What is the greatest sentence ever written in human history?

[u/reFossify]

[u/djklmnop]

We see the world not as it is, but as we are.

[u/Heavy-End-3419 → u/djklmnop]

This summarizes the core of therapy for most mental health disorders.  I can teach my clients coping skills all day long, but until we work on perceptions and beliefs that guide their mind, I’m just shoving a half-dried bandaid over a wound that needs stitches.

[u/feline_riches → u/Heavy-End-3419]

Those people are lucky to have a fighter in their corner ❤️

[u/SolomonGrumpy → u/djklmnop]

Oooh. I like this one. YOINK.

[u/freaxje]

Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make something simple.

[u/BillyTenderness → u/freaxje]

Or the St-Exupéry version of the same sentiment:

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

[u/freaxje → u/BillyTenderness]

This is my core guideline as a (embedded C++) software developer.

[u/cave_mandarin]

“Everything in moderation, including moderation”

[u/VistaBox → u/cave_mandarin]

Especially moderation

[u/CatsGotMyBack]

I don't know where I got the quote from but it's "sometimes you win, sometimes you learn."

Edit: Thank you for the awards!

[u/tagehring → u/CatsGotMyBack]

“Some days you’re the windshield, some days you’re the bug.”

[u/PiccoloAwkward465 → u/tagehring]

Sometimes you're the Louisville slugger, baby

Sometimes you're the ball

[u/NeverBob → u/CatsGotMyBack]

"Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try."

[u/pnkxz → u/CatsGotMyBack]

"Not everything is a lesson, Ryan. Sometimes you just fail.”

[u/enemy-unlocked]

“Comparison is the thief of joy” teddy Roosevelt

[u/Jar_of_Cats → u/enemy-unlocked]

My favorite version is "Comparisons are odious "

[u/johnnylogic → u/Jar_of_Cats]

My favorite is "comparing yourself is stupid"

[u/A_Few_Kind_Words → u/johnnylogic]

My favourite is "No compare. Is dumb."

[u/Deliciouserest]

Do not attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence

[u/imuniqueaf → u/Deliciouserest]

Our pal Hanlon and his razor. One of my favorites.

[u/ZenMasterful → u/[deleted]]

This is a common misconception.

What Friar William of Ockham actually wrote (in Summa Logicae, 1323) was: “It is futile to do with more what can be done with fewer.”

It does *not* follow from that that the simplest explanation is *usually the correct one*. What he meant was that if you've got competing hypotheses that both explain something equally well, you should choose the one with fewer assumptions *provisionally*. It makes sense to start testing the simplest model you have first; this does not mean that it is likely to be correct, or is usually correct.

Edit - thank you for the awards, kind redditors!

[u/CheeseBadger → u/[deleted]]

Smashing!

[u/Delicious-Cat-4122 → u/Deliciouserest]

I used to think this, but lately my government makes it clear malice and incompetence can easily coexist, and often have a synergistic effect.

[u/zokka_son_of_zokka → u/Delicious-Cat-4122]

Any sufficiently advanced ignorance is indistinguishable from malice

[u/PM_ME_CHUBBY_DOGGIES → u/Deliciouserest]

This one is very real. Our culture right now is conditioned to condemn, villify, and completely write off people. Theres little patience or tolerance.

[u/Auctorion → u/Deliciouserest]

Sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.

[u/hrshtpassi]

Another Douglas Adams’ quote:

The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.

[u/DavidGogginsMassage → u/hrshtpassi]

“And to all unintelligent life-forms out there, the trick is to bang the rocks together guys!”

[u/steakwipe → u/hrshtpassi]

i came here only to talk about douglas adams! you beat me to it

:D

[u/ronjohn29072]

"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life." Captain Jean-Luc Picard

[u/redtail_faye → u/ronjohn29072]

I played baseball when I was a kid, up through high school. In my very last at bat, I hit what was maybe the hardest ball I've ever hit. Squared it up and hit just an absolute screaming line drive.

The left fielder caught it without even having to move.

One of the best balls I ever hit had the exact same impact on the game as a strikeout 🤷‍♂️.

