Famous quotes containing the words air, force, base and/or history:
“I wonder whether mankind could not get along without all these names, which keep increasing every day, and hour, and moment; till at the last the very air will be full of them; and even in a great plain, men will be breathing each other’s breath, owing to the vast multitude of words they use, that consume all the air, just as lamp-burners do gas.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Freedom is a man’s natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not prevented by force or law.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“The worst of my actions or conditions seem not so ugly unto me as I find it both ugly and base not to dare to avouch for them.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“To summarize the contentions of this paper then. Firstly, the phrase ‘the meaning of a word’ is a spurious phrase. Secondly and consequently, a re-examination is needed of phrases like the two which I discuss, ‘being a part of the meaning of’ and ‘having the same meaning.’ On these matters, dogmatists require prodding: although history indeed suggests that it may sometimes be better to let sleeping dogmatists lie.”
—J.L. (John Langshaw)