Favorite Quotes
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is." — Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut
"Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." — Jacob Bronowski
"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it." -- Chinese Proverb
"Science is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth." — Jules Verne
"Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought." — Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
“If you can't write a book, write a chapter. If you can't do that, write a page, a sentence or a word. For it is from a single word that books are made.” -Tarun Betala
From Famous People
"I am only one,
But still I am one,
I cannot do everything,
But sill I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
— Edward Everett Hale
"Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature."
- Michael Faraday
"It is impossible to enslave mentally or socially a Bible-reading people. the principles of the Bible are the ground work of human freedom." — Horace Greeley
"A great man is great until he discovers it; then he may become a danger and a nuisance." —unknown
"Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." — Goldsmith
"The setting sun stretched his celestial
rods of light across the level landscape,
and…smote the rivers, the brooks, and the
ponds, and they became as blood.”
—A beautiful description of a sunset by Longfellow
"What torments of pain you endure from evils that never arrived." — Emerson
"A weed is a plant whose virtues have not been discovered." — Emerson
"I see by today’s statistics that a big item is second hand cars. I am sorry to hear it. We haven’t got twenty men in America that are rich enough to support one." — Will Rogers
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free…it expects what never was and never will be." — Thomas Jefferson
"Gossip has been well-defined as putting two and two together, and making it five." — unknown
"You will have become a mature worker when you stop worrying about who will get the credit for the work that is done." —unknown
"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first and the lesson afterwards." — Law
"Let all live as they would die." — George Herbert
"It is easier to do a thing right than to explain why you did not." — unknown
"The weakest spot in every man is where he thinks himself to be the wisest." — Emmons
"Trust not the world, for it never payeth what is promiseth." — Augustine
"A picture may instantly present what a book could set forth only in a hundred pages." — Turgeniev
"Our prayer and God’s grace are like two buckets in a well; while the one ascends, the other descends." — Hopkins
"As a man grows wiser, he talks less and says more." — unknown
“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.” — Dr. Seuss
"Don’t get your law from the media. Read the cases. Until you know enough to form an opinion, don’t." — Jennifer Gathercoal quoting Justice Thomas
“The greatest obstacle to knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” — Daniel Boorstein, historian
"The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange protein: it rejects it." — Peter Medawar, Nobel Laureate, for discovery of acquired immunological tolerance
"People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway." — quote on Bekka Crockett’s page by Mother Teresa
But still I am one,
I cannot do everything,
But sill I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
— Edward Everett Hale
"Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature."
- Michael Faraday
"It is impossible to enslave mentally or socially a Bible-reading people. the principles of the Bible are the ground work of human freedom." — Horace Greeley
"A great man is great until he discovers it; then he may become a danger and a nuisance." —unknown
"Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." — Goldsmith
"The setting sun stretched his celestial
rods of light across the level landscape,
and…smote the rivers, the brooks, and the
ponds, and they became as blood.”
—A beautiful description of a sunset by Longfellow
"What torments of pain you endure from evils that never arrived." — Emerson
"A weed is a plant whose virtues have not been discovered." — Emerson
"I see by today’s statistics that a big item is second hand cars. I am sorry to hear it. We haven’t got twenty men in America that are rich enough to support one." — Will Rogers
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free…it expects what never was and never will be." — Thomas Jefferson
"Gossip has been well-defined as putting two and two together, and making it five." — unknown
"You will have become a mature worker when you stop worrying about who will get the credit for the work that is done." —unknown
"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first and the lesson afterwards." — Law
"Let all live as they would die." — George Herbert
"It is easier to do a thing right than to explain why you did not." — unknown
"The weakest spot in every man is where he thinks himself to be the wisest." — Emmons
"Trust not the world, for it never payeth what is promiseth." — Augustine
"A picture may instantly present what a book could set forth only in a hundred pages." — Turgeniev
"Our prayer and God’s grace are like two buckets in a well; while the one ascends, the other descends." — Hopkins
"As a man grows wiser, he talks less and says more." — unknown
“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.” — Dr. Seuss
"Don’t get your law from the media. Read the cases. Until you know enough to form an opinion, don’t." — Jennifer Gathercoal quoting Justice Thomas
“The greatest obstacle to knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” — Daniel Boorstein, historian
"The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange protein: it rejects it." — Peter Medawar, Nobel Laureate, for discovery of acquired immunological tolerance
"People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway." — quote on Bekka Crockett’s page by Mother Teresa
About Government
“When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers just men who will rule in the fear of God. The preservation of a republican government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made not for the public good so much as for the selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the right of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. — Daniel Webster, great American statesman
“If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.” — Daniel Webster, great American statesman
"Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters." — Edmund Burke, "Father of Modern Conservatism"
"Whatever government is not a government of laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it may." — Daniel Webster
"The powers reserved by the people [under the Constitution] render them secure and until they themselves become corrupt, they will always have upright and able rulers." — John Hancock
"Politics has got so expensive that it takes lots of money to even get beat with nowadays." — Will Rogers
“If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.” — Daniel Webster, great American statesman
"Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters." — Edmund Burke, "Father of Modern Conservatism"
"Whatever government is not a government of laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it may." — Daniel Webster
"The powers reserved by the people [under the Constitution] render them secure and until they themselves become corrupt, they will always have upright and able rulers." — John Hancock
"Politics has got so expensive that it takes lots of money to even get beat with nowadays." — Will Rogers
From Books
The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson
p. 35, "Our generation desperately needs to rediscover the difference between praying for and praying through. There are certainly circumstances where praying for something will get the job done. I believe in short prayers before meals because, quite frankly, I believe in eating food while it's still hot. But there are also situations where you need to grab hold of the horns of the altar and refuse to let go until God answers."
p. 40, "Before you write this off as some 'name it, claim it' scheme, let me remind you that God cannot be bribed or blackmailed. God doesn't do miracles to satisfy our selfish whims. God does miracles for one reason and one reason alone: to spell His glory."
