Ought Quotes - Page 5

• We shall not busy ourselves with what men ought to have admired, what they ought to have written, what they ought to have thought, but with what they did think, write, admire.

  George Saintsbury

  Writing, Men, Thinking

  "A History of Criticism and Literary Taste in Europe from the Earliest Texts to the Present Day" by George Saintsbury, the first US edition; New York: Dodd, Meads, (Vol. 1, pp. 4-5), (1900-04).

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• The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in our lifetime to once again rise up in defense of our freedom, and pay the wages of war. But we ought not — we will not — travel down that hellish path blindly.

  Barack Obama

  War, Sacrifice, Defense

  Barack Obama (2008). “An American Story: The Speeches of Barack Obama : a Primer”, Independent Publishing Group

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• Let us reach for the world that ought to be -- that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls.

  Barack Obama

  Soul, World, Sparks

  Nobel Prize for Peace Acceptance Speech and Lecture, delivered 10 December 2009, Oslo City Hall, Oslo, Norway

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• We got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. So I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.

  George W. Bush

  War, Israel, Iran

  "Sen. Lieberman Backs U.S. Action Against Iran". Interview with Robert Siegel, www.npr.org. November 2, 2007.

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• Our doubts about ourselves cannot be banished except by working at that which is the one and only thing we know we ought to do. Other people's assertions cannot silence the howling dirge within us. It is our talents rusting unused within us that secrete the poison of self-doubt into our bloodstream.

  Eric Hoffer

  Self, People, Silence

  "Eric Hoffer and the Art of the Notebook" by Tom Bethell in Harper's Magazine, July 2005.

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• Every wife ought to answer for her man. If the husband be engaged in a seditious club, or drinks mysterious healths, or be frugal of his candles on a rejoicing night, let her look to him and keep him out of harm's way; or the world will be apt to say, she has a mind to be a widow before her time. She ought, in such cases, to exert the authority of the curtain lecture; and if she finds him of a rebellious disposition, to tame him, as they do birds of prey, by dinning him in the ears all night long.

  Joseph Addison

  Husband, Night, Men

  Joseph Addison, Thomas Tickell (1811). “The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison: With the Exception of His Numbers of the Spectator”, p.48

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• I have so many liver spots, I ought to come with a side of onions.

  Phyllis Diller

  Funny, Onions, Sides

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• Stupidity is a factor to be reckoned with in human affairs. The true leader always expects to encounter it, and prepares to endure it patiently so long as it is normal stupidity. He knows that his ideas will be distorted, his orders carelessly executed; and that there will be jealousy among his assistants. He takes these inevitable phenomena into account, and instead of attempting to find men without faults, who are non-existent, he tries to make use of the best men at his disposal - as they are, and not as they ought to be.

  Andre Maurois

  Men, Order, Ideas

  "The Art of Living". Book by Andre Maurois, 1939.

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• Persons who think there is no such thing as luck good or bad are entitled to their opinion, although I think they ought to be shot for it.

  Mark Twain

  Thinking, Luck, Opinion

  Mark Twain, Harriet Elinor Smith (2012). “Autobiography of Mark Twain: Reader's Edition”, p.253, Univ of California Press

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• from the beginning of my sojourn in this world there was a persistent vacancy in me where the industry ought to be. (Ought to was is better, perhaps, though the most of the authorities differ as to this.

  Mark Twain

  Vacancy, World, Authority

  Mark Twain (2013). “Autobiography of Mark Twain”, p.46, Univ of California Press

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• We must now examine whether just people also live better and are happier than unjust ones. I think it's clear already that this is so, but we must look into it further, since the argument concerns no ordinary topic, but the way we ought to live.

  Plato

  Thinking, People, Looks

  Republic, bk.1, 352d (translated by GM AGrube, revised by C D C Reeve).

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• Anyone who knows of a provable instance of colour discrimination ought always to expose it.

  George Orwell

  Discrimination, Colour, Instance

  George Orwell (1968). “The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell: As I please, 1943-1945”

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• Reason, it is true, is DICTATOR in the Society of Mankind; from her there ought to lie no Appeal; But here we want a Pope in our Philosophy, to be the infallible Judge of what is or is not Reason.

