"You should deny facts if they're inconvenient."

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More by Halldór Laxness

“o anyone who weeps, life has some importance.”

“It's a useful habit to never believe more than half of what people tell you, and not to concern yourself with the rest. Rather keep your mind free and your path your own.”

“My image will soon be obliterated; it was only an illusion. But even though I may fall, even though my image may be obliterated, there is one thing that will never fall and can never be obliterated, and that is the yearning of those in chains for liberty.”

“He who weeps does not die; weeping is a sign of life; weep, and your life is worth something again.”

“They thought I was an Icelander! But I'm no Icelander, s'help me!”

“I didn't expect you to have learnt to smile yet. When one is born, one only knows how to cry. It's only very gradually that one learns to smile.”

Resonant Thoughts

"The people as a whole can be benefited morally and materially by a system which shall permit of ample reward for exceptional efficiency, but which shall nevertheless secure to the average man, who doe…"

— Theodore Roosevelt

Politics1858–1919

#ethics

"...your underwear is clean in case you should be hit by a taxicab and have to be undressed by strangers."

— John Cheever

Literature1912–1982

#anger

"If I leave the Quarter-master's department, I should be glad of the South Carolina appointment. How ever, I shall wish to consult your Excellency upon the affair."

— Nathanael Greene

Military1742–1786

#justice

"I say that the Second Amendment doesn't allow for exceptions — or else it would have read that the right "to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, unless Congress chooses otherwise." And because …"

— Harry Browne

Politics1933–2006

#wisdom