Archive

Quotes

The decline of the aperitif may well be one of the most depressing phenomena of our time.

—Luis Buñuel, 1983

Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve and from which he cannot escape.

—Erich Fromm, 1947

The doctor should be opaque to his patients and, like a mirror, should show them nothing but what is shown to him.

—Sigmund Freud, 1912

The only function of a school is to make self-education easier.

—Isaac Asimov, 1974

If you are truly serious about preparing your child for the future, don’t teach him to subtract—teach him to deduct.

—Fran Lebowitz, 1981

A shopkeeper will never get the more custom by beating his customers; and what is true of a shopkeeper is true of a shopkeeping nation.

—Josiah Tucker, 1766

I cannot but bless the memory of Julius Caesar, for the great esteem he expressed for fat men and his aversion to lean ones.

—David Hume, 1751

The true mission of American sports is to prepare young men for war.

—Dwight D. Eisenhower, c. 1952

Writing cannot express words fully; words cannot express thoughts fully.

—The Book of Changes, c. 350 BC

Time, when it is left to itself and no definite demands are made on it, cannot be trusted to move at any recognized pace. Usually it loiters, but just when one has come to count upon its slowness, it may suddenly break into a wild irrational gallop.

—Edith Wharton, 1905

Oil! Our secret god, our secret sharer, our magic wand, fulfiller of our every desire, our coconspirator, the sine qua non in all we do!

—Margaret Atwood, 2015

Every man has a lurking wish to appear considerable in his native place.

—Samuel Johnson, 1771

Water has many ways of reminding us that when we are in it we are out of our element.

—Christopher Hitchens, 2008