Formidable Quotes

• Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.

  Ronald Reagan

  Courage, War, Patriotic

  First Inaugural Address, delivered 20 January 1981

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  A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

  Nelson Mandela

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Success

  Nelson Mandela (2011). “Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations”, p.73, Pan Macmillan

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• Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

  George Washington

  Military, War, 4th Of July

  George Washington, Stephen Lucas (1999). “The Quotable George Washington: The Wisdom of an American Patriot”, p.24, Rowman & Littlefield

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• Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible - it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could.

  Barbara De Angelis

  Love, Inspirational, Romantic

  Barbara De Angelis (1997). “Are You the One for Me? ; Real Moments”, Fine Communications

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• Courage and grace is a formidable mixture. The only place to see it is the bullring.

  Marlene Dietrich

  Grace, Mixtures

  "Marlene Dietrich's ABC: Wit, Wisdom, & Recipes".

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• The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason.

  Thomas Paine

  Trust, Motivation, Mistake

  Thomas Paine (1852). “The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology”, p.3

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• A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.

  Nelson Mandela

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Education

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• When a thing is said to be not worth refuting you may be sure that either it is flagrantly stupid - in which case all comment is superfluous - or it is something formidable, the very crux of the problem.

  Percy Bysshe Shelley

  Truth, Stupid, May

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• Too often, older women are seen as victims, but I know lots of formidable women who have marvellous jobs as well as a full erotic life, and children and friends and family.

  Francesca Annis

  Jobs, Children, Erotic

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• The month of January, we were number one. Now, this is something we're proud of, because we recognize we're up against a formidable operation there at CNN.

  Brit Hume

  Numbers, Cnn, Literature

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• In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Freedom, Writing, America

  Alexis de Tocqueville (2001). “Democracy in America”, p.110, Penguin

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• Sophistication might be described as the ability to cope gracefully with a situation involving the presence of a formidable menace to one's poise and prestige (such as the butler, or the man under the bed - but never the husband).

  James Thurber

  Husband, Men, Bed

  James Thurber (1990). “Collecting Himself: James Thurber on Writing and Writers, Humor and Himself”

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• It is true that the aristocracies seem to have abused their monopoly of legal knowledge and at all events their exclusive possession of the law was a formidable impediment to the success of those popular movements which began to be universal in the western world.

  Henry James Sumner Maine

  Law, Events, Aristocracy

  Henry Sumner Maine, Sir, J. H. Morgan (2000). “Ancient Law”, p.9, Beard Books

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• The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerance. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors, and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Motivational, Respect

  1970 I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, ch.34

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• The suspicious mind believes more than it doubts. It believes in a formidable and ineradicable evil lurking in every person.

  Eric Hoffer

  Believe, Evil, Doubt

  Eric Hoffer (1996). “The Passionate State of Mind”

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• Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Education, Teaching, Knowledge

  'Lacon' (1820) vol. 1, no. 322

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• No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Government, Long, Political

  'Coningsby' (1844) bk. 2, ch. 1

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• This is a formidable enemy. To dismiss it as a bunch of 'cowards' perpetuating 'senseless acts of violence' is complacent nonsense. People willing to kill thousands of innocents while they kill themselves are not cowards. They are deadly vicious warriors and need to be treated as such.

  Charles Krauthammer

  Warrior, People, Enemy

  "This is not crime, this is war" by Charles Krauthammer, townhall.com. September 12, 2001.

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• The real cure for our environmental problems is to understand that our job is to salvage Mother Nature. We are facing a formidable enemy in this field. It is the hunters... and to convince them to leave their guns on the wall is going to be very difficult.

  Jacques Yves Cousteau

  Mother, Jobs, Wall

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• No problem is so formidable that you can't walk away from it.

  Charles M. Schulz

  Science, Journey, Reality

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• My character in 'Prison Break' needs to be formidable. In reality, I'm not very tough at all.

  Wentworth Miller

  Character, Reality, Needs

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• Space is as infinite as we can imagine, and expanding this perspective is what adjusts humankind's focus on conquering our true enemies, the formidable foes: ignorance and limitation.

  Vanna Bonta

  Ignorance, Space, Perspective

  "The Impact of Space Activities Upon Society". Book co-sponsored by The International Academy of Astronautics and The European Space Agency, February 2005.

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• You have such strong words at command, that they make the smallest argument seem formidable.

  George Eliot

  Strong, Argument, Command

  George Eliot (1866). “Felix Holt: The Radical”, p.33

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• The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable, but the power of many working together is better.

  Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

  Teamwork, Power, Focus

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• A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Moving, Tyrants, World Government

  Speaking to the Roman Senate, as recorded by Sallust in The Catiline War (c. 40 b.c.). This quotation is a favorite of CIA counterintelligence officers.

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