He makes his cook his merit, and the world visits his dinners and not him.
—Molière, 1666
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Quotes
Anything one is remembering is a repetition, but existing as a human being that is being, listening, and hearing is never repetition.
—Gertrude Stein, 1935There be beasts that, at a year old, observe more, and pursue that which is for their good more prudently, than a child can do at ten.
—Thomas Hobbes, 1651How can we bear misfortune most easily? If we see our enemies faring worse.
—Thales of Miletus, c. 585 BCWe don’t have the option of turning away from the future. No one gets to vote on whether technology is going to change our lives.
—Bill Gates, 1995There are truths that prove their discoverers witless.
—Karl Kraus, 1909The young man must store up, the old man must use.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 63Fire destroys that which feeds it.
—Simone Weil, c. 1940How sickness enlarges the dimension of a man’s self to himself! He is his own exclusive object.
—Charles Lamb, 1833One race there is of men, one of gods, but from one mother we both draw our breath.
—Pindar, c. 450 BCPower is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
—Henry Kissinger, 1972The various modes of religion which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true, by the philosophers equally false, and by the magistrate as equally useful.
—Edward Gibbon, 1776It’s the educated barbarian who is the worst: he knows what to destroy.
—Helen MacInnes, 1963