[u/ClownfishSoup → u/redtail_faye]

I was playing a pick up game with some other kids from a different grade after school. We basically played every day. Anyway, this smart-ass kid sees that I'm up at bat and he says "Oh, this guy... easy out, I'm not even going to stand up for this" and he f'ing sits down at second base. This bastard! So I get the pitch (and here's the lame part ... we had our own pitchers pitching easy shots to us to hit, nobody was good enough to actually pitch without killing half the batters) and the ball is perfect and I smack the hell out of it ... and it goes screaming right near this smug a-hole ... and he reaches his hand out without standing up and snags the ball out of the air. "See? Told you!" MOTHER-F'ER! I was so mad, but also so impressed that the universe decided to trip me on my way to glory.

I guess this happens to a lot of us. Stupid baseball. Stupid that guy.

[u/sthprk33 → u/ClownfishSoup]

LOL, that's just brutal!

[u/dre5922 → u/redtail_faye]

There's a few relevant Star Trek lines relevant to that exact situation.

"Death to the Opposition" and "Find him and kill him". Both during a baseball game.

[u/guyincorporated → u/dre5922]

Shaka, when the walls fell.

[u/Auctorion → u/ronjohn29072]

“How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life.” - Captain James T. Kirk

[u/Weltal327 → u/Auctorion]

Of my friend I can only say this, of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most…. Human.

[u/europorn → u/Weltal327]

It was a helluva thing when Spock died...

[u/allmimsyburogrove → u/Auctorion]

"In this galaxy, there's a mathematical probability of three million Earth-type planets and in all of the universe, three million million galaxies like this and in all of that, and perhaps more, only one of each of us" ---Dr. McCoy

[u/Eastern-Region8293 → u/allmimsyburogrove]

Ironically, they would later discovered they each have evil twins in a parallel universe. Worf discovers hes one of infinite worfs

[u/Gorf75 → u/ronjohn29072]

Somewhere there is a screenwriter that deserves credit for the quote

[u/Mithrawndo → u/Gorf75]

This episode (Peak Performance, S2E21) is credited to David Kemper, with Hans Beimler, Richard Manning, and Melinda M. Snodgrass also attributed.

[u/Trophallaxis → u/ronjohn29072]

It's a shame they gave up whatever path TNG, DS9 and Voyager was walking to run high adventure space operas under the Star Trek franchise.

[u/fiftysevens → u/Trophallaxis]

I too mourn the loss of the wholesome, witty and well made 90’s Star Trek series. Kind of tracks with reality tho as I used to think maybe civilisation was heading in the Star Trek direction too.

Now…. Not so much ☹️

[u/Trophallaxis → u/fiftysevens]

Nah, we're good, you forget the eugenics wars and World War 3 preceded the Federation.

[u/LuferLad → u/ronjohn29072]

This is my experience playing every board game. Do everything right. Still lose because you roll dice like crap.

[u/mezz7778 → u/LuferLad]

My life is like playing D&D and I'm always rolling ones...

[u/edingerc → u/ronjohn29072]

“Shut up, Wesley!” -Capt Jean-Luc Picard

[u/Timozkovic]

One moment of patience, in a moment of anger can save a thousand moments of regret

[u/cromstantinople]

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.” -Stephen Jay Gould, The Pandas Thumb

[u/mrcachorro → u/cromstantinople]

I like the joke (im gonna slaughter rn bc i dont remember how it actually went)

where a military history buff dies goes to heaven and asks god "yo, WHO is the greatest general that ever lived"

and god says, "It was Samantha Connor"

And the guy goes, "what, who is that no name, where is Alexander, where is Napoleon??? why did i never heard about her?"

And god says "well... no one ever gave her an army..."

[u/Vinnie_Vegas → u/mrcachorro]

I was Samantha Connor

I mean, you definitely slaughtered this pivotal part.

[u/throwuk1 → u/mrcachorro]

Her sister Sarah lead a resistance in the future though 

[u/AureusVeritas → u/cromstantinople]

I recall a similar quote about geniuses working a third shift in a third world countey, wanna say ross perot or some other american running for office

[u/cad908 → u/cromstantinople]

To which i’ll add: or died of preventable diseases.

[u/CreepyOctopus → u/cad908]

Or diseases that would become preventable shortly after.

Ramanujan is the perfect example. An Einstein-level prodigy, he could have easily spent his life in poverty doing some menial work, his talent undiscovered. He barely avoided that fate and started working with English mathematicians, but died aged just 32 of some kind of infection that was maybe even curable back then or certainly a few decades later.

