Appearances often are deceiving.
—Aesop, c. 550 BC
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Quotes
To cast aside obedience, and by popular violence to incite revolt, is treason, not against man only, but against God.
—Pope Leo XIII, 1885They say that gifts persuade even the gods.
—Euripides, 431 BCThere is no greater disaster than not to know contentment.
—Laozi, c. 550 BCYou have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.
—Aristophanes, c. 424 BCHe that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.
—Francis Bacon, 1625Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.
—Pericles, c. 431 BCMother died today. Or maybe it was yesterday, I don’t know.
—Albert Camus, 1942I am ill every time it blows hard, and nothing but my enthusiastic love for the profession keeps me one hour at sea.
—Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1804Gossip isn’t scandal and it’s not merely malicious. It’s chatter about the human race by lovers of the same.
—Phyllis McGinley, 1957War to the castles; peace to the cottages.
—Nicolas Chamfort, 1790We should have a great many fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves.
—John Locke, 1690On the loftiest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own rump.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580