“Abroad,” that large home of ruined reputations.
—George Eliot, 1866
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Quotes
The life of the dead consists in the recollection cherished of them by the living.
—Marcus Tullius Cicero, 43 BCWhat the brain does by itself is infinitely more fascinating and complex than any response it can make to chemical stimulation.
—Ursula K. Le Guin, 1971If there is a technological advance without a social advance, there is, almost automatically, an increase in human misery.
—Michael Harrington, 1962All God’s children are not beautiful. Most of God’s children are, in fact, barely presentable.
—Fran Lebowitz, 1978I have yet, I believe, some years in store, for I have a good state of health and a happy mind, and I take care of both by nourishing the first with temperance and the latter with abundance. This, I believe, you will allow to be the true philosophy of life.
—Thomas Paine, 1803He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.
—Emperor Francis Joseph, c. 1850Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at war with one another.
—Plato, c. 378 BCTime, 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, 1905There’s plenty of fire in the coldest flint!
—Rachel Field, 1939So many men, so many opinions.
—Terence, 161 BCTraveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, “I would stay here and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.”
—Lisa St. Aubin de Terán, 1989Friendship’s a noble name, ’tis love refined.
—Susanna Centlivre, 1703