To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual.
—Oscar Wilde, 1891
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Quotes
What can you conceive more silly and extravagant than to suppose a man racking his brains and studying night and day how to fly?
—William Law, 1728Alcohol is the monarch of liquids.
—Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, 1825Worry over what has not occurred is a serious malady.
—Solomon ibn Gabirol, 1050The best augury of a man’s success in his profession is that he thinks it the finest in the world.
—George Eliot, 1876On no other stage are the scenes shifted with a swiftness so like magic as on the great stage of history when once the hour strikes.
—Edward Bellamy, 1888In most cases men willingly believe what they wish.
—Julius Caesar, 52 BCNo one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.
—Bertrand Russell, 1961He who has nothing has no friends.
—Greek proverbA jest breaks no bones.
—Samuel Johnson, 1781Thought depends absolutely on the stomach, but in spite of that, those who have the best stomachs are not the best thinkers.
—Voltaire, 1770I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm’s way.
—John Paul Jones, 1778What is outside my mind means nothing to it.
—Marcus Aurelius, c. 170