To know the abyss of the darkness and not to fear it, to entrust oneself to it and whatever may arise from it—what greater gift?
—Ursula K. Le Guin, 1975
Archive
Quotes
Well now, there’s a remedy for everything except death.
—Miguel de Cervantes, 1605Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.
—Rosa Luxemburg, 1918Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men, but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass.
—Joseph Addison, 1711Most new discoveries are suddenly-seen things that were always there.
—Susanne K. Langer, 1942None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.
—Pearl S. Buck, 1943Nature contains no one constant form.
—Paul-Henri Dietrich d’Holbach, 1770If not us, who? If not now, when?
—Czech slogan, 1989Death and vulgarity are the only two facts in the nineteenth century that one cannot explain away.
—Oscar Wilde, 1891When nature is overriden, she takes her revenge.
—Marya Mannes, 1958Are we not ourselves nature, nature without end?
—Stanisław Lem, 1961We have to ask ourselves whether medicine is to remain a humanitarian and respected profession or a new but depersonalized science in the service of prolonging life rather than diminishing human suffering.
—Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 1969Play, wherein persons of condition, especially ladies, waste so much of their time, is a plain instance to me that men cannot be perfectly idle; they must be doing something, for how else could they sit so many hours toiling at that which generally gives more vexation than delight to people whilst they are actually engaged in it?
—John Locke, 1693