We should have a great many fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves.
—John Locke, 1690
Archive
Quotes
I shall curse you with book and bell and candle.
—Thomas Malory, c. 1470Despotism subjects a nation to one tyrant—democracy to many.
—Marguerite Gardiner, 1839Epitaph, n. An inscription on a tomb, showing that virtues acquired by death have a retroactive effect.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906I’ve dreamed enough to have a drink.
—François Rabelais, 1546Often an entire city has suffered because of an evil man.
—Hesiod, c. 700 BCSanity is madness put to good uses; waking life is a dream controlled.
—George Santayana, 1920What hath night to do with sleep?
—John Milton, 1637“Abroad,” that large home of ruined reputations.
—George Eliot, 1866The more corrupt the state, the more numerous its laws.
—Tacitus, c. 110Man is merely a more perfect animal than the rest. He reasons better.
—Napoleon Bonaparte, 1816There are chance meetings with strangers that interest us from the first moment, before a word is spoken.
—Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1866Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve and from which he cannot escape.
—Erich Fromm, 1947