5 ms·
Ask HN: What is the best quote you ever heard?
- ThomPete 6y ago"Never accept a no from someone who doesn't have the power to say yes" — Eleanor Roosevelt
- codegeek 6y agolove it.
- random8675309 6y agoSounds a bit rapey.
- phaus 6y agoSounds rapey only if you are ignoring the fact that people have a right to consent or not consent to sexual things that happen to them.
- random8675309 6y agoNope, it’s rapey, and you are forgetting the fact that a person can only give consent when sober. If someone is drunk then they don’t have the power to say yes. According to that quote anyone who asks for sex from the intoxicated person should just do it. That is rape. Lawyered!
- phaus 6y agoI think you're taking it too literally, you can manipulate lots of quotes to turn them into something they weren't intended to be. Pretty sure the quoted person wasn't promoting the rape of intoxicated people. I think the intent was not wasting your time on being rejected by people who aren't even in a position to give you what you are asking for because they don't ever have the authority or power to grant it. That makes more sense than viewing it as an excuse to prey on people that are temporarily in a disadvantaged condition.
- ThomPete 6y agoYou can turn everything into something it's not intended to be if you want to. This is a quote by a woman who was the First Lady. Intent matters legally to.
- cafard 6y agoThat sounds a bit like Churchill's "Never negotiate with the monkey when the organ-grinder is in the room."
- gjvc 6y ago"The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt." -- Bertrand Russell
- psmithsfhn 6y agosounds like The Second Coming poem ("the centre cannot hold") by WB Yeats, 1919: https://poets.org/poem/second-coming https://poets.org/poem/second-coming The best lack all coviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity
- BitwiseFool 6y ago"If you don't ask for anything, don't be surprised when you get nothing" -- A former manager on the subject of my negotiating skills.
- helph67 6y agoPLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER.” ― Groucho Marx, Groucho and Me
- DoreenMichele 6y agoWhile they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done. Helen Keller There are a lot of great quotes from her, but that is my favorite. https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/helen-keller-quotes https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/helen-keller-quotes
- cjbenedikt 6y ago"In Theory, Theory and Practice are the same. In Practice they're not." Charlie Munger
- sethammons 6y agoA similar one I heard: in theory, it will work in practice. In practice, it’s the other way around.
- cjbenedikt 6y ago"Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion." M. Ali
- cjbenedikt 6y agoOn the stock market: "Markets are people." B. Baruch
- cjbenedikt 6y ago"It is sad to say that all the people who know how to run a country are busy driving cabs or cutting hair." Peter Ustinov
- oumua_don17 6y agoTo see a miracle, be the miracle. - Morgan Freeman (as God) in his deep baritone to Jim Carey (as Bruce) in Bruce almighty Edit: formatting
- dnh44 6y ago“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth” -- Mike Tyson
- muzani 6y agoThis only really applies in situations where you have half a second to make a decision. I prefer Eisenhower's "Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."
- milkytron 6y ago"The first step to solving any problem is to remain calm" I forget where I heard this. But it's helped me a lot.
- kwistzhaderach 6y agoThe reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. ― George Bernard Shaw
- varbhat 6y ago“ Fearing the obstacles , worst people don't start . Mediocre people rest(or stop) when they face obstacles. Best people don't stop even if they are getting defeated by obstacles. ” “ People may scold or praise, Wealth may come or go, Death may be now or Years after, Great Person will not deviate from right path(or goal) . ” These both were quoted by Bhartṛhari in his book Nitiśatakam (written in c. 5th century CE). “ Don't rant that you don't have , not considering everything you have. There is always a path to happiness. ” This one is quoted by writer D.V. Gundappa written in his book "Mankutimmana Kagga" (which is also a book of wisdom published in 1943) .
- jcp2fa 6y ago"The greatest enemy of a good plan, is the dream of a perfect plan" -- Carl Von Clausewitz, 1780-1831 Prussian general and military theorist
- cafard 6y agoIf you like computing-focused quotations, Jon Bentley's Programming Pearls has the chapter "Bumper-Sticker Computer Science".
- sethammons 6y agoSo many. Top of mind: without data and given the choice between your opinion and mine, I’ll take mine; show me the data. On worrying: if you can do something about it, do so and don’t worry. If you can’t, don’t, and don’t worry. World outlook: Happiness is a choice.