It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard for their own interest.
—Adam Smith, 1776
Archive
Quotes
Ah! Freedom is a noble thing!
—John Barbour, 1375The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.
—Charles Darwin, 1871Football causeth fighting, brawling, contention, quarrel picking, murder, homicide and great effusion of bloode, as daily experience teacheth.
—Philip Stubbes, 1583God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.
—J.M. Barrie, 1922My 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. 1770Even members of the nobility, let alone persons of no consequence, would do well not to have children.
—Yoshida Kenko, c. 1330Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.
—Tom Robbins, 1976An exile with no home anywhere is a corpse without a grave.
—Publilius Syrus, 50 BCThe world is for thousands a freak show; the images flicker past and vanish.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1776Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in mixed company.
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 1754Business? Why, it’s very simple; business is other people’s money.
—Alexandre Dumas, 1857I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1928