If the heavens were all parchment, and the trees of the forest all pens, and every human being were a scribe, it would still be impossible to record all that I have learned from my teachers.
—Jochanan ben Zakkai, c. 75
Archive
Quotes
Nothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.
—Robertson Davies, 1985All progress is based upon a universal, innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.
—Samuel Butler, c. 1890Let the people think they govern, and they will be governed.
—William Penn, 1693The worship of opinion is, at this day, the established religion of the United States.
—Harriet Martineau, 1839The young man must store up, the old man must use.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 63Whatever the pace of this technological revolution may be, the direction is clear: the lower rungs of the economic ladder are being lopped off.
—Bayard Rustin, 1965In the past, men created witches; now they create mental patients.
—Thomas Szasz, 1970Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be breakthrough.
—R.D. Laing, 1967Of troubles none is greater than to be robbed of one’s native land.
—Euripides, 431 BCI began to realize how simple life could be if one had a regular routine to follow with fixed hours, a fixed salary, and very little original thinking to do.
—Roald Dahl, 1984The less a man knows about the past and the present, the more insecure must prove to be his judgment of the future.
—Sigmund Freud, 1927Talk to me about the truth of religion and I’ll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I’ll listen submissively. But don’t come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don’t understand.
—C.S. Lewis, 1961