Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.
—Henry David Thoreau, 1852
Archive
Quotes
Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.
—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BCThe most beautiful makeup of a woman is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy.
—Yves Saint Laurent, 1978Perish the universe, provided I have my revenge.
—Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, 1654Happiness, whether in business or private life, leaves very little trace in history.
—Fernand Braudel, 1979Speech is the mirror of the soul; as a man speaks, so is he.
—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BCLaughter almost ever cometh of things most disproportioned to ourselves and nature. Laughter hath only a scornful tickling.
—Philip Sidney, 1582I have always found it in mine own experience an easier matter to devise many and profitable inventions than to dispose of one of them to the good of the author himself.
—Hugh Plat, 1595Is it a fact—or have I dreamed it—that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?
—Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.
—Cormac McCarthy, 2005The god of music dwelleth out of doors.
—Edith M. Thomas, 1887The doctor should be opaque to his patients and, like a mirror, should show them nothing but what is shown to him.
—Sigmund Freud, 1912Cows are among the gentlest of breathing creatures; none show more passionate tenderness to their young when deprived of them—and, in short, I am not ashamed to profess a deep love for these quiet creatures.
—Thomas De Quincey, 1821