I'm trying to remember a quotation. It might be from an ancient philosopher or a saint. Someone says to him something like, "How do you know how to do the right thing?" And his response is, "I observe the people around me doing the wrong things, and I do the opposite." That's a very rough recollection, and not enough for Google to help. Does this ring a bell for anyone?
posted by southern_sky
on May 2, 2013 -
6 answers
My boss (I work in Tokyo for an independent think tank) has asked me to track down a particular quote for him by Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French Forces and first president of the French Fifth Republic. Specifically, he is looking for a quote in which de Gaulle says something about the alliance not sharing a common destiny... I've been looking like crazy but have yet to find anything along these lines? Any ideas??
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posted by amirachel
on Dec 11, 2012 -
4 answers
"Rich man's war, poor man's fight" goes back to the US Civil War and illustrates how it's the poor who do most of the actual fighting in any conflict. What other catchy or classic phrases illustrate how careers involving legalized violence (military, police) frequently draw in the economically disadvantaged?
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posted by scaryblackdeath
on Oct 1, 2012 -
25 answers
Help me find a possibly misremembered George Bernard Shaw quotation. It was something like "I enjoy writing plays because I get to argue all the sides of an argument with myself."
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posted by HeroZero
on Jul 11, 2012 -
1 answer
I'm doing research for an artistic work exploring the theme of suicide, and I seek 1) a particular recent article arguing that life is not worth living and 2) the most provocative, interesting works on suicide from artistic, philosophical, social science, journalistic, religious or medical perspectives.
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posted by reren
on Jun 30, 2012 -
9 answers
APA citation filter: can I indicate the page number only once in a sentence that contains multiple quotes by the same author?
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posted by smilingtiger
on Feb 13, 2012 -
5 answers
My wife is starting a new blog to kick off the new year, and it's going to be based on an idea that revolves around inspirational quotes, one a week throughout 2012. My daughter and I are in charge of finding the quotes. Care to donate one?
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posted by Bobby Bittman
on Dec 26, 2011 -
29 answers
"When economic theory collides with reality, prefer economic theory". Who said this, and what exactly did he say?
posted by falcon
on Nov 19, 2011 -
2 answers
Quip identify filter-
Reporter: "What's the newest thing in science?"
Scientist, feigning surprise: "Oh, so you already know all the old science?"
Does anyone recognize this? Who said it?
posted by RobotHero
on Feb 11, 2011 -
3 answers
Looking for a short inscription for a Father's Day card. The father in question likes literature, me, and not much else.
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posted by pluckemin
on Jun 18, 2010 -
9 answers
What are memorable phrases that reinforce the idea that you should suck it up and play nice? I'm thinking of this line from
Tomato Nation: "Rudeness is not a signifier of your importance. Rudeness is a signifier of itself, nothing more. We all have bad days; yours is not weightier than anyone else's, comparatively, and does not excuse displays of poor breeding. Be civil or be elsewhere."
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posted by verbyournouns
on Jun 11, 2010 -
28 answers
Where does the quote "Call it fate, call it kismet, call it what you will..." come from? I have wondered for years, and occasionally searched, but never found a source. Googling the phrase turns up a couple of identical uses of it. Googling "call it kismet" turns up lots of examples that are clearly based on something like it as a template. But where does it come from originally?
posted by rusty
on Jun 10, 2010 -
20 answers
Hegelians, gather round and join in the greatest waste of an AskMeFi question since the previous greatest one. Did Hegel leave us with two very important concepts or just the one?
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posted by bryon
on May 6, 2010 -
9 answers
QuotationFilter: "Serious over my cereal, I broke one morning my fast, with something-to-read-searching retina ... "
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posted by paduasoy
on Apr 25, 2010 -
9 answers
Celebrating a golden wedding anniversary next month - photobook in production - your favourite quotations, poetry and passages (in English, Welsh and French) please!
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posted by anonymous
on Jan 3, 2010 -
7 answers
Please share your favorite poems/quotations about man's love for dog(s).
posted by corn_bread
on Dec 19, 2009 -
25 answers
I have a word document composed of multiple text files. I'd like to highlight the good parts, push a button, and have those quotes automatically excerpted and pasted into a new document. Bonus points if the title of each article were retained above the respective excerpt. Is there a slick and easy way to do this using mac or web-based applications?
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posted by mecran01
on Dec 13, 2009 -
3 answers
I'm looking for good quotations about science (particularly physics) and education that are suitable for the wall of a secondary school (ages 11-18) classroom.
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posted by alby
on Sep 28, 2009 -
21 answers
Widely attributed, unreferenced Gandhi quotation: "I like your Christ..." Authentic?
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posted by goethean
on Sep 9, 2009 -
5 answers
Quotation help: A vaguely remembered snippet about so-called domestic fiction.
