Some things are privileged from jest—namely, religion, matters of state, great persons, all men’s present business of importance, and any case that deserves pity.
—Francis Bacon, 1597
Archive
Quotes
Courage and grace is a formidable mixture. The only place to see it is in the bullring.
—Marlene Dietrich, 1962The happiness of society is the end of government.
—John Adams, 1776All people have the common desire to be elevated in honor, but all people have something still more elevated in themselves without knowing it.
—Mencius, c. 330 BCAny city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at war with one another.
—Plato, c. 378 BCFamilies, I hate you! Shut-in homes, closed doors, jealous possessions of happiness.
—André Gide, 1897Once a woman has lost her chastity she will shrink from nothing.
—Tacitus, c. 100I never yet could make out why men are so fond of hunting; they often hurt themselves, often spoil good horses, and tear up the fields—and all for a hare or a fox or a stag that they could get more easily some other way.
—Anna Sewell, 1877Let the young know they will never find a more interesting, more instructive book than the patient himself.
—Giorgio Baglivi, c. 1696Your body is the church where nature asks to be reverenced.
—Marquis de Sade, 1797The world is made of the very stuff of the body.
—Maurice Merleau-Ponty, 1961Many a man who thinks to found a home discovers that he has merely opened a tavern for his friends.
—Norman Douglas, 1917One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.
—Oscar Wilde, 1895