Quotes

Some phrases are worth remembering or at least glanced through once and again. Indeed, their worthiness is often boosted by the person behind the words. This selection provides a very small fraction of those phrases from renowned ladies and gentlemen from various periods. Although they are listed in no particular order, updates will be placed on top for comfort reading.

Harga diri adalah titik potong antara kurva rasa malu dengan kurva hawa nafsu. Nilai-nya berbanding lurus dengan rasa malu dan berbanding terbalik dengan hawa nafsu. Karena itu sebagai fungsi dari waktu, harga diri sewajarnya meningkat.—Alex Sulaksana

Kesetiaan kepada negeri ini bukanlah karena patriotisme yang pongah. Kita setia kepada Indonesia justru karena ia terus-menerus memanggil: ia belum selesai. Kita tak bisa melepaskan diri dari ikatan kita kepadanya; kita tak bisa melupakannya; kita terkadang bangga terkadang risau oleh karenanya. Tapi tetap: Indonesia bukan hanya sebuah tempat tinggal. Indonesia adalah sebuah amanat. Begitu banyak sudah orang berkorban untuk cita-cita yang membuat negeri ini lahir.—Goenawan Mohamad

Dalam masa yang penuh cobaan ini banyak idealisme yang padam, banyak semangat perjuangan yang kendor, banyak pemimpin yang luntur, namun kita yakin … bahwa bangsa kita akan selalu memiliki kekuatan untuk pada suatu waktu menghentikan proses yang hendak menghilangkan hasil, cucuran darah dan percikan keringat dan meniadakan hasil pengorbanan dan penderitaan bangsa kita.

Revolusi kita baru selesai selangkah. Revolusi kita itu harus kita teruskan dan rampungkan. Modalnya tidak lain ialah semagat revolusi yang sudah tertanam dalam tubuh kita.

Selama darah revolusi mengalir dalam tubuh kita, selama itu pula tidak ada rintangan yang tidak dapat kita atasi.—A.H. Nasution

Gitu aja kok repot …—Abdurrahman Wahid

Now how about our Land of Birth, Indonesia? Thick fog blankets the country. People live like cavemen, kept in the dark. Noble and holy character and love of country like that possessed by the Japanese, French, and Dutch are still below the surface here. If this description is accurate, can our people move ahead like other nations? … Of course, we can if there are leaders to enlighten our people.—Raden Soetomo

Once you open that Pandora’s box, you’ll find it full of Trojan horse—Ernest Bevin

Any woman who understands the problem of running a home, will be able to understand the problems of running a country—Margaret Thatcher

Stalin, comrades, is such a figure that many historians will break their teeth trying to learn about him, and there will still be something left to learn—Nikita Krushchev

The Dutch are graciously permitting us (Indonesian) entry into the basement while we have climbed all the way to the top floor and up to the attic—Muhammad Hatta

An honest politician is one who, when he’s bought, stays bought—Simon Cameron

I had rather be right than be President—Henry Clay

I demanded the abolition of the death penalty in the Assembly… But Louis must die that the country may live—Maximilien Robespierre

No one can be a king and not do harm—Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Scarcely is there any peace so unjust that it is better than even the fairest war—Desiderius Erasmus

Knowledge itself is power—Francis Bacon

There is a difference between imitating a good man and counterfeiting him—Benjamin Franklin

If there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers—Charles Dickens

Those who stand for nothing fall for anything—Alex Hamilton

Drama is life with the dull bits cut out—Alfred Hitchcock

The central challenge we face today is to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all the world’s people, instead of leaving billions behind in squalor—Kofi Annan

Man, an animal that makes bargains—Adam Smith

Politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians—Charles de Gaulle