Remembering the Wisdom of Those We Lost in 2016

The end of the year is a time for reflection. Many greats were lost in 2016: thinkers, creators, scientists, entertainers, and philosophers–no major field of endeavor was untouched by loss in the last 12 months.

The giants themselves may be gone, but their wisdom lives on. Regardless of whether these people made you happy, sad or even angry, attention should be paid one more time to some of what they had to say.

1. “Science progresses best when observations force us to alter our preconceptions.” Vera Rubin

2. “The thinker dies, but his thoughts are beyond the reach of destruction. Men are mortal; but ideas are immortal.” Richard Adams

3. “Sometimes it’s necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly.” Edward Albee

4. “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” Mohammad Ali

5. “The problem is when you are writing something in retrospective, it needs a lot of courage not to change, or you will forget a certain reality, and you will just take in consideration your view today.” Boutros Boutros-Ghali

6. “I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.” David Bowie

7. “Men do not shape destiny, Destiny produces the man for the hour.” Fidel Castro

8. “Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.” Leonard Cohen

9. “Nothing gives a fearful man more courage than another’s fear.” Umberto Eco

10. “The marvelous thing is that for thousands of years people have continued questioning and searching and ultimately concluding that reasons for certain occurrences are not given to man to know.” Robert Vaughn

11. “We have an infinite amount to learn both from nature and from each other.” John Glenn

12. “You’ve got to love what you’re doing. If you love it, you can overcome any handicap,
or the soreness, or all the aches and pains and continue to play for a long, long time.” Gordie Howe

13. “Can’t disagree with the need for a grasp of history.” Gwen Ifill

14. “The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.” Arnold Palmer

15. “If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact – not to be solved, but to be coped with over time.” Shimon Peres

16. “What’s missing from pop music is danger.” Prince

17. “This is a beautiful country. Each of us has a favorite river, a mountain, just a patch of sky for some of us. I want to use the law to make sure that the waters, the land, and the skies of this nation are protected.” Janet Reno

18. “I do take my work seriously and the way to do that is not to take yourself too seriously.” Alan Rickman

19. “Arrogance and snobbism live in adjoining rooms and use a common currency.” Morley Safer

20. “A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable.” Antonin Scalia

21. “Knowledge is the most democratic source of power.” Alvin Toffler

22. “Most people can’t see beauty and love. I see our music as medicine.” Maurice White

23. “Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.” Elie Wiesel

24. “You’ll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart.” George Michael

25. “I don’t want my life to imitate art, I want my life to be art.” Carrie Fisher

26. “As you train and as you develop your talents, you do get better, hopefully, or you get out of the business.”Debbie Reynolds

27. “If you’re not gonna tell the truth, then why start talking?” Gene Wilder