Archive

Quotes

It is men who make a city, not walls or ships.

—Thucydides, 410 BC

Comedy, like sodomy, is an unnatural act.

—Marty Feldman, 1969

I won’t be happy till I’m as famous as God.

—Madonna, c. 1985

Other nations use “force”; we Britons alone use “might.”

—Evelyn Waugh, 1938

I have often repented speaking, but never of holding my tongue.

—Xenocrates, c. 350 BC

Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.

—William Blake, c. 1803

Let 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, 1889

One should always have one’s boots on and be ready to leave.

—Michel de Montaigne, 1580

There is something stirring in the way civilization gapes like a savage at the achievements of nature.

—Karl Kraus, 1909

Revolution can never be forecast; it cannot be foretold; it comes of itself. Revolution is brewing and is bound to flare up.

—Vladimir Lenin, 1918

I 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, 1778

Reality is always the foe of famous names.

—Petrarch, 1337

As usual, what we call “progress” is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance.

—Havelock Ellis, 1914