Friendship itself will not stand the strain of very much good advice for very long.
—Robert Wilson Lynd, 1924
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Quotes
They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.
—Francis Bacon, 1605There is no small pleasure in sweet water.
—Ovid, c. 10All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.
—Oscar Wilde, 1895Eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, eight hours for what we will.
—Slogan of the National Labor Union of the United States, 1866An irreligious man is not one who denies the gods of the majority, but one who applies to the gods the opinions of the majority. For what most men say about the gods are not ideas derived from sensation, but false opinions, according to which the greatest evils come to the wicked, and the greatest blessings come to the good from the gods.
—Epicurus, c. 250 BCThe life of the city never lets you go, nor do you ever want it to.
—Wallace Stevens, 1952There’s plenty of fire in the coldest flint!
—Rachel Field, 1939Money speaks sense in a language all nations understand.
—Aphra Behn, 1677How can we bear misfortune most easily? If we see our enemies faring worse.
—Thales of Miletus, c. 585 BCThere are some who, if a cat accidentally comes into the room, though they neither see it nor are told of it, will presently be in a sweat and ready to die away.
—Increase Mather, 1684For sooner will men hold fire in their mouths than keep a secret.
—Petronius, c. 60We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.
—D.H. Lawrence, 1928