Quotation.Cloud - A repository of notable quotations from across time and space

Only in thought is man a god; in action and desire we are the slaves of circumstance.

 - Bertrand Russell

Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible; thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. It sees man, a feeble speck, surrounded by unfathomable depths of silence; yet it bears itself proudly, as unmoved as if it were lord of the universe. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.

 - Bertrand Russell

We all have a tendency to think that the world must conform to our prejudices. The opposite view involves some effort of thought, and most people would die sooner than think -- in fact they do so.

 - Bertrand Russell

To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.

 - Confucius

A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking.

 - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by an invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing.

 - J.K. Rowling

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

 - Aristotle

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.

 - Gautama Buddha

If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.

 - Marcus Tullius Cicero

Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking.

 - Leo Tolstoy

Knowing how to think empowers you far beyond those who know only what to think.

 - Neil deGrasse Tyson

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habit. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

 - Laozi / Lao-Tzu

“God” is a sound people make when they're too tired to think anymore.

 - Edward Abbey

Whatever we cannot easily understand we call God; this saves much wear and tear on the brain tissues.

 - Edward Abbey

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts.

 - A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

 - Henry Brooks Adams

Thought . . .is still possible, and no doubt actual, wherever men live under the conditions of political freedom. Unfortunately, no other human capacity is so vulnerable, and it is in fact far easier to act under conditions of tyranny than it is to think.

 - Hannah Arendt

The question of whether machines can think . . . is about as relevant as the question of whether submarines can swim.

 - Edsger Dijkstra

I believe in the hands that work, in the brains that think, and in the hearts that love...I believe in sunshine, fresh air, friendship, calm sleep, beautiful thoughts.

 - Elbert Hubbard

We have never entered into an animal's mind and we can not know what it is like, or even if it exists. The risk of attributing too much is no greater than the risk of attributing too little.

 - Edward Abbey

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

 - Marcus Aurelius

The mind of the greatest man on earth is not so independent of circumstances as not to feel inconvenienced by the merest buzzing noise about him; it does not need the report of a cannon to disturb his thoughts. The creaking of a vane or a pulley is quite enough. Do not wonder that he reasons ill just now; a fly is buzzing by his ear; it is quite enough to unfit him for giving good counsel.

 - Blaise Pascal

Here's how men think. Sex, work - and those are reversible, depending on age - sex, work, food, sports, and lastly, begrudgingly, relationships. And here's how women think. Relationships, relationships, relationships, work, sex, shopping, weight, food.

 - Carrie Fisher

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.

 - Martin Luther King

Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.

 - Harry Truman