A criminal may improve and become a decent member of society. A foreigner cannot improve. Once a foreigner, always a foreigner. There is no way out for him.
—George Mikes, 1946
Archive
Quotes
Sooner or later if the activity of the mind is restricted anywhere, it will cease to function even where it is allowed to be free.
—Edith Hamilton, 1930The twilight is the crack between the worlds.
—Carlos Castaneda, 1968How gloriously legible are the constellations of the heavens!
—Anthony Trollope, 1859Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.
—Jean de La Bruyère, 1688I have yet, I believe, some years in store, for I have a good state of health and a happy mind, and I take care of both by nourishing the first with temperance and the latter with abundance. This, I believe, you will allow to be the true philosophy of life.
—Thomas Paine, 1803I am weary of friends, and friendships are all monsters.
—Jonathan Swift, 1710Again, men in general desire the good, and not merely what their fathers had.
—Aristotle, c. 350 BCAfrica has her mysteries, and even a wise man cannot understand them. But a wise man respects them.
—Miriam Makeba, 1988My ideas are clear. My orders are precise. Within five years, Rome must appear marvelous to all the people of the world—vast, orderly, powerful, as in the time of the empire of Augustus.
—Benito Mussolini, 1929Seize from every moment its unique novelty, and do not prepare your joys.
—André Gide, 1897I was born without knowing why, I have lived without knowing why, and I am dying without either knowing why or how.
—Pierre Gassendi, 1655God is alive. Magic is afoot.
—Leonard Cohen, 1966