No man ever distinguished himself who could not bear to be laughed at.
—Maria Edgeworth, 1809
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Quotes
Insurrection of thought always precedes insurrection of arms.
—Wendell Phillips, 1859I care. I care about it all. It takes too much energy not to care.
—Lorraine Hansberry, 1965Language is the armory of the human mind and at once contains the trophies of its past and the weapons of its future conquests.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1817No 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, 1215What one man can invent another can discover.
—Arthur Conan Doyle, 1905The character which results from wealth is that of a prosperous fool.
—Aristotle, c. 322 BCMy stern chase after time is, to borrow a simile from Tom Paine, like the race of a man with a wooden leg after a horse.
—John Quincy Adams, 1844When poets don’t know what to say and have completely given up on the play, just like a finger, they lift the machine and the spectators are satisfied.
—Antiphanes, c. 350 BCGossip is a sort of smoke that comes from the dirty tobacco pipes of those who diffuse it; it proves nothing but the bad taste of the smoker.
—George Eliot, 1876To achieve harmony in bad taste is the height of elegance.
—Jean Genet, 1949Secrecy lies at the very core of power.
—Elias Canetti, 1960Make human nature your study wherever you reside—whatever the religion or the complexion, study their hearts.
—Ignatius Sancho, 1778