Let my epitaph be, “Here lies Joseph, who failed in everything he undertook.”
—Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, 1790
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Quotes
If the human race wants to go to hell in a basket, technology can help it get there by jet.
—Charles M. Allen, 1967As matron and mistress will differ in temper and tone, so will the friend be distinct from the faithless parasite.
—Horace, c. 20 BCThe friend of all humanity is no friend to me.
—Molière, 1666A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch.
—Jane Austen, 1814When the physician said to him, “You have lived to be an old man,” he said, “That is because I never employed you as my physician.”
—Pausanias, c. 450 BCOnce suspicion is aroused, everything feeds it.
—Amelia Edith Barr, 1885I reckon being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill and is not obliged to work till one is better.
—Samuel Butler, c. 1902A sick child is always the mother’s property; her own feelings generally make it so.
—Jane Austen, 1816History is a people’s memory, and without a memory man is demoted to the level of the lower animals.
—Malcolm X, 1964Greeting cards routinely tell us everybody deserves love. No. Everybody deserves clean water.
—Zadie Smith, 2000Why is a ship under sail more poetical than a hog in a high wind? The hog is all nature, the ship is all art.
—Lord Byron, 1821Revolution can never be forecast; it cannot be foretold; it comes of itself. Revolution is brewing and is bound to flare up.
—Vladimir Lenin, 1918