A quotation from Hannah Arendt

There is all the difference in the world between the criminal’s avoiding the public eye and the civil disobedient’s taking the law into his own hands in open defiance. This distinction between an open violation of the law, performed in public, and a clandestine one is so glaringly obvious that it can be neglected only by prejudice or ill will.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Essay (1970-09-12), “Civil Disobedience,” The New Yorker

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A quotation from Emerson

People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character. We can only see what we are, and if we misbehave we suspect others.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1860), “Worship,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 6

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A quotation from Bill Watterson

CALVIN: Tigers don’t worry about much, do they?
HOBBES: Nope. That’s one of the perks of being feral.

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1989-03-12)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/watterson-bill/4106/

A quotation from Ambrose Bierce

PRECEDENT, n. In Law, a previous decision, rule or practice which, in the absence of a definite statute, has whatever force and authority a Judge may choose to give it, thereby greatly simplifying his task of doing as he pleases. As there are precedents for everything, he has only to ignore those that make against his interest and accentuate those in the line of his desire.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Precedent,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/76306…

“I feel disoriented.”

“This is the Disorientation Centre.”

“That makes sense.”

— The Doctor and Sarah, in “The Android Invasion”

“Traken Union, famous for its harmony. A whole empire held together by... by people being terribly nice to each other.”

“Well, that makes a change.”

— The Doctor and Adric, in “The Keeper of Traken”

GLOUCESTER: 'Tis the time's plague, when madmen lead the blind.

— King Lear, IV, i

But what if it's really funny?

Anyway, Mr. Fitzgerald would have hated texting me.

“Is it dangerous?”

“Well, only if I guessed wrong, and then it's fatal.”

— Sarah and the Doctor, in “The Masque of Mandragora”

“Well, Doctor?”

“Yes, I'm fine.”

— Romana and the Doctor, in “State of Decay”

A quotation from Emerson

Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances — it was somebody’s name, or he happened to be there at the time, or it was so then, and another day would have been otherwise. Strong men believe in cause and effect.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1860), “Worship,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 6

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/…

Ace, give me some of that Nitro-9 you're not carrying!

— The Doctor, in “Remembrance of the Daleks”

Ace, I'm getting too old for this sort of thing. He's all yours from now on... I'm going home to Doris.

— The Brigadier, in “Battlefield”

“A plank?”

“The theory is very simple. You walk along it, at the end you fall off. Drop one thousand feet. Dead.”

— The Doctor and the Captain, in “The Pirate Planet”

BASTARD: Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail

And say there is no sin but to be rich;

And being rich, my virtue then shall be

To say there is no vice but beggary.

— King John, II, i

My dear girl, I know a computer when I talk to one.

— The Doctor, in “The Two Doctors”

A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

Whoever has an opinion of his own, and honestly expresses it, will be guilty of heresy. Heresy is what the minority believe; it is the name given by the powerful to the doctrine of the weak.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
Lecture (1874-05-03), “Heretics and Heresies,” Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago

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A quotation from Orwell

A thing is funny when — in some way that is not actually offensive or frightening — it upsets the established order. Every joke is a tiny revolution. If you had to define humour in a single phrase, you might define it as dignity sitting on a tin-tack. Whatever destroys dignity, and brings down the mighty from their seats, preferably with a bump, is funny. And the bigger the fall, the bigger the joke. It would be better fun to throw a custard pie at a bishop than at a curate.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-07-28), “Funny, But Not Vulgar,” Leader Magazine

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/orwell-george/11849/

“Will Romana be all right?”

“All right? She'll be superb.”

— Adric and the Doctor, in “Warrior's Gate”

A quotation from Bertrand Russell

The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather than loved. To this type belong many lunatics and most of the great men of history.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 1, ch. 1 “What Makes People Unhappy?” (1930)

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