Play, wherein persons of condition, especially ladies, waste so much of their time, is a plain instance to me that men cannot be perfectly idle; they must be doing something, for how else could they sit so many hours toiling at that which generally gives more vexation than delight to people whilst they are actually engaged in it?
—John Locke, 1693
Archive
Quotes
Seaward ho! Hang the treasure! It’s the glory of the sea that has turned my head.
—Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883The Mediterranean has the colors of a mackerel, changeable I mean. You don’t always know if it is green or violet—you can’t even say it’s blue, because the next moment the changing light has taken on a tinge of pink or gray.
—Vincent van Gogh, 1888Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.
—William Morris, 1882Commerce tends to wear off those prejudices which maintain distinction and animosity between nations.
—William Robertson, 1769What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.
—Voltaire, 1723I’ve been bathing in the poem / Of star-infused and milky sea / Devouring the azure greens.
—Arthur Rimbaud, 1871Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real.
—Cormac McCarthy, 1992Inventor, n. A person who makes an ingenious arrangement of wheels, levers, and springs and believes it civilization.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1911Seamen are the nearest to death and the furthest from God.
—Thomas Fuller, 1732He that would eat the nut must crack the shell.
—Plautus, c. 200 BCWants keep pace with wealth always.
—Timothy Titcomb, 1859Celibacy goes deeper than the flesh.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1920