Laughter almost ever cometh of things most disproportioned to ourselves and nature. Laughter hath only a scornful tickling.
—Philip Sidney, 1582
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Quotes
There are two things that will be believed of any man whatsoever, and one of them is that he has taken to drink.
—Booth Tarkington, 1914They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.
—Francis Bacon, 1605Unfortunately, humanitarianism has been the mark of an inhuman time.
—G.K. Chesterton, 1932Africa has her mysteries, and even a wise man cannot understand them. But a wise man respects them.
—Miriam Makeba, 1988Pride and excess bring disaster for man.
—Xunzi, 250 BCMemory is necessary for all operations of reasoning.
—Blaise Pascal, c. 1658Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.
—Frank Zappa, c. 1975Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.
—Shimon Peres, 1995Speech is the mirror of the soul; as a man speaks, so is he.
—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BCModesty is a virtue not often found among poets, for almost every one of them thinks himself the greatest in the world.
—Miguel de Cervantes, 1615People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them.
—James Baldwin, 1953It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.
—Francis Bacon, 1625