No man has any natural authority over his fellow man.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1762
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Quotes
Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.
—Albert Camus, c. 1940“I think, therefore I am” is the statement of an intellectual who underrates toothaches.
—Milan Kundera, 1990A multitude of small delights constitute happiness.
—Charles Baudelaire, 1897I do desire we may be better strangers.
—William Shakespeare, 1600When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.
—Chinese proverbThe fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of a gun.
—P.G. Wodehouse, 1929No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
—Magna Carta, 1215Despotism subjects a nation to one tyrant, democracy to many.
—Marguerite Gardiner, 1839The chief merit of language is clearness, and we know that nothing detracts so much from this as do unfamiliar terms.
—Galen, c. 175I used to think that everyone was just being funny. But now I don’t know. I mean, how can you tell?
—Andy Warhol, 1970Fashion, n. A despot whom the wise ridicule and obey.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1911When the missionaries first came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, “Let us pray.” We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land.
—Desmond Tutu, 1984