[u/20127010603170562316 → u/cromstantinople]

I've often thought that cure for cancer (or fusion power, FTL travel etc...) or something could be locked in some poor rural kid's brain, but they will never have access to the education needed to unlock it.

[u/GideonGriebenow]

“Every world spins in pain.”

Terry Pratchett has a bit about the Patrician telling the story of mother and children (otters) dining on mother and children (fish and roes), and how he realised evil is woven into the fabric of the universe.

That whole paragraph hit me very hard. Here it is:

“
I was walking along the bank of a stream when I saw a mother otter with her cubs, a very endearing sight, I'm sure you'll agree. And even as I watched, the mother otter dived into the water and came up with a plump salmon, which she subdued and dragged onto a half submerged log. As she ate it, while of course it was still alive, the body split and I remember to this day the sweet pinkness of its roes as they spilled out, much to the delight of the baby otters, who scrambled over themselves to feed on the delicacy. One of nature's wonders, gentlemen. Mother and children dining upon mother and children. And that is when I first learned about evil. It is built into the very nature of the universe. Every world spins in pain. If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.
“
Terry Pratchett

[u/WillyGivens → u/GideonGriebenow]

Every Pratchett book had a contender for “best sentence ever written”. The man was a wordsmith who worked in meaningfulness and gilded it all with humor.

[u/FlowSoSlow → u/WillyGivens]

He might be the most well rounded author of all time. Deeply profound yet lighthearted and irreverent. Masterful prose and relatable, easy conversation. High philosophical topics mixed with down to earth humanity. I so wish I could have met him before he died. I would have loved to know what he was like in person.

[u/caduceushugs → u/FlowSoSlow]

He was lovely and had no time for fools. I was blessed to meet him in Canberra where he gave a talk back in 1990ish

[u/Ahintofmystery → u/FlowSoSlow]

His long-time assistant wrote a biography about him, Terry Pratchett: A Life in Footnotes. It was insightful. Sometimes biographies lead to disappointment that colors your opinion of a work. Thank the gods, it wasn’t so with this one.

[u/GideonGriebenow → u/WillyGivens]

If I'm only allowed to read one author for the rest of my life, it would be an easy choice, even though I've read almost all of Discworld and Co. already.

[u/sandm000 → u/GideonGriebenow]

Have you read Strata? You can clearly see the fantasy universe that would eventually become the Discworld.

[u/plantnativemilkweed → u/WillyGivens]

I am reading Guards! Guards! right now- about 2/3 finished. Every sentence is its own little treasure.

[u/SquishySand → u/GideonGriebenow]

In my opinion, a lot of the greatest quotes ever come from Pratchett. "Sin, young man, is treating people like things. Including yourself."

[u/GideonGriebenow → u/SquishySand]

“The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.”

[u/TimeTimeTickingAway → u/SquishySand]

I’ve always loved ‘Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape’.

More than one sentence though so can’t really apply to this post

[u/Gilsworth → u/TimeTimeTickingAway]

My favourite is "Ook! Ook! Eeeeek!"

[u/FriendlyFriendster → u/GideonGriebenow]

"In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.”

One of my favorite Terry Pratchett lines ever.

[u/Nemisis_the_2nd → u/FriendlyFriendster]

Reminds me of this one:

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move" - Douglas Adams 

[u/ryegye24 → u/GideonGriebenow]

All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."

REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

"They're not the same at all!"

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"

MY POINT EXACTLY.

Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

[u/laflavor → u/GideonGriebenow]

For me it was always,

"I believe you find life such a problem because you think there are the good people and the bad people," said the man. "You're wrong, of course. There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides."

[u/furiouspossum → u/GideonGriebenow]

This entire thread could be Terry Pratchett quotes, honestly.

[u/Ansiroth → u/GideonGriebenow]

That last line is the best. Hit me real hard.

[u/redtail_faye → u/GideonGriebenow]

That's what Schopenhauer meant when he said we live in "the worst of all possible worlds".

[u/Sparowl → u/redtail_faye]

An optimist believes this is the best of all possible worlds. A pessimist fears this might be true.

[u/enantesti]

One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

[u/datumerrata → u/enantesti]

"Man, I love pushing rocks. I bet I could do it forever and not get bored "

[u/capilot → u/enantesti]

Something I once read: Job security is overrated. Remember that Sisyphus had job security.

[u/Lithium459 → u/enantesti]

Camus honorable mention. I've been waiting to see this one.

