fave quotes

“Science adjusts its views based on what’s observed. Faith is the denial of observation so that belief can be preserved.” ― Tim Minchin

A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked. – Bernard Meltzer

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” – Isaac Asimov

“Everything in the world exists in order to end up as a book.” ― Stéphane Mallarmé

“It is true that words have power, and one of the things they are able to do is get out of someone’s mouth before the speaker has the chance to stop them.” ― Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters

“The problem with today’s world is that everyone believes they have the right to express their opinion AND have others listen to it. The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense!” ―Professor Brian Cox

What doesn’t kill you gives you a lot of unhealthy coping mechanisms and a dark sense of humour.

Let’s not call anyone names. We can be better than that. – Nigel Latta

Never make fun of someone if they mispronounce a word. It means they learned it by reading.

Close friends contribute to our personal growth. They also contribute to our personal pleasure, making the music sound sweeter, the wine taste richer, the laughter ring louder because they are there. – Judith Viorst

“A hangover is the wrath of grapes.” — Dorothy Parker

“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though.” ― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

“I’ll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there’s evidence of any thinking going on inside it.” ― Terry Pratchett

“To me education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil’s soul.”
― Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

“The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.” ― Terry Pratchett, Diggers

“I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a shit. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.” – Tony Campolo

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. – Arthur Ashe

We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far. – Swami Vivekananda

Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws. –Barbara Kingsolver

“Most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally evil, but by people being fundamentally people.” – Sir Terry Pratchett

“The sun, with all those planets revolving round it and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.” – GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642)

Be praised my Lord through our sister Mother Earth who feeds us and rules us and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs – St Francis

In all natural things there is something wonderful – St Augustine

Be a gardener.
Dig a ditch,
toil and sweat,
and turn the earth upside down
and seek the deepness
and water the plants in time.
Continue this labor
and make sweet floods to run
and noble and abundant fruits
to spring.
Take this food and drink
and carry it to God
as your true worship. – Julian of Norwich

“IT’S THE EXPRESSION ON THEIR LITTLE FACES I LIKE, said the Hogfather.
“You mean sort of fear and awe and not knowing whether to laugh or cry or wet their pants?”
“YES. NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL BELIEF.”
― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

“Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.” ― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

Do give books – religious or otherwise – for Christmas. They’re never fattening, seldom sinful, and permanently personal.– Lenore Hershey

I love Christmas, not just because of the presents but because of all the decorations and lights and the warmth of the season – Ashley Tisdale

“Take time to be aware that in the very midst of our busy preparations for the celebration of Christ’s birth in ancient Bethlehem, Christ is reborn in the Bethlehems of our homes and daily lives. Take time, slow down, be still, be awake to the Divine Mystery that looks so common and so ordinary yet is wondrously present.” – Edward Hays, A Pilgrim’s Almanac

“It is now, at Advent, that I am given the chance to suspend all expectation… and instead to revel in the mystery.”―Jerusalem Jackson Greer, A Homemade Year: The Blessings of Cooking, Crafting, and Coming Together

“Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It’s a way of understanding it.” ― Lloyd Alexander

“Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.” ― Arthur Schopenhauer

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it: always.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

“What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.” ― Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” ― Oscar Wilde

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.” ― Elie Wiesel

“Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators” ― Stephen Fry

“Better sexy and racy than sexist and racist” ― Stephen Fry

“The sort of twee person who thinks swearing is in any way a sign of a lack of education or a lack of verbal interest is just a fucking lunatic.” ― Stephen Fry

“It is a cliché that most clichés are true, but then like most clichés, that cliché is untrue” ― Stephen Fry, The Hippopotamus

“You are who you are when nobody’s watching.” – Stephen Fry

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning – Albert Einstein

“In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.” — Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

“God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won’t tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.” — Terry Pratchett (Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch)

“If complete and utter chaos was lightning, then he’d be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting ‘All gods are bastards!” — Terry Pratchett (The Color of Magic (Discworld, #1))

“You’re Hell’s Angels, then? What chapter are you from?”
“REVELATIONS. CHAPTER SIX.” — Neil Gaiman (Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch)

Many phenomena—wars, plagues, sudden audits—have been advanced as evidence for the hidden hand of Satan in the affairs of Man, but whenever students of demonology get together the M25 London orbital motorway is generally agreed to be among the top contenders for Exhibit A. Terry Pratchett (Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch)

“Many people could say things in a cutting way, Nanny knew. But Granny Weatherwax could listen in a cutting way. She could make something sound stupid just by hearing it.” — Terry Pratchett

“She was convinced that she was anorexic, because every time she looked in the mirror she did indeed see a fat person.” — Terry Pratchett (Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch)

“You can’t second-guess ineffability, I always say.” — Terry Pratchett (Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch)

“IT WASN’T A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT. It should have been, but that’s the weather for you. For every mad scientist who’s had a convenient thunderstorm just on the night his Great Work is finished and lying on the slab, there have been dozens who’ve sat around aimlessly under the peaceful stars while Igor clocks up the overtime.” — Terry Pratchett (Good Omens)

“In theory it was, around now, Literature. Susan hated Literature. She’d much prefer to read a good book.” — Terry Pratchett (Soul Music (Discworld, #16))

“Most witches don’t believe in gods. They know that the gods exist, of course. They even deal with them occasionally. But they don’t believe in them. They know them too well. It would be like believing in the postman.” — Terry Pratchett (Witches Abroad (Discworld, #12))

“The Yen Buddhists are the richest religious sect in the universe. They hold that the accumulation of money is a great evil and a burden to the soul. They therefore, regardless of personal hazard, see it as their unpleasant duty to acquire as much as possible in order to reduce the risk to innocent people.” — Terry Pratchett (Witches Abroad (Discworld, #12))