People commonly travel the world over to see rivers and mountains, new stars, garish birds, freak fish, grotesque breeds of human; they fall into an animal stupor that gapes at existence, and they think they have seen something.
—Søren Kierkegaard, 1843
Archive
Quotes
Before the earth could become an industrial garbage can, it had first to become a research laboratory.
—Theodore Roszak, 1972A regime which combines perpetual surveillance with total indulgence is hardly conducive to healthy development.
—P.D. James, 1992Death from the bubonic plague is rated, with crucifixion, among the nastiest human experiences of all.
—Guy R. Williams, 1975Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need—a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.
—Jerome K. Jerome, 1889I went [to war] because I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want the glory or the pay; I wanted the right thing done.
—Louisa May Alcott, 1863No one’s serious at seventeen.
—Arthur Rimbaud, 1870Sex: in America, an obsession; in other parts of the world, a fact.
—Marlene Dietrich, 1962Family! Thou art the home of all social evil, a charitable institution for comfortable women, an anchorage for house-fathers, and a hell for children.
—August Strindberg, 1886Memory is necessary for all operations of reasoning.
—Blaise Pascal, c. 1658Fear is a poor guarantor of a long life.
—Marcus Tullius Cicero, 44The pleasure we hold in esteem for the course of our lives ought to have a greater share of our time dedicated to it; we should refuse no occasion nor omit any opportunity of drinking, and always have it in our minds.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us all without words?
—Marcel Marceau, 1958