Start of the Week Quotations

I took a bit of a break in putting up quotations recently, so here is a set to tie you over for the next two weeks.

"Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word." - Charles de Gaulle, French soldier and President of France from 1959-69, 1890-1970

"By convention there is colour, by convention sweetness, by convention bitterness, but in reality there are atoms and space." - Democritus, Greek philosopher, c. 460- c.370 BC

"Damn them! They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder!" - John Dennis, English critic, poet, and dramatist, 1657-1734
Said after hearing his new thunder effects used at a performance of Macbeth, following the withdrawal of one of his own plays after only a short run. Thus, we get the phrase "to steal one's thunder".

"The absent are always in the wrong." - Philippe Nericault Destouches, French dramatist, 1680-1754

"Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open." - attributed to James Dewar, Scottish physicist, 1842-1923

"Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States." - attributed to Porfiro Diaz, Mexican revolutionary and President of Mexico from 1877-80 and 1884-1911, 1830-1915