“You see, years ago I was just an ordinary bee minding my own business, smelling flowers all day, and occasionally picking up part-time work in people's bonnets. Then one day I realized that I'd never amount to anything without an education and, being naturally adept at spelling, I decided that—” PeopleYearsMy OwnFlowerAmountOne DayOrdinaryYears AgoDecidedI RealizedBeesOwn BusinessSpellingPart TimeAdeptBonnetsMinding My Own Business Book:The phantom tollbooth Source: The phantom tollbooth
“Two hundred years ago the first liberal economist, Adam Smith, warned businessmen that they could absorb only a certain amount of rigidity. In the easy days after World War II... wage rises could be financed out of inflationary price increases.” WorldYearsFirstsTwoWarWisdomCertainPoliticsEasyEconomyAmountHundredYears AgoIncreaseWar Of The WorldsLiberalismWorld War IiAdamWorld War IBusinessmanEconomistRigidityEasy Days Author:John Chamberlain
“I think most presidents are amazed at the overwhelming responsibility they have when they enter office and the tremendous amount of work there is. See, a modern president has far more responsibility than a president years ago. And if I were rewriting the Constitution, I would suggest a president be more like a monarch and then have a prime minister under him.” IfsThinkingYearsPresidentResponsibilityModernAmountOfficeYears AgoConstitutionMinistersPrimeOverwhelmingAmazedPrime MinisterMonarchsRewriting Author:Billy Graham
“In Colombia today we have 16% of the population, which is a very small amount of the population owning 90% of the land and 20 years ago it wasn't like that.” YearsTodayLandAmountYears AgoPopulationColombiaSmall Amounts Author:Ingrid Betancourt
“Years ago when I got stuck, I'd start twirling my hair. That's not possible anymore. I can't prove the relationship between writing and hair loss, but I think I pulled out a fair amount trying to work on certain sentences.” ThinkingWritingTryingYearsI CanCertainLossHairAmountProveFairsYears AgoSentencesStuckTwirlingHair Loss Author:Eric Schlosser
“I also believe that most of the emerging economies have a fairly large amount of foreign exchange reserves, relative to 10 years ago.” YearsBelieveEconomyAmountYears AgoRelativeReservesEmergingForeign ExchangeEmerging Economies Author:Jamie Dimon
“We want to use cash. The reason we haven't used our cash two years ago, we just didn't find things that were that attractive. But when people talk about cash being king, it's not king if it just sits there and never does anything. There are times when cash buys more than other times, and this is one of the other times when it buys a fair amount more, so we use it.” PeopleIfsWantYearsDoeTwoReasonUseUsedHavensAmountKingsFairsYears AgoAttractiveTwo YearsCashTwo Years Ago Author:Warren Buffett
“So far the earth has warmed about a degree Fahrenheit globally averaged. That doesn't seem like an enormous amount but it's unlike what we would have expected twenty years ago.” YearsSeemsEarthAmountDegreesYears AgoTwentiesExpectedEnormous Author:Bill McKibben
“I do a certain amount of work in religious communities on these issues. It's not the central focus of my work but it is certainly an area where I have worked a lot. It has gotten much better over the years, especially over the last couple years. There wasn't a religious environmental movement 15 years ago, but there is now - in the Catholic community, the Jewish community, the mainline Protestant community, and in the Evangelical community.” YearsLastsCertainCommunityReligiousIssuesFocusMovementAmountCoupleAreasYears AgoCatholicEnvironmentalProtestantsEvangelicalJewish CommunityReligious Community Author:Bill McKibben
“If you go back back a few hundred years, what we take for granted today would seem like magic - being able to talk to people over long distances, to transmit images, flying, accessing vast amounts of data like an oracle. These are all things that would have been considered magic a few hundred years ago.” PeopleIfsInspirationalYearsLongHas BeensSeemsTodayAbleMagicAmountHundredYears AgoAll ThingsDistanceFlyingGrantedDataLong DistanceTransmitOracles Author:Elon Musk
“Poverty is not a certain small amount of goods, nor is it just a relation between means and ends; above all it is a relation between people. Poverty is a social status. As such it is the invention of civilization. Socrates made the same point 2,400 years ago: "He is richest who is content with least, for contentment is the wealth of nature.” PeopleYearsMeanMadeEndsCertainSocialWealthPovertyAmountCivilizationYears AgoRelationInventionContentmentGoodsSmall AmountsSocial Status Author:Christopher Ryan
“[Speaking to a group of wealthy New Yorkers] A million years ago, the cave man, without tools, with small brain, and with nothing but the strength of his body, managed to feed his wife and children, so that through him the race survived. You on the other hand, armed with all the modern means of production, multiplying the productive capacity of the cave man a million times — you are incompetents and muddlers, you are unable to secure to millions even the paltry amount of bread that would sustain their physical life. You have mismanaged the world, and it shall be taken from you.” MenWorldYearsMeanChildrenBodyHandsRaceBrainMillionsTakenWifeGroupsModernAmountCapacityYears AgoToolsProductionsBreadSecureProductiveWealthySurvivedCavesNew YorkersMultiplying Author:Jack London
“One hundred years ago, if someone said, 'damn,' people would take notice. Now, you can say almost anything. Secrets are the same way. Once upon a time when a secret was revealed, people paid an enormous amount of attention to it.” PeopleIfsWayYearsSaidSecretAttentionAmountHundredYears AgoPaidEnormousDamnOnce Upon A Time Author:Paul Levinson
“Small people delight in what they call consistency-that is, it gives them immense pleasure to say that they believe now exactly as they did ten years ago. This simply amounts to a certificate that they have not grown-that they have not developed-and that they know just as little now as they ever did. The highest possible conception of consistency is to be true to the knowledge of today, without the slightest reference to what your opinion was years ago.” PeopleKnowsGivingYearsBelieveLittlesTodayGrowthPleasureOpinionAmountIntegrityTenHighestYears AgoDelightBeing TrueConceptionImmenseConsistencyCertificates Book:Tributes and miscellany Source: Tributes and miscellany