Fortune resists half-hearted prayers.
—Ovid, 8
Archive
Quotes
Language ought to be the joint creation of poets and manual workers.
—George Orwell, 1944The first requisite to happiness is that a man be born in a famous city.
—Euripides, c. 415 BCAt the bottom of enmity between strangers lies indifference.
—Søren Kierkegaard, 1850When you name yourself, you always name another.
—Bertolt Brecht, 1926Don’t talk to me about naval tradition. It’s nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash.
—Winston Churchill, 1939Secrets are rarely betrayed or discovered according to any program our fear has sketched out.
—George Eliot, 1860There is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1943Necessity knows no law except to conquer.
—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BCImitate the ass in his love to his master.
—St. John Chrysostom, c. 388There are times when reality becomes too complex for oral communication. But legend gives it a form by which it pervades the whole world.
—Jean-Luc Godard, 1965I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.
—H. Rap Brown, 1967Quarreling must lead to disorder, and disorder exhaustion.
—Xunzi, c. 250 BC