Archive

Quotes

A tremendous number of people in America work very hard at something that bores them. Even a rich man thinks he has to go down to the office everyday. Not because he likes it but because he can’t think of anything else to do.

—W.H. Auden, 1946

To make laws that man cannot and will not obey serves to bring all law into contempt.

—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1860

Lord! I wonder what fool it was that first invented kissing.

—Jonathan Swift, 1738

If you would help another man, you must do so in minute particulars.

—William Blake, 1804

I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.

—Gregory VII, c. 1085

We have to distrust each other. It is our only defense against betrayal.

—Tennessee Williams, 1953

The unknown is the largest need of the intellect.

—Emily Dickinson, 1876

Modern life is often a mechanical oppression, and liquor is the only mechanical relief.

—Ernest Hemingway, 1935

Our allotted time is the passing of a shadow.

—Book of Wisdom, c. 100 BC

Insurgents are like conquerors: they must go forward; the moment they are stopped, they are lost.

—Duke of Wellington, c. 1819

I am weary of friends, and friendships are all monsters.

—Jonathan Swift, 1710

Happiness does not dwell in herds, nor yet in gold.

—Democritus, c. 420 BC

The fear of war is worse than war itself.

—Seneca, c. 50