It would be madness, and inconsistency, to suppose that things which have never yet been performed can be performed without employing some hitherto untried means.
—Francis Bacon, 1620
Archive
Quotes
A multitude of small delights constitute happiness.
—Charles Baudelaire, 1897Fashion, n. A despot whom the wise ridicule and obey.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1911The highest result of education is tolerance.
—Helen Keller, 1903Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.
—Immanuel Kant, 1784I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas and land on barbarous coasts.
—Herman Melville, 1853Childhood has no forebodings—but then, it is soothed by no memories of outlived sorrow.
—George Eliot, 1860There be beasts that, at a year old, observe more, and pursue that which is for their good more prudently, than a child can do at ten.
—Thomas Hobbes, 1651Ocean. A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man—who has no gills.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906I have often repented speaking, but never of holding my tongue.
—Xenocrates, c. 350 BCNot a change for the better in our human housekeeping has ever taken place that wise and good men have not opposed it—have not prophesied that the world would wake up to find its throat cut in consequence.
—James Russell Lowell, 1884Men are generally more pleased with a widespread than with a great reputation.
—Pliny the Younger, c. 110Cooking is the most massive rush. It’s like having the most amazing hard-on, with Viagra sprinkled on top of it, and it’s still there twelve hours later.
—Gordon Ramsey, 2003