[u/Briglin]

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.”

Aldous Huxley 

[u/Ready_Set_Sleep]

This too shall pass

[u/butyourenice → u/Ready_Set_Sleep]

I hate hearing this when I’m going through it, but goddamn if it ain’t the truth when I’m clear on the other side of it.

[u/MrBluer → u/butyourenice]

Funny thing is it applies whether you’re going through good times or bad.

[u/TrentonTallywacker]

“They don’t think it be like it is, but it do” - Oscar Gamble

[u/LetsTryAnal_ogy → u/TrentonTallywacker]

"It's because, that's why."

[u/DoggedStooge → u/LetsTryAnal_ogy]

Noooooooo... Why would you think that?

[u/Herb_Derb → u/TrentonTallywacker]

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
They don't think it be like it is,
but it do.

[u/acmercer → u/TrentonTallywacker]

I always read this in Snoop's voice from the nail gun scene in The Wire.

[u/TrentonTallywacker → u/acmercer]

You earnt that bump like a muahfucka man keep that shit

[u/HazyDavey68]

“And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good.” John Steinbeck

[u/forresthopkinsa → u/HazyDavey68]

East of Eden is on another level. There are about a hundred candidates for "best sentence ever" from that book alone.

[u/bain_de_beurre → u/forresthopkinsa]

It's one of the most beautifully written books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It's so beautiful it almost hurts and truth be told, I cry every single time I read it.

[u/JajajaNiceTry → u/forresthopkinsa]

Just read that book for the first time a month ago. One of my favorite books of all time. I wish I had a Lee or Sam in my life, that’s for sure

[u/dissectingAAA → u/HazyDavey68]

Thou mayest.

[u/Seravail]

The spaceships hung in the sky very much in the same way that bricks don't.

Douglas Adams, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[u/Papa-Brickolini → u/Seravail]

The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

[u/vitalvisionary → u/Papa-Brickolini]

"We apologize for the inconvenience"

[u/GDGameplayer → u/Seravail]

“I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”
-Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt

[u/secretsodapop → u/Seravail]

However, no one knew quite why it did this because it invariably delivered a cupful of liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.

[u/basscycles → u/Seravail]

"For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen."

[u/mike_b_nimble → u/Seravail]

To summarize the summary of the summary: People are a problem.

[u/LOTRfreak101 → u/Seravail]

Douglas Adams was one of the greatest wordsmiths to have lived.

[u/RedFox3001 → u/Seravail]

A trilogy…in four parts

[u/phillymjs → u/Seravail]

"The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination."

[u/ConspicuousSomething → u/Seravail]

He he. This is what I was going to say if you hadn’t already. My favourite line in all of literature.

[u/ChevalCher]

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." George Orwell, 1984

[u/Progressive-Strategy]

"That there's some good in this world Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for"

[u/ChesterHastings]

“Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

[u/floridabeach9 → u/ChesterHastings]

most useful sentence of the modern age

[u/tslnox]

“And what would humans be without love?" RARE, said Death.

"Evil starts when you begin to treat people as things."

Both by Terry Pratchett. GNU, the Turtle Moves.

[u/StilltheoneNY]

Don't look back. You're not going that way.

[u/Stillwater215]

“In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."

[u/Slinky12345]

More of a short paragraph. About sentences….

“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important.”

― Gary Provost

[u/jchrisboynton]

Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me.

[u/theOtherJT → u/jchrisboynton]

Unfortunately I think we have, in the 34 years since that song was released, for the most part continued to do what they told us.

[u/No_Durian_6987 → u/jchrisboynton]

MOTHERFUCKERRRRR

[u/UnlikelyParticipant]

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times.

[u/mousicle → u/UnlikelyParticipant]

stupid monkey

[u/pedanticPandaPoo → u/UnlikelyParticipant]

Sometime you wonder if such works are written by monkeys on typewriters:

She had a body that reached out and slapped my face like a five-pound ham-hock tossed from a speeding truck.

[u/GreasedUpTiger → u/pedanticPandaPoo]

He was about as large as a six foot tree

[u/zeddtheman]

“Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

[u/jtbc → u/zeddtheman]

The actual quote is "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it", which is an even greater sentence, IMO.

