There lurks in every human heart a desire of distinction which inclines every man first to hope and then to believe that nature has given him something peculiar to himself.
—Samuel Johnson, 1763
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Quotes
Thanks be to God: since my leaving drinking of wine, I do find myself much better and do mind my business better, and do spend less money, and less time lost in idle company.
—Samuel Pepys, 1662Those who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance.
—Calvin Coolidge, 1932Those who go overseas find a change of climate, not a change of soul.
—Horace, c. 20 BCNobody, sir, dies willingly.
—Antiphanes, c. 370 BCThe money we have is the means to liberty; that which we pursue is the means to slavery.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau, c. 1770After each night we are emptier: our mysteries and our griefs have leaked away into our dreams.
—E.M. Cioran, 1949As far as I can see, the history of experimental art in the twentieth century is intimately bound up with the experience of intoxification.
—Will Self, 1994Trade’s proud empire hastes to swift decay.
—Oliver Goldsmith, 1770Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.
—Socrates, c. 430 BCEvery man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it. Martyrdom is the test.
—Samuel Johnson, 1780Have you ever, looking up, seen a cloud like to a centaur, a leopard, a wolf, or a bull?
—Aristophanes, 423 BCThe Romans would never have found time to conquer the world if they had been obliged first to learn Latin.
—Heinrich Heine, 1827