So this month we have another collection of recently encountered quotes. So, in no particular order …

No. They have a right to be ignorant. Knowledge only means complicity in guilt; ignorance has a certain dignity
[Yes Minister]

Whereas some brahmans and contemplatives, living off food given in faith, are addicted to talking about lowly topics such as these – talking about kings, robbers, ministers of state; armies, alarms, and battles; food and drink; clothing, furniture, garlands, and scents; relatives; vehicles; villages, towns, cities, the countryside; women and heroes; the gossip of the street and the well; tales of the dead; tales of diversity, the creation of the world and of the sea, and talk of whether things exist or not – [a monk] abstains from talking about lowly topics such as these. This, too, is part of his virtue.
[The Pali Canon]

Drink doesn’t make him turn nasty. On the contrary. How well one knows the feeling of loving the whole world after downing a few doubles. As I no longer drink, I no longer love the whole world – nor, if it comes to that, even a small part of it.
[Anthony Powell, The Soldier’s Art]

Researchers also note that our culture has become one in which people are more likely to believe personal, anecdotal accounts rather than scientific facts.
[Gesshin Claire Greenwood, Just Enough: Vegan Recipes and Stories from Japan’s Buddhist Temples]

It is a well known fact that all inventors get their first ideas on the back of an envelope. I take slight exception to this, I use the front so that I can include the stamp and then the design is already half done.
[Rowland Emett]

The first principle in science is to invent something nice to look at and then decide what it can do.
[Rowland Emett]

Try to make things better in your sphere. We might not be able to change the world, but we can make our corner a nicer, more accepting place.
[Roma Agrawal]

If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you’re misinformed.
[Attributed to Mark Twain]

Don’t you realize what would happen if we allowed the Minister to run the Department? In the first place, there would be chaos, and the second, which is much worse, there would be innovation! Public debate! Outside scrutiny!
[Yes Minister]

To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge.
[Benjamin Disraeli]

Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book.
[Bill Watterson]