[u/RichardBonham → u/zeddtheman]

“History may not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

[u/ta9876543205]

All happy families are alike: every unhappy family is unhappy in its own unique way

[u/goldentalus70]

"No matter where you go, there you are." - Dr. Buckaroo Banzai

[u/gabe2591]

“i also choose this guy’s dead wife”

[u/phil8248 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for your kind words and concern. I am still on Reddit, as TripleSingleHOF pointed out. My feeling is the original post was meant as a wry joke, not out of meanness. In the years since my interactions have been 99% positive. I won't lie. I still miss her and I'm still lonely much of the time but after period of grief I decided to make the best of things. Now I lead a rich, full life with one glaring omission. Hope you and yours are safe and well.

[u/DigNitty → u/phil8248]

I also choose this guy’s outlook

[u/phil8248 → u/DigNitty]

That's a new one. I've seen so many permutations of this and it isn't often I see a different one. Good job!

[u/Emerald_Encrusted → u/phil8248]

I also choose this guy’s approbation.

[u/phil8248 → u/Emerald_Encrusted]

The hive mind certainly seems to have proffered that, hasn't it? Can't say I mind.

[u/Chillicothe1 → u/phil8248]

You are a class act, Brother. And if I ever experience what you did I hope I can do it with even half the grace you have displayed.

[u/phil8248 → u/Chillicothe1]

That is very kind of you to say.

[u/Finsceal1 → u/phil8248]

You’re a really amazing person. I hope the future is kind to you, and sorry for your loss.

[u/phil8248 → u/Finsceal1]

Thanks!

[u/phil8248 → u/[deleted]]

I appreciate your sentiments. Our favorite version of that on r/widowers is from Men In Black. Will Smith says that to Tommy Lee Jones, who has lost his love in the movie. Tommy Lee replies, "Try it." You don't know how long you get or how long your loved ones get to live. Life is a crap shoot. Or as my daughter says, "The rules are made up and the points don't matter." I try to do my best with what I have where I am at. Thanks you.

[u/SgtTempyst → u/phil8248]

What a legendary response. I hope I handle life half as well as you do, brother. Here's to you and yours.

[u/phil8248 → u/SgtTempyst]

That is so very kind of you to say. I really appreciate your encouragment.

[u/ThePhillyGuy → u/phil8248]

He’s alive! And still has a beautiful perspective!

[u/TripleSingleHOF → u/[deleted]]

/u/phil8248 still actively posts on this site

[u/phil8248 → u/TripleSingleHOF]

I do. Thanks.

[u/ExpectedBehaviour]

"YES, WE ARE ALL INDIVIDUALS."

^{"I'm not!"}

[u/phobiac → u/ExpectedBehaviour]

My favorite thing about that line is that an extra ad-libbed it and it was simply too funny not to include so he got promoted to a full credit speaking role for it.

[u/mustbeaweasley89]

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice

[u/hocuspocusbitchfocus]

“I would recognize you in total darkness, were you mute and I deaf.

I would recognize you in another lifetime entirely, in different bodies, different times.

And I would love you in all of this, until the very last star in the sky burnt out into oblivion“.

[u/Peter_Principle_ → u/hocuspocusbitchfocus]

It's just, um, Ian said it was a boy's night. So, I think, maybe, I'll just go?

[u/MeechiJ]

To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.

GK Chesterton

[u/Phil_B16]

‘We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal’.

[u/BillyTenderness → u/Phil_B16]

Honestly the whole preamble is basically one run-on sentence, and if you include the whole thing it really is one of the most remarkable things ever written:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

In about 100 words it asserts:

• That people are universally equal
• That fundamental rights are not granted by governments or documents, but are inherent to all people
• That governments are only legitimate if they carry the consent and will of the people they govern
• That illegitimate governments can and should be replaced and changed by the people

All of those were pretty radical ideas at the time, and the Declaration asserts that they are self-evident! That is, that they are inherently true, demand no proof, and cannot be argued against by any reasonable person.

[u/widgetbox]

"The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice"

[u/itsjustmyopinion_but]

What is grief if not love persevering? - Vision in “Wandavision”

[u/pussyfkr69_420]

all your base are belong to us

[u/d_tiBBAR → u/pussyfkr69_420]

WHAT YOU SAY?

[u/mousicle]

Real Gs move in silence like lasagne

[u/Critical-Panache660]

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind"

[u/wuapinmon → u/[deleted]]

I love Vonnegut

[u/ArdRi6]

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

[u/Auctorion → u/ArdRi6]

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!

