The quote library
Frankisms
Short truths, collected over a lifetime of writing and teaching. Read a few, or lose an afternoon.
- Collected
- 1,993
“What makes people believe ideas? We believe because our parents or our friends believe. We believe because we’ve had experiences that led us to our beliefs. We believe because of our religious faith. We believe because we trust authorities. — Chip Heath”
education
“When people think analytically, they’re less likely to think emotionally. — Chip Heath”
education
“When we understand that we cannot know the unknowable, we are free to not know. — Robert Fritz”
education
“When we want to know something but don’t, it’s like having an itch that we need to scratch. — Chip Heath”
education
“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. — Arthur Conan Doyle, 18591930”
education
“When you lose, don’t lose the lesson. — H. Jackson Brown Jr”
education
“When you need professional advice, get it from professionals, not from your friends. — H. Jackson Brown Jr”
education
“Whosover would understand what he hears must hasten to put into practice what he has heard. — Saint Gregory”
education
“Wisdom is seeing things from God’s perspective. — Bill Gothard”
education
“Without involvement, people are not often motivated to participate, act, create, build, and learn. — Robert Fritz”
education
“You know much more than you think because you think in more ways than you know. — Thomas Armstrong”
education
“You may think you know, but you don’t know you know until you can write it down. — Robert McKee”
education
“We trust, Sir, that God is on our side. It is more important to know that we are on God’s side. — Abraham Lincoln, Reply to deputation during Civil War”
history
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. — John F. Kennedy”
history
“Based on my understanding of the past, I can make a prediction about the future. — Thomas Umstattd”
history
“Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt. — Herbert Clark Hoover”
history
“Historical fiction allows readers to see and judge the mistakes of the past. — Terri S. Lesesne”
history
“History is a vast early-warning system. — Norman Cousins”
history
“History teaches us that when a barbarian race confronts a sleeping culture, the barbarian always wins. — Arnold Toynbee”
history
“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. — Winston Churchill”
history
“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. — Abraham Lincoln”
history
“Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just. — Thomas Jefferson, 17431826”
history
“Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death. — Patrick Henry (17361799), Speech in Virginia Convention, Richmond”
history
“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. — John F. Kennedy”
history
“Our American heritage is threatened as much by our own indifference as by the most unscrupulous office or by the most powerful foreign threat. The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter. — Dwight D. Eisenhower”
history
“Prejudice is the ink with which all history is written. — Mark Twain”
history
“The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. — George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796”
history
“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. — Tertullian”
history
“The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous. — Frederick Douglass (c. 18181895), Speech on the twenty-third anniversary of Emancipation in Washington DC [April 1885]”
history
“The past should be a springboard, not a hammock. — Ivern Ball”
history
“The war is over—the rebels are our countrymen again. — Ulysses S. Grant (18221885), Upon stopping his men from cheering after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House [April 9, 1865]”
history
“There never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of a sword. — Ulysses Simpson Grant”
history
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. — George Santayana”
history
“To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving the peace. — George Washington, Address, 1790”
history
“We are all the prisoners of our past. It is hard to think of things except in the way we have always thought of them. But that way solves no problems and seldom changes anything. — Charles Handy”
history
“We turned the switch, saw the flashes, watched for ten minutes, then switched everything off and went home. That night I knew the world was headed for sorrow. — Leo Szilard, describing the 1939 experiment which confirmed that the atom could be split.”
history
“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. — Abraham Lincoln (18091865), Address to an Indiana Regiment [March 17, 1865]”
history
“You must resist the propensity to see history only as you want to see it. You must look for reality beyond what you were raised to believe. — James Thom”
history
“A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday but never remembers her age. — Robert Frost”
humor
“A man isn’t poor if he can still laugh. — Raymond Hitchcock”
humor