Archive

Quotes

Again, men in general desire the good, and not merely what their fathers had.

—Aristotle, c. 350 BC

A world is sooner destroyed than made.

—Thomas Burnet, 1684

How sweet it is to have people point and say, “There he is.”

—Persius, c. 60

The king times are fast finishing. There will be blood shed like water, and tears like mist; but the peoples will conquer in the end.

—Lord Byron, 1821

Music is a beautiful opiate, if you don’t take it too seriously.

—Henry Miller, 1945

He who sings frightens away his ills.

—Miguel de Cervantes, 1605

Many, many steeples would have to be stacked one on top of another to reach from the bottom to the surface of the sea. It is down there that the sea folk live.

—Hans Christian Andersen, 1837

A merchant shall hardly keep himself from doing wrong.

—Ecclesiasticus, c. 180 BC

They say that gifts persuade even the gods. 

—Euripides, 431 BC

Memories are hunting horns
whose noise dies away in the wind.

—Guillaume Apollinaire, 1913

Fashion, n. A despot whom the wise ridicule and obey.

—Ambrose Bierce, 1911

We die of comfort and by conflict live.

—May Sarton, 1953

It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street.

—Mary Lease, c. 1890