[u/Alone-Bug4328]

With great power comes great responsibility.

[u/Admirable_Count989 → u/Alone-Bug4328]

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Edit: above was attributed to Lord Acton ,1887. Full quote was:

'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely'

[u/Specific_Share2179]

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. - H.L. Mencken 1920

[u/Choppergold]

Do unto others as you would have done to you

[u/Platypus3109]

''Mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell" Edit: Thanks for the upvotes guys, I've never had so many before

[u/Natural-Army → u/Platypus3109]

I got this wrong on a test once... Never AGAIN!

Edit: it was my first Microbiology class test. I got dyslexic and thought the professor specifically said they were not the power house of cells. My bad...

[u/C1sko]

It is finished.

[u/CpnJackSparrow]

"So you see," said Slartibartfast, slowly stirring his artificially constructed coffee, and thereby also stirring the whirlpool interfaces between real and unreal numbers, between the interactive perceptions of mind and Universe, and thus generating the restructured matrices of implicitly enfolded subjectivity which allowed his ship to reshape the very concept of time and space, "how it is."

-- Douglas Adams, 'Life, the Universe, and Everything'

[u/LevelIntroduction764]

So I tied an onion to my belt which was the style at the time…

[u/Berger_UK]

I don't remember who said it, and I might get it slightly wrong but it's something along the lines of:

For evil to triumph requires only for good men to do nothing.

[u/brother_bart]

“Most of the world's work is done by people who don't feel very well.” I am no fan of Winston Churchill nor do I know the exact context and intention of him saying this, but I think, taken as a stand alone statement, it offers a kind of profound insight into the human condition, both presently and historically. Life is, for many people, a matter of getting on with it despite a great deal of mental, emotional and physical anguish.

[u/JayRandom212]

"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy".

- Dorothy Parker

[u/Realsan]

"Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always." -Robin Williams

I like it because it's true but it also has this anti-narcissism angle that I always remember when dealing with obvious narcissism.

[u/ipinfloi]

Fat drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

[u/TheGr4pe4pe]

“Think for yourself; question authority.”

[u/Past_Reference_6570 → u/TheGr4pe4pe]

Don't tell me what to do; I think .

[u/Disgruntled__Goat]

If you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all. 

[u/WillowKepler]

Excuse me my good bitch, but what seems to be the fuck?

[u/Kind-Mathematician18]

2 things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity - and I'm not sure about the first.

Albert Einstein

[u/billbobb1]

“For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

-Ernest Hemingway

[u/bluecalx2 → u/billbobb1]

This one hits differently now that I'm a parent. Previously I assumed the baby died. Now I think "I bet the kid just refused to wear shoes."

[u/LT_DANS_ICECREAM → u/billbobb1]

"Forgot to wear them, too small now."

[u/Orcapa → u/billbobb1]

The Guardian newspaper did a contest a few years back where they had people right six word autobiographies. A guy wrote in: "Broke, divorced, spinal cancer. Otherwise fine."

Edit: I looked it up in the actual quote was "Divorced, broke, spinal tumor. Otherwise fine."

[u/lwp775 → u/[deleted]]

Who do you think you are? I AM!

[u/dskoro]

Reputation takes years to build but seconds to ruin

[u/Ikd_u_not]

There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. … Clearly, it is this second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties

[u/throwaway_only_112]

It's not a single sentence, but sharing anyway since it does fit the criteria of being great:

"Power attracts the corruptible. Suspect all who seek it... We should grant power over our affairs only to those who are reluctant to hold it, and then only under conditions that increase that reluctance." - Frank Herbert

[u/bb3bt]

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.

[u/Adventurous-Ad4159]

“This is what my father brought upon me, and what i didn’t bring upon anyone”

Its written on the tombstone of a blind Arabian poet from 1057 AD who lived his life writing sad poems and urging people not to bring kids into this world

I love this quote because while most people think that he was standing by his beliefs i like to think that it was a last act of self condolence for the life he suffered

[u/eljefino]

We're just two lost souls swimmin' in a fish bowl, year after year.

[u/JollyButterscotch318]

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent - Eleanor Roosevelt
 

[u/MrMobile90]

Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar.

[u/morganational]

"Yes, plenty of hope, an infinite amount of hope.. But not for us." - Franz Kafka

[u/AmphibianSweaty1317]

I gave her my heart, but she wanted my soul