  Daniel Defoe

  Philosophy, Lying, Judging

  Daniel Defoe (1840). “The works of Daniel De Foe [ed.] by W. Hazlitt”

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• If there is a category of human being for whom his work ought to speak for itself, it is the writer.

  Isaac Asimov

  Speak, Categories, Humans

  1976 Comment in D L Fitzpatrick (ed) Contemporary Novelists.

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• On every formal visit a child ought to be of the party, by way of provisions for discourse.

  Jane Austen

  Children, Party, Way

  1811 Sense and Sensibility, vol.2, ch.6.

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• There were several Battles between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians, in which the former (as they ought) usually won.

  Jane Austen

  Battle, Former

  "The History of England". Book by Jane Austen, 1791.

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• The economic and social theories used by those who take part in the social struggle ought to be judged not by their objective value but primarily for their effectiveness in arousing emotions. The scientific refutation of them which can be made is useless, however correct it may be objectively.

  Vilfredo Pareto

  Struggle, Effectiveness, Useless

  Vilfredo Pareto (1971). “Manual of political economy”, Augustus m Kelley Pubs

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• There is a social injunction implied in the positivist and analyst methods. This social axiom is that :;:;:;:;:;:; We OUGHT to act in such a way that what IS true can be verified to be so.

  Jacob Bronowski

  Way, Social, Analysts

  Jacob Bronowski (1965). “Science and Human Values”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• And whereas many men, by accident unevitable, become unable to maintain themselves by their labour; they ought not to be left to the Charity of private persons; but to be provided for, (as far-forth as the necessities of Nature require,) by the Lawes of the Common-wealth. For as it is Unchariablenesse in any man, to neglect the impotent; so it is in the Soveraign of a Common-wealth, to expose them to the hazard of such uncertain Charity.

  Thomas Hobbes

  Men, Hazards, Charity

  "Leviathan". Book by Thomas Hobbes. The Second Part, Chapter 30, 1651.

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• We have been in recess since July, and during that time there has been a fuel crisis, a Danish no vote, the collapse of the euro and a war in the middle east, but what is our business tomorrow? The Insolvency Bill [Lords]. It ought to be called the Bankruptcy Bill [Commons], because we play no role.

  Tony Benn

  War, July, Play

  Tony Benn's Speech in House of Commons, hansard.millbanksystems.com. October 23, 2000.

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• THERE is no method of reasoning more common, and yet none more blameable, than, in philosophical disputes, to endeavour the refutation of any hypothesis, by a pretence of its dangerous consequences to religion and morality. When any opinion leads to absurdities, it is certainly false; but it is not certain that an opinion is false, because it is of dangerous consequence. Such topics, therefore, ought entirely to be forborne; as serving nothing to the discovery of truth, but only to make the person of an antagonist odious.

  David Hume

  Philosophical, Discovery, Topics

  David Hume (1875). “Essays Moral, Political, and Literary”, p.79

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• In all the events of life, we ought still to preserve our scepticism. If we believe that fire warms, or water refreshes, it is only because it costs us too much pains to think otherwise.

  David Hume

  Pain, Believe, Thinking

  1739 A Treatise of Human Nature, bk.1, pt.4, section 7.

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• And yet, I wake up every day to a sensation of pervading disgust and annoyance. I probably ought to carry around some kind of thermometer or other instrument, to keep checking that I am not falling prey to premature curmudgeonhood.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Fall, Wake Up, Kind

  Christopher Hitchens (2012). “Love, Poverty and War: Journeys and Essays”, p.9, Atlantic Books Ltd

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• I ought to respect myself for my friends' sake, and my children's. It is time, at fifty-six, to begin, at least, to know oneself, - and I do know what I am not, and your regard for me has at least awakened me to believe in the possibility that I may yet make some impression with my "light" - my "dews" - my "breezes" - my bloom and freshness, - no one of which qualities has yet been perfected on the canvas of any painter in the world.

  John Constable

  Children, Believe, Light

  Letter to C.R. Leslie (March 1833), from "The Letters of John Constable, R.A. to C. R. Leslie, R.A. 1826-1837", p. 104, 1931.

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• One doesn't have an agreement to that effect written down on parchment and sealed; but it is as well understood and ought to be as faithfully kept as any legal contract.

  Anthony Trollope

  Agreement, Contracts, Wells

  Anthony Trollope (2016). “The Prime Minister: Trollope's Works”, p.78, 谷月社

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