Happiness does not dwell in herds, nor yet in gold.
—Democritus, c. 420 BC
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Quotes
The brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over we realize this: that the human has been roughly handled, but that it has advanced.
—Victor Hugo, 1862Without virtue, both riches and honor, to me, seem like the passing cloud.
—Confucius, c. 350 BCNature has planted in our minds an insatiable desire to seek the truth.
—Marcus Tullius Cicero, 45 BCI have loved the stars too truly to be fearful of the night.
—Sarah Williams, 1868I am an old scholar, better-looking now than when I was young. That’s what sitting on your ass does to your face.
—Leonard Cohen, 1970Can you draw sweet water from a foul well?
—Brooks Atkinson, 1940The waters are nature’s storehouse, in which she locks up her wonders.
—Izaak Walton, 1653Real friends offer both hard truths and soft landings.
—Anna Quindlen, 2012There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy’s life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.
—Mark Twain, 1876The self is like an infant: given free rein, it craves to suckle.
—al-Busiri, c. 1250Childhood has no forebodings—but then, it is soothed by no memories of outlived sorrow.
—George Eliot, 1860Inventor, n. A person who makes an ingenious arrangement of wheels, levers, and springs and believes it civilization.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1911