What holds the world together, as I have learned from bitter experience, is sexual intercourse.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
Sex is the most fun you can have without laughing.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
Man is no longer an artist, he has become a work of art.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out.
—Italian Proverb
Man who is he? Too bad, to be the work of God: Too good for the work of chance!
—Doris Lessing (1919–2013) British Novelist, Poet
We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon.
—Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967) German Statesman
The road of life can only reveal itself as it is traveled; each turn in the road reveals a surprise. Man’s future is hidden.
—Indian Proverb
Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
Do something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t, do something else.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
If you want a thing done, go. If not, send. The shortest answer is doing.
—English Proverb
Humanity is the virtue of a woman, generosity that of a man.
—George Goodman (b.1930) American Economist, Author
Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Our humanity is a poor thing, except for the divinity that stirs within us.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
It’s no good agreeing with a person who can’t make up his mind.
—Unknown
The human race was always interesting and we know by its past that it will always continue so, monotonously.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Action is the last resource of those who know not how to dream.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Action speaks louder than words, but not nearly as often.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
Man was nature’s mistake—she neglected to finish him—and she has never ceased paying for her mistake.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Footprints on the sands of time are not made by sitting down.
—Common Proverb
God must love the common man, he made so many of them.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike you, do not wait until he has struck before you crush him.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
Never confuse motion with action.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
I love men, not for what unites them, but for what divides them, and I want to know most of all what gnaws at their hearts.
—Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918) Italian-born French Poet, Playwright
Try and trust will move mountains.
—Common Proverb
Let me look into a human eye; it is better than to gaze into sea or sky; better than to gaze upon God.
—Herman Melville (1819–91) American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist, Poet
We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.
—Unknown
But remember please, the Law by which we live, we are not built to comprehend a lie, we can neither love nor pity nor forgive. If you make a slip in handling us you die.
—Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) British Children’s Books Writer, Short story, Novelist, Poet, Journalist
The best security for civilization is the dwelling, and upon properly appointed and becoming dwellings depends, more than anything else, the improvement of mankind.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
I hate mankind, for I think of myself as one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
To look is one thing, to see what you look at is another, to understand what you see is a third, to learn from what you understand is still something else, but to act on what you learn is all that really matters! How do I act?
—Indian Proverb
Humans are amphibians—half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time.
—C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) Irish-born British Academic, Author, Literary Scholar
The real man is one who always finds excuses for others, but never excuses himself.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
To the eyes of a god, mankind must appear as a species of bacteria which multiply and become progressively virulent whenever they find themselves in a congenial culture, and whose activity diminishes until they disappear completely as soon as proper measures are taken to sterilize them.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
Humanity I love you because when you’re hard up you pawn your intelligence to buy a drink.
—e. e. cummings (1894–1962) American Poet, Writer, Painter
I wish I loved the Human Race; I wish I loved its silly face; I wish I liked the way it walks; I wish I liked the way it talks; And when I’m introduced to one I wish I thought What Jolly Fun!
—Walter Raleigh (1552–1618) English Courtier, Navigator, Poet
Always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are. Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Man is not only a contributory creature, but a total creature; he does not only make one, but he is all; he is not a piece of the world, but the world itself; and next to the glory of God, the reason why there is a world.
—John Donne (1572–1631) English Poet, Cleric
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
—Robert A. Heinlein (1907–88) American Science Fiction Writer
Man has, as it were, become a kind of prosthetic God. When he puts on all his auxiliary organs, he is truly magnificent; but those organs have not grown on him and they still give him much trouble at times.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
We say nothing essential about the cathedral when we speak of its stones. We say nothing essential about Man when we seek to define him by the qualities of men.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Florentine Political Philosopher
Teachers open the door but you must walk through it yourself.
—Chinese Proverb
Man is a beautiful machine that works very badly.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Backbone beats wishbone every time.
—Indian Proverb
There are times when one would like to hang the whole human race, and finish the farce.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Mankind are earthen jugs with spirits in them.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Man is God’s highest present development. He is the latest thing in God.
—Samuel Butler
We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.
—Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) American Inventor, Philosopher