindMayMeanSeemsPoliticalUsedCertainSpeakCompanyOughtThousandConversationDifficultyEntertainmentOccasionsMinistersRemoveExposedJargonAll Occasions
Author:Lord Chesterfield
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“Men are so inclined to content themselves with what is commonest; the spirit and the senses so easily grow dead to the impressions of the beautiful and perfect, that every one should study, by all methods, to nourish in his mind the faculty of feeling these things. ...For this reason, one ought every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”

IfsMenShouldMindLittlesReasonFeelingsBeautifulSpiritSongCultureSpeakGrowsPerfectStudyFineOughtMethodSensesImpressionReasonableFaculty
Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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“We have been saying, Lucy, that 'tis the strangest thing in the world people should quarrel about religion, since we undoubtedly all mean the same thing; all good minds in every religion aim at pleasing the Supreme Being; the means we take differ according to where we are born, and the prejudices we imbibe from education; a consideration which ought to inspire us with kindness and indulgence to each other.”

PeopleWorldShouldMindMeanHas BeensReligionWomenBornKindnessInspireOughtPrejudiceAimSupremeConsiderationQuarrelsIndulgenceLucySupreme BeingGood Mind
Book:The History of Emily Montague
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“Certainly every Christian ought to be praying and working to nullify the abominable abortion law. But as we work and pray, we should have in mind not only this important issue as though it stood alone. Rather, we should be struggling and praying that this whole other total entity "(this godless) worldview" can be rolled back with all its results across all of life.”

ShouldMindImportantWholeChristianLawResultsStruggleIssuesOughtPrayingShould HaveAbortionEntityWorldviewImportant IssuesAbortion Laws
Book:The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: A Christian view of the west
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“To improve both sexes they ought, not only in private families, but in public schools, to be educated together. If marriage be the cement of society, mankind should all be educated after the same model, or the intercourse of the sexes will never deserve the name of fellowship.”

IfsShouldSchoolTogetherNamesSexMarriageMankindOughtModelsDeserveEducatedPublic SchoolFellowshipIntercourseCementVindication
Book:A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: Abridged with Related Texts
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“If you give a little credit to the concept of the artist, I think you ought to indulge excesses a bit, because that reflects the personality of the writer. Now if a joke is in bad taste or it's not funny, okay, that's awhole different thing, but how you craft a joke is really what the writer's job is, and I don't think that technique should be subject to any editorial constraints.”

IfsThinkingGivingShouldLittlesDifferentJobsArtistBitsSubjectsPersonalityOughtTasteJokesConceptsOkayCreditTechniqueCraftsDifferent ThingsExcessIndulgeConstraintsEditorialsBad Taste
Author:Bill Watterson
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