A man who exposes himself when he is intoxicated has not the art of getting drunk.
—Samuel Johnson, 1779Quotes
When the physician said to him, “You have lived to be an old man,” he said, “That is because I never employed you as my physician.”
—Pausanias, c. 450 BCHe may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.
—Emperor Francis Joseph, c. 1850What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.
—Henry David Thoreau, 1850There’s hope a great man’s memory may outlive his life half a year.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1600Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.
—E.M. Forster, 1951Some people make stuff; other people have to buy it. And when we gave up making stuff, starting in the 1980s, we were left with the unique role of buying.
—Barbara Ehrenreich, 2008How can we bear misfortune most easily? If we see our enemies faring worse.
—Thales of Miletus, c. 585 BCIt is not right for a ruler who has the nation in his charge, a man with so much on his mind, to sleep all night.
—Homer, c. 750 BCA dog starved at his master’s gate / Predicts the ruin of the state.
—William Blake, 1807Do you not see how God is praised by those in the heavens and those on earth? The very birds praised Him as they wing their way.
—The Qur’an, c. 620The believer in magic and miracles reflects on how to impose a law on nature—and, in brief, the religious cult is the outcome of this reflection.
—Friedrich Nietzsche, 1878There is no man so fortunate that there shall not be by him when he is dying some who are pleased with what is going to happen.
—Marcus Aurelius, c. 175