No human being is innocent, but there is a class of innocent human actions called games.
—W.H. Auden, 1962
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Quotes
It is so difficult not to become vain about one’s own good luck.
—Simone de Beauvoir, 1963Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, “I would stay here and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.”
—Lisa St. Aubin de Terán, 1989What one man can invent another can discover.
—Arthur Conan Doyle, 1905Why is a ship under sail more poetical than a hog in a high wind? The hog is all nature, the ship is all art.
—Lord Byron, 1821Those who give the first shock to a state are the first overwhelmed in its ruin; the fruits of public commotion are seldom enjoyed by him who was the first mover; he only beats the water for another’s net.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580We must select the illusion which appeals to our temperament and embrace it with passion if we want to be happy.
—Cyril Connolly, 1944The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.
—John Nance Garner, c. 1967You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.
—Mario Cuomo, 1985A wise woman never yields by appointment. It should always be an unforeseen happiness.
—Stendhal, 1822The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative on the day after the revolution.
—Hannah Arendt, 1970I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.
—George Borrow, 1843For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?
—Jane Austen, 1813