The Pine Tree Book of Quotations

Appendix: Quotations added since 1997

"We’ve become a race of technologically advanced imbeciles living in a world we don’t understand and don’t have any real desire to know anything more about than what affects us directly and individually."

Herbert Allen Boardman,
Central figure in Alan Eckhardt’s novel, The HAB Theory, 1969

"The whole of life withal is a struggle in the dark."

Lucretius (Titus Lucretius Carus), 99-55 B.C.
Roman poet and author.  
Leading exponent of the Epicurean world-view.

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.
What is essential is invisible to the eye."

Antoine de Sant-Exupéry
French Aviation Pioneer and Author.

"It is in changing that things find purpose."

Heraclitus of Ephesus,
Ancient Greek Philosopher (c. 535-475 BC)

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

Plato (c. 427-347 BC),
Greek Philosopher and Educator

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."

Mark Twain 

"A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience."

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)
Noted American Physician and Writer. Veteran of the Civil War.

"Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."

—Dwight D. Eisenhower,
General of the Army, Commander in Chief, Europe. Planned and led the Normandy landings and Victory in Europe in the Second World War, 34th President of the United States

"When God wishes to rejoice

            the heart of a poor man,

  He makes him lose his donkey

            and find it again."

— Ted Kooser, 1926- .
13^th Poet Laureate of the United States, 2004-2006.

“Come to the edge, he said.
We are afraid, they said.
Come to the edge, he said.
They came to the edge.
He pushed them and they flew.”

Guilliame Apollinaire, 1880-1918,
French poet

“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain in World War II.
Considered by some to be the greatest orator of the 20th Century.

"The Stone Age was marked by man’s clever use of crude tools; the information age, to date, has been marked by man’s crude use of clever tools."

Unknown

“I was brought up to believe that the only thing worth doing was to add to the sum of accurate information in the world.”

Margaret Mead

"Know where to find the information and how to use it.
 That’s the secret of success"

Albert Einstein

“The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The best test is: do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?”

Robert K. Greenleaf
Father of “Servant Leadership”

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science."

Charles Darwin, English Naturalist (1809-1882).
From the "The Descent of Man."

After all manner of professors have done their best for us, the place we are to get knowledge is in books. The true university of these days is a collection of books.

Albert Camus (1913–1960).
French Algerian author, philosopher, and journalist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. He was a key philosopher of the 20th-century and his most famous work is the novel L’Étranger (The Stranger).

"Paranoia is fun, but it takes up a lot of time. On the other hand, I’m happiest when I get into my paranoid mode. I mean, the thought that my enemies and my friends are trying to get me is exquisitely exciting."

John Corey, leading character in Nelson DeMille’s novel, The Lion, 2010

Who stands firm? Only the one for whom the final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all these, when in faith and sole allegiance to God he is called to obedient and responsible action:
… the responsible person, whose life will be nothing but an answer to God’s question and call.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945).
German Protestant theologian was a prominent Christian leader who actively resisted the Nazi regime. His theological writings are still widely read in Christian communities throughout the world. He was murdered by the Nazis in 1945.

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. He who does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. It was the experience of mystery . . . that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds—it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man."

Albert Einstein (1879-1955).
Theoretical physicist, philosopher and author, widely regarded as one of the most influential and best known scientists and intellectuals of all time. Developed the Theories of General and Special Relativity. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.
From "What I Believe," Forum and Century 84 (1930).

"A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on a cold iron."

Horace Mann (1796-1859). Pioneer of American Public Education.
Known as the "Father of the Common School" for his leadership in the development of our system of universal public education.

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I’ll waste no time reading it."

Moses Hadas (1900-1966)
Professor of Classics, Columbia College, NY

"The most effective form of teaching is one that leads the student himself to the appropriate conclusion without forcing it on him."

"The beginning of wisdom is to understand yourself."

"When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky."

A saying attributed to Buddha

"An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject, and how to avoid them" 

Werner Karl Heisenberg (1901–1976)
German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the "uncertainty principle" of quantum theory. In addition, he made important contributions to nuclear physics, quantum field theory, and particle physics.

"In reflecting on our problems, we should include ourselves."

Shunryu Suzuki (1904-1971)
A Sōtō Zen roshi (Zen Master) who popularized Zen Buddhism in the United States, particularly around San Francisco. He was born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. He arrived in America in 1959, and would go to found the San Francisco Zen Center, one of the leading centers of Zen practice in America. His writings are among the most highly respected writings on modern Zen practice .

To be continued

The Pine Tree Book of Quotations (1997)

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Last Modified: 12:53 PM on January 2, 2011