Unlettered Quotes

#1. If then, Sir William Jones, who read in thirty languages, could not read the simplest peasant's face in its profounder and more subtle meanings, how may unlettered Ishmael hope to read the awful Chaldee of the Sperm Whale's brow? I but put that brow before you. Read it if you can.

Herman Melville

#2. And who knew?
That an unlettered man from the middle of the desert,
Would change the whole world from darkness into heaven
You may have every title, every big shot degree,
But you still can't explain: Alif-Laam-Meem

Boonaa Mohammed

#3. What avail all your scholarly accomplishments and learning, compared with wisdom and manhood? To omit his other behavior, see whata work this comparatively unread and unlettered man wrote within six weeks. Where is our professor of belles-lettres, or of logic and rhetoric, who can write so well?

Henry David Thoreau

#4. The authors of the gospels were unlettered and ignorant men and the teachings of Jesus have come to us mutilated, misstated and unintelligible.

Thomas Jefferson

#5. If the unlettered farmers of Munchkinland and the factory workers of Gillikin believe that their fate is being determined by how the Time Dragon dreams them up, they don't need to bother to take responsibility for their actions or for changing their class and station in life.

Gregory Maguire

#6. If You don't read good books, then you are no better than an unlettered Man

Mark Twain

#7. Oh, Marigold!" Lymond spoke plaintively. "A silken tongue, a heart of cruelty. Don't berate us. We're only poor scoundrels - vagabonds - scraps of society; unlettered and untaught.

Dorothy Dunnett

#8. The head of every family will be what Abraham was, the patriarch, the priest and the unlettered lord of his family, and Reason will be the code of laws to all mankind.

Adam Weishaupt

#9. In the present age, alas! our pens are ravished by unlettered authors and unmannered critics, that make a havoc rather than a building, a wilderness rather than a garden. But, a lack! what boots it to drop tears upon the preterit?

Aubrey Beardsley

#10. The use of proverbs is characteristic of an unlettered people. They are invaluable treasures to dunces with good memories.

John Hay

#11. It takes real courage to do battle in the unspectacular task. We always listen for the applause of our co-workers. He is courageous who plods on, unlettered and unknown ... In the last analysis it is this courage, developing between man and his limitations, that brings success.

Alice Foote MacDougall

#12. Christians are the unstable, unlettered, superstitious masses

Pope Julius II

#13. The unlettered man who prayed to his maker would be heard; the pedant reciting a faultless invocation would be ignored.

Israel Shenker

#14. The odor of bowel wind is known to every human, but the fragrance of book glue has crossed only a fraction of mortal nostrils. And yet it behooves us not to judge the unlettered too harshly. We must stay the impulse to write CHUCKLEHEAD above their doors and carve DOLT upon their tombstones.

James K. Morrow

#15. Gods do have their divisions thanks to man. Jesus Christ is the Christian God, Allah the Muslim and so on. As a convent student, I thought God was English till the Sanskrit mantras became somewhat comprehensible.

Andy Paula

#16. I think of you as a friend. I used to think "friend" was just another word ... Nothing more, nothing less. But when I met you, I realized what was important was the word's meaning.

Masashi Kishimoto

#17. Sometimes you have to steer away from the crowd in order to be a better person. It's not always easy, that's for sure. But it's right. And sometimes doing the right thing feels good, even if it does end up in a trip to the principal's office.

Simone Elkeles

#18. The mountain of despair has dwindled, and the stone of hope has size and shape, and can be fondled by the eyes and by the hand. But freedom has always been an elusive tease, and in the very act of grabbing for it one can become shackled.

Alice Walker

#19. If you're passing the buck, don't ask for change.

David Gerrold

#20. If you are not long, I will wait for you all my life.

Oscar Wilde

#21. Of course, Hollywood is still making some excellent pictures which reflect the great artistry that made Hollywood famous throughout the world, but these films are exceptions, judging from box office returns and press reviews.

Pola Negri

#22. Libraries should be open to all - except the censor.
[Response to questionnaire in Saturday Review, October 29 1960]

John F. Kennedy

#23. A tragic life is romantic when it happens to somebody else.

Charles M. Schulz

#24. [Copernicus] did not ignore the Bible, but he knew very well that if his doctrine were proved, then it could not contradict the Scriptures when they were rightly understood.

Galileo Galilei

#25. We think we should only go into a country if we can be sure of our return. Jesus never promised that.

Andrew Van Der Bijl

#26. I got an idea: people like news why don't we write the news down on a piece of paper, and we'll gas them up and drive them to everyone's house. I mean, if you were going to say that now, it doesn't sound like a great idea, because there are other ways you can distribute the news.

Biz Stone

#27. When you appreciate the good, the good appreciates.

Tal Ben-Shahar

#28. I do not believe that the way paint is applied should be more important than what is portrayed.

Burton Silverman