S.A. David Quotes

May the time come when rich men and great men would think it an honor to support whole stations of missionaries in Africa, instead of spending their money on hounds and horses.

I'm just trying to make a smudge on the collective unconscious.

Have you been following the big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Or as we call it now, the Dead Sea.

Taxation under every form presents but a choice of evils.

Again two manufacturers may employ the same amount of fixed, and the same amount of circulating capital; but the durability of their fixed capitals may be very unequal.

The most difficult thing to understand during conversation is silence.

That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest.

Whatever you attempt, go at it with spirit.

detachment, n. Even when I detach, I care. You can be separate from a thing and still care about it.

Good soldiers are defined by what they can endure, not by what they can inflict.

A lifetime may not be long enough to attune ourselves fully to the harmony of the universe. But just to become aware that we can resonate with it -- that alone can be like waking up from a dream.

We make a lot of fun at President Clinton's expense. But this transition is going to be tough because it's been 25 years since this guy has gotten laid in the private sector.

The world is a complicated place, and there's a lot of division between people. The performing arts tend to unify people in a way nothing else does.

It is not worth the while to let our imperfections disturb us always.

It is remarkable how long men will believe in the bottomlessness of a pond without taking the trouble to sound it.

It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature.

What is once well done is done forever.

As in geology, so in social institutions, we may discover the causes of all past changes in the present invariable order of society.

It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes.

Trust your instincts, and make judgements on what your heart tells you. The heart will not betray you.

Embedded in the larger story of redemption is a principle we must not miss: God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things in the lives of others.

I was actually telling people that - by harnessing the atom - we could enter a new era of unlimited power that would do away with the need to dam our beautiful streams.

Wisdom is the recovery of innocence at the far end of experience.

Diplomacy, n. is the art of letting somebody else have your way.

Money can add very much to one's ability to lead a constructive life, not only pleasant for oneself, but, hopefully, beneficial to others.

There is no place where we can safely store worn-out reactors or their garbage. No place!

Success shuns the man who lacks ideas.

Nothing earthly will make me give up my work in despair.

The deer hovered by the trees beyond as the sounds of the ravening wolves came to them across the grass, their own senses almost frozen in impotent horror.

We are human only in contact, and conviviality, with what is not human.

If all the ineffective ideas for solving the energy crisis were laid end to end, they would reach to the moon and back

Phasing out the human race will solve every problem on earth, social and environmental.

You don't comb the mirror, you comb your own hair and the mirror changes.

We're all entitled to a little stupidity now and then.

In a vain man, the smallest spark may kindle into the greatest flame, because the materials are always prepared for it.

Nothing is so improving to the temper as the study of the beauties either of poetry, eloquence, music, or painting.

What a peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call 'thought'.

I believe that every people and every nation has the right to be free and independent.

Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.

Good writing isn’t a science. It’s an art, and the horizon is infinite. You can always get better.

That everything is on fire, slow fire, and we're all less than a million breaths away from an oblivion more total than we can even bring ourselves to even try to imagine.

The most lively thought is still inferior to the dullest sensation.

Fiction becomes a weird way to countenance yourself and to tell the truth instead of being a way to escape yourself or present yourself in a way you figure you will be maximally likable.

Once you've been overweight you never want to be overweight again, so you keep going, keep going, like for any addiction. Health can be an addiction, it doesn't have to be drugs or alcohol.

Look for opportunities to help someone else, but don't give expecting something in return. Give knowing that if we give we receive.

Sanctimony is the most inexpensive form of morality. It costs us nothing to make much of small matters in others.

Instant enlightenment is to give all your happiness away to others.

The only way to live free, the only way to live your life as an offering of love, is to feel everything fully and live open.

Without professionalism I'd be an amateur, and the clients I want don't hire amateurs.

Don't let anyone try to tell you who you are. Define yourself.