It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.
—Francis Bacon, 1625
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Quotes
Those who cross the seas change their climate but not their character.
—Roman proverbI am a friend of the workingman, and I would rather be his friend than be one.
—Clarence Darrow, 1932The belly is the reason why man does not mistake himself for a god.
—Friedrich Nietzsche, 1886You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends.
—Joseph Conrad, 1900Other nations use “force”; we Britons alone use “might.”
—Evelyn Waugh, 1938The Romans would never have found time to conquer the world if they had been obliged first to learn Latin.
—Heinrich Heine, 1827Is all our fire of shipwreck wood?
—Robert Browning, 1862I will never again command an army in America if we must carry along paid spies. I will banish myself to some foreign country first.
—William Tecumseh Sherman, 1863A fair complexion is unbecoming to a sailor: he ought to be swarthy from the waters of the sea and the rays of the sun.
—Ovid, c. 1 BCMy people and I have come to an agreement that satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.
—Frederick the Great, c. 1770A friend in power is a friend lost.
—Henry Adams, 1905I shall curse you with book and bell and candle.
—Thomas Malory, c. 1470