Power is so apt to be insolent, and Liberty to be saucy, that they are very seldom upon good terms.
—George Savile, c. 1690
Archive
Quotes
Governments are not overthrown by the poor, who have no power, but by the rich—when they are insulted by their inferiors and cannot obtain justice.
—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, c. 20 BCA large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.
—Jane Austen, 1814How can we bear misfortune most easily? If we see our enemies faring worse.
—Thales of Miletus, c. 585 BCThe traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes “sightseeing.”
—Daniel Boorstin, 1961Courage and grace is a formidable mixture. The only place to see it is in the bullring.
—Marlene Dietrich, 1962It’s your business when your neighbor’s wall is in flames.
—Horace, 19 BCThere are chance meetings with strangers that interest us from the first moment, before a word is spoken.
—Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1866And what will history say of me a thousand years hence?
—Marcus Tullius Cicero, 59 BCAny sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
—Arthur C. Clarke, 1973Of all the creatures that breathe and creep on the surface of the earth, none is more to be pitied than man.
—Homer, c. 750 BCGod is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on trying other things.
—Pablo Picasso, 1964I even gave up, for a while, stopping by the window of the room to look out at the lights and deep, illuminated streets. That’s a form of dying, that losing contact with the city like that.
—Philip K. Dick, 1972