A Time for Greatness
The truth which makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.
Augustine St. 354-430
De Duabus Animabus
Hear the other side.
The Bible (Authorized Version)
New Testament: St Mark ch.4 v.9
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Butler Samuel 1835-1902
Further Extracts from Notebooks
Conscience is thoroughly well - bred and soon leaves off talking to those who do not wish to hear it.
Disraeli Benjamin 1804-1881
(Maiden speech)
Though I sit down now, the time will come when you will hear me.
Epictetus AD c.50-130
Nature has given to men one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.
Freud Sigmund 1856-1939
It is unavoidable that if we learn more about a great man's life, we shall also hear of occasions on which he has done no better than we, and has
in fact come nearer to us as a human being.
Hay John 1838-1905
The best-loved man or maid in the town would perish with anguish could they hear all that their friends say in the course of a day.
Hazlitt William 1778-1830
Table Talk
You will hear more good things on the outside of a stagecoach from London
to Oxford than if you were to pass a twelvemonth with the undergraduates,
or heads of colleges, of that famous university.
Howe Edgar Watson
A modest man is usually admired - if people ever hear of him.
Landor Walter Savage 1775-1864
‘To Robert Browning'
There is delight in singing, tho' none hear Beside the singer.
Proverbs and Sayings
Chinese
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
Rossini Gioacchino 1792-1868
One cannot judge ‘Lohengrin' from a first hearing, and I certainly do not intend to hear it a second time.
Sheridan Richard Brinsley 1751-1816
The Critic
If it is abuse - why one is always sure to hear of it from one
damned goodnatured friend or another!
Thoreau Henry David 1817-1862
It takes two to speak the truth - one to speak, and another to hear.
Tickell Thomas 1686-1740
Colin and Lucy
I hear a voice you cannot hear,
Which says I must not stay;
I see a hand you cannot see,
Which beckons me away.
Williams Isaac 1802-1865
‘Be thou my Guardian and my Guide'
Be thou my Guardian and my Guide,
And hear me when I call;
Let not my slippery footsteps slide,
And hold me lest I fall.