Order is heaven’s first law.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Be regular and orderly in your life like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work.
—Gustave Flaubert (1821–80) French Novelist, Playwright, Short Story Writer
However fiercely opposed one may be to the present order, an old respect for the idea of order itself often prevents people from distinguishing between order and those who stand for order, and leads them in practice to respect individuals under the pretext of respecting order itself.
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) French Actor, Drama Theorist
Music creates order out of chaos: for rhythm imposes unanimity upon the divergent, melody imposes continuity upon the disjointed, and harmony imposes compatibility upon the incongruous.
—Yehudi Menuhin (1916–99) American-born British Violinist, Conductor
I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose = words in their best order;—poetry = the best words in the best order.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
The order of the world is always right—such is the judgment of God. For God has departed, but he has left his judgment behind, the way the Cheshire Cat left his grin.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order. Life refuses to be embalmed alive. The more prolonged the halt in some unrelieved system of order, the greater the crash of the dead society.
—Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English Mathematician, Philosopher
Routine is a ground to stand on, a wall to retreat to; we cannot draw on our boots without bracing ourselves against it.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
There is a quality even meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this meaner quality is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served.
—Jane Jacobs (1916–2006) Canadian Urbanologist, Author
Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.
—Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Historian, Man of Letters
The less of routine, the more of life.
—Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888) American Teacher, Writer, Philosopher
He who has no taste for order, will be often wrong in his judgment, and seldom considerate or conscientious in his actions.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
Odd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
As order is heavenly, where quiet is had,
So error is hell, or a mischief as bad.
—Thomas Tusser
Neatness begets order; but from order to taste there is the same difference as from taste to genius, or from love to friendship.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
Order marches with weighty and measured strides; disorder is always in a hurry.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
The highest order of mind is accused of folly, as well as the lowest. Nothing is thoroughly approved but mediocrity. The majority has established this, and it fixes its fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
You ask what is the use of classification, arrangement, systemization? I answer you: order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject-the actual enemy is the unknown.
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955) German Novelist, Critic, Philanthropist, Essayist
Set all things in their own peculiar place, and know that order is the greatest grace.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
Good order is the foundation of all good things.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Order is the sanity of the mind, the health of the body, the peace of the city, the security of the state.—As the beams to a house, as the bones to the body, so is order to all things.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
There is no course of life so weak and Scottish as that which is ordered by orders, method, and discipline.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
There are persons who are never easy unless they are putting your books and papers in order—that is according to their notions of the matter—and hiding things, lest they should be lost, where neither the owner nor anybody else can find them. If anything is left where you want it, it is called litter. There is a pedantry in housewifery, as well as in the gravest concerns. One complained that whenever his maid-servant had been in his library, he could not get comfortably to work again, for several days.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
A place for everything, everything in its place.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Order means light and peace, inward liberty and free command over one’s self; order is power.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
It is best to do things systematically, since we are only humans, and disorder is our worst enemy.
—Hesiod (f.700 BCE) Greek Poet
Order is a great person’s need and their true well being.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
Order is a lovely nymph, the child of beauty and wisdom; her attendants are comfort, neatness, and activity; her abode is the valley of happiness: she is always to be found when sought for, and never appears so lovely as when contrasted with her opponent, disorder.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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