In all the ancient states and empires, those who had the shipping, had the wealth.
—William Petty, 1690
Archive
Quotes
God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.
—J.M. Barrie, 1922If there was ever a just war since the world began, it is this in which America is now engaged.
—Thomas Paine, 1778The worship of opinion is, at this day, the established religion of the United States.
—Harriet Martineau, 1839Cows are among the gentlest of breathing creatures; none show more passionate tenderness to their young when deprived of them—and, in short, I am not ashamed to profess a deep love for these quiet creatures.
—Thomas De Quincey, 1821Imagination continually outruns the creature it inhabits.
—Katherine Anne Porter, 1949Revolutionaries are greater sticklers for formality than conservatives.
—Italo Calvino, 1957God is a complex of ideas formed by the tribe, the nation, and humanity, which awake and organize social feelings and aim to link the individual to society and to bridle the zoological individualism.
—Maxim Gorky, 1913In meeting again after a separation, acquaintances ask after our outward life, friends after our inner life.
—Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, 1880An oppressed people are authorized, whenever they can, to rise and break their fetters.
—Henry Clay, 1842No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.
—Samuel Johnson, 1776Nature has planted in our minds an insatiable desire to seek the truth.
—Marcus Tullius Cicero, 45 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, 1989