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
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
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
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
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, Short Story Writer, Social Critic, Philanthropist, Essayist
Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order! Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control.
—Denis Diderot (1713–84) French Philosopher, Writer
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
We have art in order not to die of the truth.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.
—Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Historian, Man of Letters
There is a time and place for everything.
—Common Proverb
One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.
—A. A. Milne (1882–1956) British Humorist, Playwright, Children’s Writer
Order marches with weighty and measured strides; disorder is always in a hurry.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
His vocation was orderliness, which is the basis of creation. Accordingly, when a letter came, he would turn it over in his hands for a long time, gazing at it meditatively; then he would put it away in a file without opening it, because everything had its own time.
—Salvatore Satta (1902–75) Italian Jurist, Novelist
The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre, observe degree, priority and place, insisture, course, proportion, season, form, office, and custom, in all line of order.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
If we can, when we have established individual discipline, arrange the children, sending each one to his own place, in order, trying to make them understand the idea that thus placed they look well, and that it is a good thing to be thus placed in order, that it is a good and pleasing arrangement in the room, this ordered and tranquil adjustment of theirs—then their remaining in their places, quiet and silent, is the result of a species of lesson, not an imposition. To make them understand the idea, without calling their attention too forcibly to the practice, to have them assimilate a principle of collective order—that is the important thing.
—Maria Montessori (1870–1952) Italian Physician, Educator
We do not keep the outward form of order, where there is deep disorder in the mind.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Order is a great person’s need and their true well being.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
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
It is best to do things systematically, since we are only humans, and disorder is our worst enemy.
—Hesiod (f.700 BCE) Greek Poet
Method will teach you to win time.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Good order is the foundation of all good things.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
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
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
A place for everything, everything in its place.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
There seems to be a kind of order in the universe, in the movement of the stars and the turning of the earth and the changing of the seasons, and even in the cycle of human life. But human life itself is almost pure chaos. Everyone takes his stance, asserts his own rights and feelings, mistaking the motives of others, and his own.
—Katherine Anne Porter (1890–1980) American Short-Story Writer, Novelist
Let all things be done decently and in order.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Every great man exhibits the talent of organization or construction, whether it be in a poem, a philosophical system, a policy, or a strategy. And without method there is no organization nor construction.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
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
The less of routine, the more of life.
—Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888) American Teacher, Writer, Philosopher
As order is heavenly, where quiet is had,
So error is hell, or a mischief as bad.
—Thomas Tusser