Philistine History Quotes & Sayings

For, indeed, nothing is more fugitive than the heart, which deserts us as often as it slips away through bad thoughts. — Gregory The Great

Public libraries have succumbed to the same pressures that have overwhelmed the basic cultural functions of museums and universities, aims that should remain what they were, not because the old ways are always better but because in this case they were the right ones: the sustaining of standards, the preservation of quality, the conservation of literacy's history, the education of the heart, eye and mind. Now libraries devote far too much of their restricted space, and their limited budget, to public amusement. It is a fact of philistine life that amusement is where the money is. — William H Gass

The discipline, nonetheless, is exacting: everything that can be observed should be observed, even if it is only recalled as the bland background from which the intriguing bits pop out like Venus in the evening sky. The goal is always finding something new, hopefully unimagined and, better still, hitherto unimaginable. — Karl Barry Sharpless

I don't buy junk. When I buy something, it's got to be perfection or I don't want it. You won't find me coming home with five cheap suits, one for each day of the week. I'd rather have one perfect suit or none. — Nancy Horan

An extreme passion of any human being is to be unique — Kunal Jajal

The word 'soviet' means 'council' in Russian (there was nothing particularly Communist about it until after 1917). — Orlando Figes

If only Myrtle would pay attention to the Boy's Own Journal, Blackwood's Magazine, etc., she would know that these creatures were Threls, who come from a worldlet called Threlfall on the far side of the asteroid belt. This Threlfall is a cheerless, chilly spot, and the whole history and religion of the Threls has been concerened with their quest to knit a nice woolly coverlet for it. — Philip Reeve

I like to be who I am. — Hal Holbrook

Men seldom persevere in a vocation unless they believe or can convince themselves that it is fundamentally more important than anyother calling. Women are the same with their lovers. — Friedrich Nietzsche

Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not be believed. — William Blake

The Prime Minister keeps me on around here because I make him look good. — Tony Benn

The costs of an ignorance of science are nor just practical ones like misbegotten policies, forgone cures, and a unilateral disarmament in national competitiveness. There is a moral cost as well. It is an astonishing fact about our species that we understand so much about the history of the universe. the forces that make it tick, the stuff it's made of; the origin of living things, and the machinery of life. A failure to nurture this knowledge shows a philistine indifference to the magnificent achievements humanity is capable of; like allowing a great work of art to molder in a warehouse. — Steven Pinker

Skepticism is forever whispering in your ears. You're very new at this. You may be mistaken. You've been wrong before. — D. J. Grothe

It seemed amazing to me that one night could hold so much, from a merry-go-round to a Pop-Tart with frosting to the most beautiful singing I'd ever heard. — Sarah Dessen

I think my most beautiful smile or laugh emerges when I'm happy. — Jessica Jung