There lurks in every human heart a desire of distinction which inclines every man first to hope and then to believe that nature has given him something peculiar to himself.
—Samuel Johnson, 1763
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Quotes
I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”
—Book of Ecclesiastes, 225 BCWhen one has a famishing thirst for happiness, one is apt to gulp down diversions wherever they are offered.
—Alice Hegan Rice, 1917Carnal embrace is the practice of throwing one’s arms around a side of beef.
—Tom Stoppard, 1993Friendship is a plant that loves the sun—thrives ill under clouds.
—Bronson Alcott, 1872Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1903Whenever in history equality appeared on the agenda, it was exported somewhere else, like an undesirable.
—Mary McCarthy, 1971Africa has her mysteries, and even a wise man cannot understand them. But a wise man respects them.
—Miriam Makeba, 1988What one man can invent another can discover.
—Arthur Conan Doyle, 1905Writing cannot express words fully; words cannot express thoughts fully.
—The Book of Changes, c. 350 BCAnything one is remembering is a repetition, but existing as a human being that is being, listening, and hearing is never repetition.
—Gertrude Stein, 1935Our entire history is merely the history of the waking life of man; nobody has yet considered the history of his sleeping life.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, c. 1780When you name yourself, you always name another.
—Bertolt Brecht, 1926