Archive

Quotes

Brains are the only things worth having in this world.

—L. Frank Baum, 1899

Every ass thinks himself worthy to stand with the king’s horses.

—Gnomologia, 1732

Democracy forever teases us with the contrast between its ideals and its realities, between its heroic possibilities and its sorry achievements.

—Agnes Repplier, 1916

I ride rough waters and shall sink with no one to save me.

—Virginia Woolf, 1931

We are to go to law never to revenge, but only to repair.

—Samuel Pepys, 1661

Hoping for new friendship from old enemies is / Like expecting to find a rose in a furnace.

—Muhammad Baqir Najm-i Sani, 1612

Petty laws breed great crimes.

—Ouida, 1880

A fool’s brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence university education.

—George Bernard Shaw, 1903

Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, at a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.

—James Madison, 1794

To need to dominate others is to need others. The commander is dependent.

—Fernando Pessoa, c. 1935

The people are the foundation of the state. If the foundations are firm, the state will be tranquil.

—Classic of History, c. 400 BC

A man who exposes himself when he is intoxicated has not the art of getting drunk.

—Samuel Johnson, 1779

At the start there’s always energy.

—Suzan-Lori Parks, 2006