Quotes for speech introductions

I assure you the world is not nearly as amusing as used to imagine it was. Laclos.

Idealism is what precedes experience; cynicism is what follows. David T. Wolf.

Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow. Oascar Wilde.

Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt...Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt except themselves. Robert A. Wilson.

When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it. Bernard Bailey

The basis of optimism is sheer terror. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for things it has forbidden to itself. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

This paperback is very interesting, but I find it will never replace a hardcover book -- it makes a very poor doorstop. ...