Archive

Quotes

One should always have one’s boots on and be ready to leave.

—Michel de Montaigne, 1580

To ensure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough; a police force is needed as well.

—Albert Camus, 1951

God seems to have left the receiver off the hook, and time is running out.

—Arthur Koestler, 1967

Every man has a lurking wish to appear considerable in his native place.

—Samuel Johnson, 1771

On no other stage are the scenes shifted with a swiftness so like magic as on the great stage of history when once the hour strikes.

—Edward Bellamy, 1888

No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens. 

—Abraham Lincoln

’Tis the sport to have the engineer / Hoist with his own petard.

—William Shakespeare, c. 1600

Inventions that are not made, like babies that are not born, are rarely missed.

—John Kenneth Galbraith, 1958

Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.

—Denis Diderot, 1774

Many are the wonders of the world, and none so wonderful as man.

—Sophocles, c. 441 BC

People who’ve drunk neat wine don’t care a damn.

—Hipponax, c. 550 BC

To live on a day-to-day basis is insufficient for human beings; we need to transcend, transport, escape; we need meaning, understanding, and explanation.

—Oliver Sacks, 2012

All art is a revolt against man’s fate.

—André Malraux, 1951