Music is our myth of the inner life.
—Susanne K. Langer, 1942
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Quotes
Nature never breaks her own laws.
—Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1500Can you draw sweet water from a foul well?
—Brooks Atkinson, 1940Often the prudent, far from making their destinies, succumb to them; it is destiny which makes them prudent.
—Voltaire, 1764On the loftiest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own rump.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
—Oscar Wilde, 1891The brain is an unreliable organ, it is monstrously great, monstrously developed. Swollen, like a goiter.
—Aleksandr Blok, c. 1920Anyone who’s never experienced the pleasure of betrayal doesn’t know what pleasure is.
—Jean Genet, 1986Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.
—Ecclesiastes, c. 250 BCFriendship’s a noble name, ’tis love refined.
—Susanna Centlivre, 1703Drunkenness is the very sepulcher / Of man’s wit and his discretion.
—Geoffrey Chaucer, c. 1390War is the child of pride, and pride the daughter of riches.
—Jonathan Swift, 1697One of the animals which a generous and sociable man would soonest become is a dog. A dog can have a friend; he has affections and character; he can enjoy equally the field and the fireside; he dreams, he caresses, he propitiates; he offends and is pardoned; he stands by you in adversity; he is a good fellow.
—Leigh Hunt, 1834