Quote Of The Week

Quote of the Week 42 “ After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. ” ―  Aldous Huxley , Music at Night and Other Essays         As cited in  Kierkegaard on the Spiritual and Sensual Power of Music, the Essence of Genius, and the Key to a Timeless Work of Art .     See  Great Writers on the Power of Music  for more quotes on music.    “ Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent. ” ― Victor Hugo     “Music is at once the most wonderful, the most alive of all the arts — it is the most abstract, the most perfect, the most pure — and the most sensual. I listen with my body and it is my body that aches in response to the passion and pathos embodied in this music.” ― Susan Sontag   “ Without music life would be a mistake. ” ―  Friedrich Nietzsche        

Quote of the Week 41 “ Never write if you can speak;  never speak if you can nod;  never nod if you can wink .” ― attributed to   Martin Lomasney    Variant : “ Never write if you can speak;  never speak if you can nod;  never nod if you can blink .”     Extended version : “ ...; never wink if you can do nothing .”   Modern variant : “ Never write when you can talk.  Never talk when you can nod.  And never put anything in an e-mail. .”   ― attributed to Eliot Spitzer       Abbreviated variant :   “ Don’t write when you can talk;  don’t talk when you can nod your head. ” ― Martin Lomasney   Long variant : “Don't write anything you can phone.  Don't phone anything you can talk.  Don't talk anything you can whisper.  Don't whisper anything you can smile.  Don't smile anything you can nod.  Don't nod anything you can wink.” ― Earl Long

2nd Quote of the Week 39 “ A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do. ” ― Bob Dylan     h/t Jacka  

Quote of the Week 38 “ If you want a new idea, read an old book. ” ― attributed to   Ivan Pavlov

Quote of the Week 37 “ There is nothing you keep, there is only your reflection. ” ―  John Andrew Hull , Manchester Orchestra , “ The Silence ” ( Song Lyrics )     Triggered by my switch back to Spotify from Apple Music — with all my old playlists intact. Related: Quote of the Week 3/2021 " You can go anywhere but you are where you came from. " ―  John Andrew Hull, Manchester Orchestra, “ The Silence ” ( Song Lyrics )

Quote of the Week 36 “ Do it or do not do it — you will regret both. ” ― Søren Kierkegaard     Triggered by Shreyas Doshi 's  repost on X: You'll regret it if you get married, you'll regret it if you don't get married. You'll regret it if you have kids and you'll regret it if you don't. Kierkegaard said this 200 years ago as follows - whatever you choose, you'll regret it, because the problem isn't in your choices,… https://t.co/y9BEyLjsc1 — blue (@bluewmist) August 25, 2026   Full quote (per Claude.ai): Here's the full passage from  Either/Or  (1843). "Marry, and you will regret it; don't marry, you will also regret it; marry or don't marry, you will regret it either way. Laugh at the world's foolishness, you will regret it; weep over it, you will regret that too; laugh at the world's foolishness or weep over it, you will regret both. Believe a woman, you will regret it; believe her not, you will also regret it… Hang yours...

Quote of the Week 35 “ Headwinds build character, tailwinds build stories. ” ―  Cycling motto     Triggered by a recent tweet quoting a Northern German proverb: “ Gegenwind formt den Charakter. ” ―  Norddeutsches Sprichwort Leider ist meine Woche #Helgoland schon zu Ende und ich bin auf dem Rückweg. Lassen Sie mich noch eine letzte Anmerkung machen, warum ich seit frühester Kindheit das Meer, die Inseln und insbesondere diese Insel auf hoher See mag. Vielleicht erklärt es das ein oder andere 😉 pic.twitter.com/c2uuKM78bU — Key Pousttchi 🇪🇺 (@keypousttchi) August 21, 2026

Quote of the Week 34 “ The two most common elements in the  universe  are hydrogen and  stupidity . ” ― Harlan Ellison ( also attributed to Frank Zappa)     Triggered by a QuoteInvestigator tweet.     Related: “Two things are infinite; the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.” ― attributed to Albert Einstein    

Quote of the Week 32 “ If you are persistent, you will get it.  If you are consistent, you will keep it. ” ― Harvey Mackay  ( Mackay's Moral )     Extended :   “ If you are persistent, you will get it.  If you are consistent, you will keep it.  If you are grateful, you will attract more of it. ”      

Quote of the Week 31 “ Seek respect, not attention. It lasts longer. ” ―  Ziad K. Abdelnour  ( Economic Warfare )     More Abdelnour quotes .   Triggered by the following tweet : Seek respect, not attention. — Mindfulness Thoughts (@Mindfulness_DQ) July 4, 2026

Quote of the Week 30 “ The less you try to impress, the more impressive you are. ” ― Denis Waitley       More Denis Waitley quotes .      

Quote of the Week 29 “ Humour is not a mood but a way of looking at the world. ” ― Ludwig Wittgenstein  ( Culture and Value , pg. 78) “ Humor ist keine Stimmung, sondern eine Weltanschauung. ” ―  Ludwig Wittgenstein  ( Vermischte Bemerkungen ) Triggered by the inscription on the fountain at Artur-Kutscher-Platz in Munich.

Quote of the Week 28 “ Time is but memory in the making. ” ― Vladimir Nabokov As cited in  Recursion by Blake Crouch. Context as provided in Nabokov's interview with BBC-2 in 1969: Let me quote a paragraph in my book Ada : " Physiologically the sense of Time is a sense of continuous becoming. . . . Philosophically , on the other hand, Time is but memory in the making. In every individual life there goes on, from cradle to deathbed, the gradual shaping and strengthening of that backbone of consciousness, which is the Time of the strong." This is Van speaking, Van Veen, the charming villain of mv book. I have not decided yet if I agree with him in all his view's on the texture of time. I suspect I don't.   See  Restoration of time: Henry Bergson and Vladimir Nabokov  for an exploration of Nabokov's notion of time, viewing it through the lens of Henri Bergson ’s philosophy. According to Nabokov “time is essentially memory in th...