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posted by scratch
on Aug 27, 2009 -
3 answers
"The United States is in no sense founded upon the christian doctrine." is often attributed to George Washington. Where did he say this? Google turns up many unattributed versions of this quotation, but I couldn't find any attribution or source. Anyone able to do better?
posted by ivey
on Aug 24, 2009 -
5 answers
Occasionally I find myself regretting and second-guessing decisions I've made in the past. Whenever this happens, it naturally wreaks havoc on my happiness and self-esteem. I'd like to be able to cheer myself up during such times. What are your favorite quotations about letting go of the past/looking toward the future/stopping regret/living in the present/etc.?
posted by punchdrunkhistory
on May 22, 2009 -
23 answers
What were Yitzhak Rabin's last words? I am trying to fact check what my guide on a Birthright Israel tour told us, which is that before he died, Rabin said "I can't believe it's a Jew," referring to his assassin who was a right-wing Orthodox Jew. I feel like I've heard this quote elsewhere, but when I try googling to find Rabin's last words I cant find this quote. Can anyone verify this?
posted by minicloud
on Mar 23, 2009 -
6 answers
Who was it who first said that (paraphrasing) "the American black man is the most imitated man in the world"?
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posted by CRM114
on Mar 2, 2009 -
9 answers
Who is (was?) Tas Soft Wind?
A few quotes have been attributed to Tas Soft Wind, one of the most notable being "I like her because she smiles at me," and tonight a friend asked me if I could find biographical info on this person. I'm not at work (the library) so I don't have access to the other sources I might have checked, so, naturally, I Googled - to no avail, I'm ashamed to say. I was directed to several quotations sites, a frightening number of porn sites (?), and quite a few link farms, but no bio info. I tried several other meta and specialized engines with no result. And now that I can't find the answer, I am dying to know. Anyone? (Also, if you find the answer via Google or somesuch, I would LOVE to know what you used for a search string!) Thanks!
posted by coollibrarian
on Feb 27, 2009 -
11 answers
MovieQuoteFilter: I'm trying to find the origin of a quote from
Waking Life and I'm starting to think it's either misattributed or simply wrong. Help!
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posted by valkyryn
on Jan 28, 2009 -
4 answers
Some journalist once said something to the effect of, "What happened today that didn't happen yesterday. That's what news is. Start typing." Who was the journalist, and what was the exact quote?
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posted by grrarrgh00
on Sep 4, 2008 -
2 answers
I'm hoping to find a pdf or image of the old Shearson Lehman/American Express ad featuring the following quotation:
"Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions. And the actions that speak louder than the words. It is making the time when there is none. Coming through time after time, year after year. Commitment is the stuff character is made of, the power to change the face of things. It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism."
So far google has failed me, anyone happen to have it lying around? Or know any more information? (e.g. what magazine(s) it appeared in? What year?)
posted by hihowareyou
on Jul 8, 2008 -
3 answers
Help me find this quotation. The gist of it is something like this: in current times, fantastical metaphors are the only way of describing the convoluted reality of experience.
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posted by overglow
on May 12, 2008 -
6 answers
Literary Identification, please! Help me remember a passage about the quality of sleep and how it is transcendent when shared. I believe it is in one of the US-public-school-required-reading-by-a-British-guy novels.
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posted by crush-onastick
on May 2, 2008 -
4 answers
Isn't there some saying about "before you die/live life, you'll connect through Atlanta", referring to ATL being a huge hub airport? How does it go exactly? Google-fu failing and all that.
posted by tinkertown
on Feb 6, 2008 -
9 answers
I'm running in circles looking for a quotation. Something about how at the age of 40 you become the person you always were, or always were meant to be, or something like that. Anybody know the quote and who said it? Thx!!
posted by Misciel
on Oct 24, 2007 -
10 answers
Booth Tarkington wrote:
"There are two things that will be believed of any man whatsoever, and one of them is that he has taken to drink. "
What is the other?
posted by bashos_frog
on Sep 15, 2007 -
8 answers
Does anyone know the origin of the term, 'carving nature at its joints' when used to describe the process of dividing up a territory into its constituent parts? I believe it goes back to Ancient Greece, but I don't know much more than that...
posted by barbelith
on Mar 6, 2007 -
5 answers
What's the best way of keeping track of a large collection of Quotes? What I really want is a searchable collection of short to long quotes on a large variety of topics that can be categorized/tagged. I'd also love it if it could be online, self contained or use a standard like Office so that I could access it via the internet or my external drive from wherever I'm at. Is there a product or service that does this that I've overlooked or a great workflow using existing software that makes this easy?
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posted by chrisWhite
on Feb 25, 2007 -
17 answers