The Office of Assertion: An Art of Rhetoric for the Academy Essay
"An education for economic productivity and political utility alone is an education for slaves, but an education for finding, collecting, and communicating reality is an education for free people, people free to know what is so."
Logic and Rational Thought by Dr. Harrison
"Increasing one’s vocabulary is more than merely increasing the number of words that one can use. It involves introducing and relating concepts in an expanding view of the world."
Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr.
"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason taht a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell."
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”
p. 35, "Our generation desperately needs to rediscover the difference between praying for and praying through. There are certainly circumstances where praying for something will get the job done. I believe in short prayers before meals because, quite frankly, I believe in eating food while it's still hot. But there are also situations where you need to grab hold of the horns of the altar and refuse to let go until God answers."
p. 40, "Before you write this off as some 'name it, claim it' scheme, let me remind you that God cannot be bribed or blackmailed. God doesn't do miracles to satisfy our selfish whims. God does miracles for one reason and one reason alone: to spell His glory."
The Office of Assertion: An Art of Rhetoric for the Academy Essay
"An education for economic productivity and political utility alone is an education for slaves, but an education for finding, collecting, and communicating reality is an education for free people, people free to know what is so."
Logic and Rational Thought by Dr. Harrison
"Increasing one’s vocabulary is more than merely increasing the number of words that one can use. It involves introducing and relating concepts in an expanding view of the world."
Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr.
"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason taht a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell."
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”
From Family, Friends and Others
"Mom... You are now raising two teenagers. There is an alternative however: Solve a 10-10 Rubik's cube while balancing on a giant ball. Oh! You also have to tape jello to the ceiling. Good luck!!!" -- Ian Harmon to Brenda Harmon
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, however, there is."
— Jan van de Snepscheut [Ms. Harmon’s organic chemistry lab]
"We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love." -Dr. Seuss
"Thermodynamics is a funny subject. The first time you go through it, you don’t understand it at all. The second time you go through it, you think you understand it, except for one or two small points. The third time you go through it, you know you don’t understand it, but by that time you are so used to it, it doesn’t bother you any more." — attributed to Arnold Sommerfeld
"Wow, tonight is so amazing outside! When words can’t describe how awesome God is, He uses the beauty of a night like tonight to describe Himself." — my brother, James Hannon Pound IV
"Don’t sweat the small stuff; life is too short and death is too certain." — Dr. Shapiro quoting Dr. Sharp
"Life is short. Time is precious. Cherish the loved ones in your life, they could be gone tomorrow. Take time to enjoy the simple things. Make the best of it. Learn from the past and look forward to the future. Take time to remember the good old days. Take responsibility for your actions…. Don’t place judgement on people. Dont let your pride get ahold of you. Think of others before yourself. Dont bring other people down to make yourself feel better. Listen. Have the time of your life. Rid yourself of the drama. Be straight up. Emotions are real - I dont ignore them. Live each day as it comes at you and be thankful for each breath you take, it could be your last." — Heather Chandler
"As you can see from the picture, the structure of methyl methacrylate kind of looks like Massachusetts. But Massachusetts doesn’t polymerize, because there’s only one." — website explaining the polymerization of methyl methacrylate: http://pslc.ws/macrogcss/pmma.html
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, however, there is."
— Jan van de Snepscheut [Ms. Harmon’s organic chemistry lab]
"We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love." -Dr. Seuss
"Thermodynamics is a funny subject. The first time you go through it, you don’t understand it at all. The second time you go through it, you think you understand it, except for one or two small points. The third time you go through it, you know you don’t understand it, but by that time you are so used to it, it doesn’t bother you any more." — attributed to Arnold Sommerfeld
"Wow, tonight is so amazing outside! When words can’t describe how awesome God is, He uses the beauty of a night like tonight to describe Himself." — my brother, James Hannon Pound IV
"Don’t sweat the small stuff; life is too short and death is too certain." — Dr. Shapiro quoting Dr. Sharp
"Life is short. Time is precious. Cherish the loved ones in your life, they could be gone tomorrow. Take time to enjoy the simple things. Make the best of it. Learn from the past and look forward to the future. Take time to remember the good old days. Take responsibility for your actions…. Don’t place judgement on people. Dont let your pride get ahold of you. Think of others before yourself. Dont bring other people down to make yourself feel better. Listen. Have the time of your life. Rid yourself of the drama. Be straight up. Emotions are real - I dont ignore them. Live each day as it comes at you and be thankful for each breath you take, it could be your last." — Heather Chandler
"As you can see from the picture, the structure of methyl methacrylate kind of looks like Massachusetts. But Massachusetts doesn’t polymerize, because there’s only one." — website explaining the polymerization of methyl methacrylate: http://pslc.ws/macrogcss/pmma.html
Mom: “Oh, don’t forget to give this pill to Tom (one of our cats). Give him half a pill. Watch out for his claws - he digs his claws into you.”
Dad: “Oh great, I’m really looking forward to this experience. Maybe I should let him dig his claws into Jessica.”
Mom: “Just wrap him up in a towel. That usually works. He takes pills really well.”
Dad: “Should I call 911, then give him the pill?”
*Hilarious exchange I witnessed before mom went to work on Saturday, August 22, 2009.
"Be a best friend; tell the truth; and overuse ‘I love you;’ Go to work; do your best; don’t outsmart your common sense; Never let your prayin knees get lazy; and love like crazy." — Bekka Crocket’s status on March 28, 2010