If men are to wait for liberty till they become wise and good in slavery, they may indeed wait forever.
—Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1843
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Quotes
I have often been convinced that a democracy is incapable of empire.
—Thucydides, c. 404 BCGod is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on trying other things.
—Pablo Picasso, 1964Infectious disease is one of the few genuine adventures left in the world.
—Hans Zinsser, 1935The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. And I knew we’d get into that rotten stuff pretty soon. Probably at the next gas station.
—Hunter S. Thompson, 1971In most cases men willingly believe what they wish.
—Julius Caesar, 52 BCI am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas and land on barbarous coasts.
—Herman Melville, 1853A garden must be looked into, and dressed as the body.
—George Herbert, 1640The body says what words cannot.
—Martha Graham, 1985Reality is always the foe of famous names.
—Petrarch, 1337If law and justice do not attain their ends, the people will be unable to move hand or foot.
—Confucius, c. 500Mammon, n. The god of the world’s leading religion. His chief temple is in the holy city of New York.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1911Why is a ship under sail more poetical than a hog in a high wind? The hog is all nature, the ship is all art.
—Lord Byron, 1821