James Erlandson > James's Quotes

“Friendship ... is born at the moment when one man says to another "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

“We read to know we're not alone.”
― William Nicholson, Shadowlands: A Play

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

“If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre

“Do you think that I count the days? There is only one day left, always starting over: it is given to us at dawn and taken away from us at dusk.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre

“I'm going to smile, and my smile will sink down into your pupils, and heaven knows what it will become.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit

“Better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees.”
― Jean Paul Sartre

“It's quite an undertaking to start loving somebody. You have to have energy, generosity, blindness. There is even a moment right at the start where you have to jump across an abyss: if you think about it you don't do it.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea

“Never do a wrong thing to make a friend--or to keep one.”
― Robert E. Lee

“I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.”
― Robert E. Lee

“It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.”
― Robert E. Lee

“The education of a man is never completed until he dies.”
― Robert E. Lee

“I can only say that I am nothing but a poor sinner, trusting in Christ alone for salvation.”
― Robert E. Lee

“In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength.”
― Robert E. Lee

“It is easier to make our wishes conform to our means than to make our means conform to our wishes.”
― Robert E. Lee

“What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.”
― Robert E. Lee

“It's the loneliest feeling in the world-to find yourself standing up when everybody else is sitting down. To have everybody look at you and say, 'What's the matter with him?' I know. I know what it feels like. Walking down an empty street, listening to the sound of your own footsteps. Shutters closed, blinds drawn, doors locked against you. And you aren't sure whether you're walking toward something, or if you're just walking away.”
― Robert E. Lee, Inherit the Wind: The Powerful Courtroom Drama in which Two Men Wage the Legal War of the Century

“Read history, works of truth, not novels and romances”
― Robert E. Lee

“ The forbearing use of power does not only form a touchstone, but the manner in which an individual enjoys certain advantages over others is a test of a true gentleman.

The power which the strong have over the weak, the employer over the employed, the educated over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding, even the clever over the silly--the forbearing or inoffensive use of all this power or authority, or a total abstinence from it when the case admits it, will show the men in a plain light.

The gentleman does not needlessly and unnecessarily remind an offender of a wrong he may have committed against him. He cannot only forgive, he can forget; and he strives for that nobleness of self and mildness of character which impart sufficient strength to let the past be but the past. A true man of honor feels humbled when he cannot help humbling others.”
― Robert E. Lee

“My experiences of men has neither disposed me to think worse of them nor be indisposed to serve them: nor, in spite of failures which I lament, of errors which I now see and acknowledge, or the present aspect of affairs, do I despair of the future. The truth is this: The march of Providence is so slow and our desires so impatient; the work of progress so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope. ”
― Robert E. Lee

“Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character.”
― Robert E. Lee

“My trust is in the mercy and wisdom of a kind Providence, who ordereth all things for our good.”
― Robert E. Lee

“True patriotism sometimes requires of men to act exactly contrary, at one period, to that which it does at another, and the motive which impels them the desire to do right is precisely the same.”
― Robert E Lee

“The consolidation of the states into one vast empire, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of ruin which has overwhelmed all that preceded it.”
― Robert E. Lee

“I can not trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.”
― Robert E. Lee

“There is a true glory and a true honor: the glory of duty done--the honor of the integrity of principle.”
― Robert E. Lee

“I like whiskey. I always did, and that is why I never drink it.”
― Robert E. Lee

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
― Harry S. Truman

“Fame is a vapor, popularity is an accident, riches take wings, those who cheer today may curse tomorrow and only one thing endures - character.”
― Harry Truman

“The only thing new in the world is the history you do not know.”
― Harry S. Truman