Famous quotes containing the word prove:
“We stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley’s ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I shall never forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, “I refute it thus.””
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“I am obnoxious to each carping tongue
Who says my hand a needle better fits,
A poet’s pen, all scorn, I should thus wrong;
For such despite they cast on female wits:
If what I do prove well, it won’t advance,
They’ll say it’s stolen, or else it was by chance.”
—Anne Bradstreet (c. 1612–1672)
“A proper autobiography is a death-bed confession. A true man finds so much work to do that he has no time to contemplate his yesterdays; for to-day and to-morrow are here, with their impatient tasks. The world is so busy, too, that it cannot afford to study any man’s unfinished work; for the end may prove it a failure, and the world needs masterpieces.”
—Mary Antin (1881–1949)