Quotes and Proverbs


Jules Renard

(1864-1910) writer

Look for the ridiculous in everything, and you will find it.


The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving an excuse.


Adrienne Rich

(1929-) poet, scholar, and educator

Every journey into the past is complicated by delusions, false memories, false naming of real events…


Jacob Riis

(1849-1914) photographer and reporter

When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.


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John D. Rockefeller

(1839-1937) industrialist, philanthropist

The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee…and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun.


We once had the type of man who really never knew all the facts about his own affairs. Many of the brightest kept their books in such a way that they did not actually know when they were making money on a certain operation and when they were losing. This unintelligent competition was a hard matter to contend with. Good old-fashioned common sense has always been a mighty rare commodity. When a man’s affairs are not going well, he hates to study the books and face the truth. From the first the man who managed the Standard Oil Company kept their books intelligently as well as correctly. We knew how much we made and where we gained or lost. At least, we tried not to deceive ourselves.


Carl Rogers

(1902-1987) psychologist known for promoting a client/patient focused approach

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself as I am, then I can change.


Will Rogers

(1879–1935) cowboy, humorist, social commentator, actor

Things ain’t what they used to be, and never were.


Everyone is ignorant—but on different issues.


I guess the only way to stop divorce is to stop marriage.


One-third of the people in the United States promote, while the other two-thirds provide.


We do not know what we want, but we are ready to bite somebody to get it.


When you put down the good things you ought to have done, and leave out the bad ones you did do—well, that’s Memoirs.


Roma / Rom / Gypsy Proverbs

The journey is just as important as the destination.


The dog that trots about finds a bone.


We are all wanders of this earth; our hearts are full of wonder and our souls are full of dreams.



Romanian Proverbs

After the war, many heroes present themselves.


Without other people’s companionship, even paradise would be an unlikable place.


Chooses a wife to please yourself, not others.


The eyes have one language everywhere.


Better late than never.


The blessing of having many children has never broken a man’s roof.


Frank Romer

People will sit up and take notice of you if you will sit up and take notice of what makes them sit up and take notice.


Linda Ronstadt

(1946-) singer

The thing you have to be prepared for is that other people don’t always dream your dream.


Jean Jacques Rousseau

(1712-1778) philosopher and political theorist

Thus in every situation, powerful rogues know how to save themselves at the expense of the feeble.


True happiness is indescribable, it is only to be felt


Men of learning more tenaciously retain their predjudices


It is not the criminal things that are hardest to confess, but the ridiculous and the shameful.


Leo Rosten

(1908-1997) social scientist

Extremists think “communication” means agreeing with them.


Rumi

(1207-1273) Sufi poet

The satiated man and the hungry man do not see the same thing when they look at a loaf of bread.


Your mission isn’t to look for love, but simply to search and locate the barriers within you that have formed against it.


John Ruskin

(1819-1900) artist and writer

When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.


Tell me what you like and I’ll tell you what you are.



Bertrand Russell

(1872-1970) writer, philosopher, mathematician, logician, and social reformer

I would never die for my beliefs, because I might be wrong.


Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.


Russian Proverbs

Hope in the Lord, but exert yourself.


A hammer breaks glass, but also forms steel.


Trust, but verify.


Everyone has his own Czar in his head.


One day before you is better than ten years behind you.


If the child does not cry, the mother won’t know what it wants.


It is easier to bear a child once a year than to shave everyday.


A person never gets tired working for himself.


You can get used to anything—even hell.


Many people who have gold in the house are looking for copper outside.


Babe Ruth

(1895-1948) baseball player

What do I think about when I strike out? I think about hitting home runs.


Rwandan Proverbs

In the birds’ court, a cockroach never wins his case.


You can outrun what is running after you, but not what is running inside of you.


If you are building something and a nail breaks, should you stop building altogether, or should you change the nail?


Work is good, as long as you don’t forget to live.


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