The collection / 14 fragments

The living archive

Passages, proverbs, and questions carried across the ages.

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01Undated

The capital ... shall form a fund, the interest of which shall be distributed annually as prizes to those persons who shall have rendered humanity the best services during the past year. ... One-fifth to the person having made the most important discovery or invention in the science of physics, one-fifth to the person who has made the most eminent discovery or improvement in chemistry, one-fifth to the one having made the most important discovery with regard to physiology or medicine, one-fifth to the person who has produced the most distinguished idealistic work of literature, and one-fifth to the person who has worked the most or best for advancing the fraternization of all nations and for abolishing or diminishing the standing armies as well as for the forming or propagation of committees of peace.

Alfred Nobel / quote

02Undated

The day when two army corps can annihilate each other in one second, all civilized nations, it is to be hoped, will recoil from war and discharge their troops.

Alfred Nobel / quote

03Undated

I am a misanthrope, but exceedingly benevolent; I am very cranky, and am a super-idealist. ... I can digest philosophy better than food.

Alfred Nobel / quote

04Undated

Hope is nature's veil for hiding truth's nakedness.

Alfred Nobel / quote

05Undated

The first time I saw nitroglycerine was in the beginning of the Crimean War. Professor Zinin in St. Petersburg exhibited some to my father and me, and struck some on an anvil to show that only the part touched by the hammer exploded without spreading.

Alfred Nobel / quote

06Undated

Home is where I work, and I work everywhere.

Alfred Nobel / quote

07Undated

I intend to leave after my death a large fund for the promotion of the peace idea, but I am skeptical as to its results.

Alfred Nobel / quote

08Undated

A heart can no more be forced to love than a stomach can be forced to digest food by persuasion.

Alfred Nobel / quote

09Undated

I am a misanthrope and yet utterly benevolent, have more than one screw loose yet am a super-idealist who digests philosophy more efficiently than food.

Alfred Nobel / quote

10Undated

If I have a thousand ideas and only one turns out to be good, I am satisfied.

Alfred Nobel / quote

11Undated

One can state, without exaggeration, that the observation of and the search for similarities and differences are the basis of all human knowledge.

Alfred Nobel / quote

12Undated

Justice is to be found only in imagination.

Alfred Nobel / quote

13Undated

Good wishes alone will not ensure peace.

Alfred Nobel / quote

14Undated

I have not the slightest pretension to call my verses poetry I write now and then for no other purpose than to relieve depression or to improve my English.

Alfred Nobel / quote