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Quotes

I cannot but bless the memory of Julius Caesar, for the great esteem he expressed for fat men and his aversion to lean ones.

—David Hume, 1751

Why has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

—Alexander Hamilton, 1787

Show me someone who never gossips, and I’ll show you someone who isn’t interested in people.

—Barbara Walters, 1975

To teach is to learn twice over.

—Joseph Joubert, c. 1805

I count myself in nothing else so happy / As in a soul remembering my good friends.

—William Shakespeare, c. 1595

Too many people have decided to do without generosity in order to practice charity.

—Albert Camus, 1956

In dealing with the dead, if we treat them as if they were entirely dead, that would show a want of affection and should not be done; or, if we treat them as if they were entirely alive, that would show a want of wisdom and should not be done.

—Confucius, c. 500 BC

Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.

—George Bernard Shaw, 1903

Flesh was the reason why oil painting was invented.

—Willem de Kooning, 1949

The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.

—Steve Biko, 1971

Once something becomes discernible, or understandable, we no longer need to repeat it. We can destroy it.

—Robert Wilson, 1991

Revolution begins in putting on bright colors.

—Tennessee Williams, 1944

The newspaper is the natural enemy of the book, as the whore is of the decent woman.

—Edmond and Jules de Goncourt, 1858