[NMNeil]

One of the threads was regarding an old quote about youth being wasted on the young, attributed to George Bernard Shaw, so I did some digging to see if it was true and during the research found some wonderful old quotes.

" However often you may have done them a favour, if you once refuse they forget everything except your refusal. "

Pliny the younger CE 61 - CE 113

2000 years later and it's still true 😎

[Rolebama]

Not exactly true to the intent of this thread, but it reminded me of this:
I attended a funeral some years ago, and I remember the very faded headstone on the grave next door. As the group dispersed, I took a few seconds to look at it. Couldn't make out the name but managed to read the dedication. 'He thought he could do it - turns out he couldn't'. I have no idea what it referred to, but imagined lots of scenarios.

[Drivingforfun]

"He who speaks does not know; he who knows does not speak"

No idea where it's from, but very old and I think it is especially true in the age of social media

[olduser]

"If it can happen, it will happen"

Usually attributed to Arthur C. Clark but I suspect it pre dates him.

It is certainly relevant to the modern world, and the more we rely on technology, the more important it is we don't loose sight of the implications.

"Never mind the quality feel the width".

I first heard this when listening to market traders selling their ware's when I was a kid.

To me, it sums up modern life!

[NMNeil]

@olduser I'm now going to show my age because I remember watching this series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_...Feel_the_Width

[NMNeil]

And a quote from Sir Winston Churchill should be painted on the side of every government building in the world as a reminder.

“I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”

[Drivingforfun]

The quote about feeling the width reminds me of Boris the Blade in Snatch, when asked to source a gun for an associate

"the weight is a sign of reliability. Heavy is good, heavy is reliable...and if it does not work you can always hit him with it"

[olduser]

That reminded me of an incident at work.
After my boss had managed to resolve a long running problem with the trade union, I asked, "how did you manage that?", his reply was, "I used phycology, and hit him with a chair"

[Rolebama]

One I oft-times hear, usually directed at me: There Is No Fool Like An Old Fool.
I heard it a lot when I got hold of a motorcycle when I was 65. It was apparently OK for me to get it, but to tax, insure and ride it was a different matter.

Just posting on the Security Question thread reminded me of another: What's good for the goose, is good for the gander.

[olduser]

"Time waits for no man" (Chaucer)
It's always relevant but more so the older we get.

That reminds me - first day back at school after Christmas holiday's (this was 5 or 6 yrs after the war) most boys had got a watch for Christmas, so as boy's do, we were all standing round saying mines bigger than yours, doe's it shine in the dark, has it got a second hand, and so on?

Feeling out of it, 'cause I didn't get one, my friend let me hold his watch, and it had a second hand!
I kept having to say, I was just holding it, which in the world of boy's is not good.

I don't know where the thought came from but I held the watch in front of me and announced, I had made a discovery, the crowed was soon demanding, what what?

Well, if you imagine that you are going to die as the second hand passes 12, it doe's not stop!
This was followed by a long silence, and the group disbands and finds there desks.
At this point the teacher came in, surprised the room was quiet, and most were at their desks, he wanted to know why?
Of course someone told him about my joke?

Sir, sent me to the headmaster, he listened, and told me to find the Reverend (CofE School) because he was certain God wouldn't like boys looking at watches, and thinking about dying.

I walk around to the vicarage, Mrs vicar said the vicar was out but would be in soon.
A cup of tea, and two scones later, (still warm with real butter on) the vicar appears.

I tell him the head had sent me, and why.
He looked at his watch, then said, I was quite right the watch kept going, I had best go back to the head, and he would phone the head.

The head set me polishing all the brass work (door handles, and finger plates) in the school for the rest of the day.

This left me with a puzzle, was I being punished (normal would be cane on hand or if very bad cane on bum) or was I being given a day off or ?

Anyway, after that I always thought the head was watching me.🙄

[Drivingforfun]

Brilliant story!

I just thought of one, but not sure if it's old or not...

"Those who squabble over power know that voting changes nothing; if it did, we wouldn't be allowed to do it"

[olduser]

"Hope springs eternal".

I think, it dates back to the 1700's the full line goes' something like, "Hope springs eternal in the human breast"

Anyway I think it very profound, and very true today.
We go through life hoping, without hope we are lost.

[Santa]

"The love of money is the root of all evil."

From the King James bible - Timothy 6:10

[Drivingforfun]

@Rolebama

Without trying to sound too vulgar, r.e. insurance risk, I'd've thought surely a bike accident causing disability costs more when involving say a 25 year old than a 65 year old...? I imagine the compensation element dwarfs any cost r.e. repairing the bike, and the 25 year old would have much more commitment and such, not to mention needing care for much longer

[olduser]

I think what you have left out is, the older you get the less resilient our body's become, the harder, and slower the healing process is.

But the older we get the less we need to push the machine to it's limits to prove that we are, brave enough or daft enough to do so.
I think the family's concern would be the other thoughtless road users out there.

I had a friend who worked in commercial aircraft insurance, talking after an airliner had crashed, I asked if his firm covered the crashed plane, and would it be a problem?
He responded with, no problem they all died in the crash, which made it simple, there is an agreed fixed price for death, whereas injury was expensive in medical costs for an unpredictable time scale, and unknown legal costs.

He then apologised because he had answered with his insurance hat on.

[NMNeil]

" If you always tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything"

Mark Twain

[Rolebama]

I came across this somewhere: Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he can eat forever.

[NMNeil]

@Rolebama The more appropriate quote round here is
Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he'll spend all day in a boat, fishing and drinking beer. 😁

[Nick]

A favourite of mine is:
"If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change" - no idea where/who it comes from - but I remember reading it somewhere many years ago and it's stuck with me ever since. I'm an eternal optimist and this is always a reminder for me to remain open minded.

[Drivingforfun]

I know it's not a new quote to anyone but...

"Pray not for an easy life but the strength to endure a difficult one"

I kind of think that's relevant to stuff not just war/strength but more intellect based stuff as well ... i.e. most people hope for the easy option, like most people pray for a lottery win, if you were given a wish why not wish for the ability to make lots of money 🤔

[Rolebama]

I have always appreciated one attributed to Abraham Lincoln:
You can fool some of the people all of the time, you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Me - I can't fool anyone any of the time.

[Santa]

Not that old, but true:

“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”
― Terry Pratchett

[Drivingforfun]

I like: chaos is but order misunderstood by a lesser mind

I think it's oldish, don't know who, it sounds like something Voltaire or someone similar would say

[Rolebama]

The unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible.
Oscar Wilde on foxhunting, but I think it applies to other bloodsports. Badger baiting etc.

[olduser]

I was brought up in the country but always though fox hunting was a very inefficient way of controlling foxes.
I thought that quote summed it up nicely!