The Mediterranean has the colors of a mackerel, changeable I mean. You don’t always know if it is green or violet—you can’t even say it’s blue, because the next moment the changing light has taken on a tinge of pink or gray.
—Vincent van Gogh, 1888
Archive
Quotes
It is not a case we are treating; it is a living, palpitating, alas, too often suffering fellow creature.
—John Brown, 1904The beginning of health lies in knowing the disease.
—Miguel de Cervantes, 1615Writing cannot express words fully; words cannot express thoughts fully.
—The Book of Changes, c. 350 BCDo good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
—Alexander Pope, 1738Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1735Speech is the mirror of the soul; as a man speaks, so is he.
—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BCPeople will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.
—Edmund Burke, 1790Nothing is more narrow-minded than chauvinism or racial hatred. To me all men are equal; there are flatheads everywhere and I despise them all equally.
—Karl Kraus, 1909O, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man’s eyes.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1599It 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, 1776We are as near to heaven by sea as by land!
—Humphrey Gilbert, 1583Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
—George Washington, 1796