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Quotations

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As the great sixteenth century French philosopher and essayist, Michel de Montaigne (above), said, “I quote others only in order the better to express myself”.

On the other hand, Voltaire observed, “A witty saying proves nothing”.  So, you takes your pick.

I use Wikiquote to verify quotations and attributions.  It is by far the least unreliable source of quotations with correct attributions.  Quote investigator is another site fighting the good fight to correctly attribute quotations.  

In the pages on this website, I only give unsourced quotations if I am reasonably sure that the claimed author was, in fact, the author.  Inevitably, websites are dynamic:  sometimes, I cannot now find an attribution, say on Wikiquote, which was there when I collected the quotation.  I don’t have time to be forever checking attributions—and Wikiquote is not at all necessarily right—so  I give attributions in good faith:  they seemed to be correct at the time I created the page (and they are vastly less inaccurate than most sites’).

emotional intelligence at work does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in these quotations.

But then, nor do the authors.  Quotations taken from plays, poems, songs, novels and so on can be assumed to be as uttered from the mouths of characters invented by the writer and therefore not necessarily expressing the writer’s personality or opinion.

Related material:
>  blog:  Quote?  Unquote

  • Quotations

On communication and media

Marshall McLuhan’s work was characterised by two things: an extraordinary prescience and a capacity for a remarkable turn of phrase.

On loss

We suffer loss; it's how you deal with it that counts.

On music—2

People still love to write about music...

On death

Varied quotations on the bloke with the scythe

On politics and politicians—2

What experience and history teach is this—that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.—Hegel

Being Bertrand Russell

Quotations . Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS (1872–1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic,

On light

Quotations on light.

Being William Shakespeare

A personal selection of quotations

On memory

Quotations on memory

On being a parent : on being a child—3

As a child I assumed that when I reached adulthood, I would have grown-up thoughts. David Sedaris

On politics and politicians

I can't believe I have waited this long before embarking on a page of quotations about politics.

On history

It was Hegel, see below, who observed two centuries ago that we learn nothing from history and, apparently, this is still the case.

On women and men—2

Camille Paglia seems to be the feminist who most annoys other feminists. Yet I cannot see much other than wisdom in what she writes.

On being a parent : on being a child—2

We were all children once. How we were brought up has affected, irretrievably, how we are now. It would be foolish to overlook the parallels that can be drawn between

On courage

Courage is grace under pressure. Ernest Hemingway . letter to F Scott Fitzgerald

Being metaphysical

The 'metaphysical poets' have a reputation for being difficult. And they are. However the metaphysical poets, amongst whom Donne and Marvell stand tall, can use language in

On helping and being helped

If we can find the money to kill people, we can find the money to help people. Tony Benn . 1925-2014 . British politician

On change—2

Apparently, change is still the only certainty (well, apart from death and taxes, of course).

On (not) learning from history

Do we learn anything from history? Clearly the opportunities are abundant, but...

The key quotations

Of all the quotations in my collection—over a thousand—these seem to epitomise emotional intelligence at work more than most.

On love

... thirteen quotations

Being subversive—2

Subversive remarks, for me, are those which seek to dismiss a widely-held belief. For maximum effect, this should be a widely cherished belief, held dear by some who are—or

On business

... nine wide-ranging quotations

Being subversive—1

Subversive remarks, for me, are those which seek to dismiss a widely-held belief. For maximum effect, this should be a widely cherished belief, held dear by some who are—or

On force and being forced

... eight forceful remarks from Laurie Anderson to Sid Ziff

On thinking

There seems to be a general consensus that there is not enough thinking going on. All I can say is that there isn't enough feeling going on, either.

On music

Writing about music would seem to be superfluous. But many people do it (including me).

On eyes and looking

Look before you leap?

On women and men

"If you wish women to love you, be original; I know a man who used to wear felt boots summer and winter, and women fell in love with him." Chekhov

On magic

"The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper". Eden Phillpotts

On silence

...nine quietly effective quotations

Being a hypocrite

It's easy to be hypocritical, but you need to be a national politician to do it spectacularly. More examples (from any era) welcomed.

On truth

Personally, I am not sure there is anything called "truth". There are true statements but, just as there is not a concrete thing called "greenness" even though there are

On change—1

As they say, change is the only certainty (well, apart from death and taxes, of course).

On leadership

The internet hardly needs another page of quotations about leadership. I hope this selection has the merit of being different and thought-provoking.

On being a parent : on being a child

We were all children once. How we were brought up has affected, irretrievably, how we are now. It would be foolish to overlook the parallels that can be drawn between

Further reading

  • FireworksFireworks
  • Networking:  just do itNetworking: just do it
  • “We are unhappy with the level of customer service we provide”“We are unhappy with the level of customer service we provide”
  • On lossOn loss
  • Turkey and sproutsTurkey and sprouts
  • An emotionally intelligent approach to salesAn emotionally intelligent approach to sales
  • Jeremy Marchant videosJeremy Marchant videos
  • Being subversive—1Being subversive—1
  • On music—2On music—2
  • WoodcutterWoodcutter