I proclaim night more truthful than the day.
—Léopold Sédar Senghor, 1956
Archive
Quotes
In settling an island, the first building erected by a Spaniard will be a church, by a Frenchman a fort, by a Dutchman a warehouse, and by an Englishman an alehouse.
—Francis Grose, 1787When arms speak, the laws are silent.
—Cicero, 52 BCLuck takes the step that no one sees.
—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BCThe first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.
—Dean Acheson, 1970The sea receives us in a proper way only when we are without clothes.
—Pliny the Elder, 77By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.
—Confucius, c. 500 BCThese landscapes of water and reflection have become an obsession.
—Claude Monet, 1908Do you suppose it possible to know democracy without knowing the people?
—Xenophon, c. 370 BCYou may drive out nature with a pitchfork, yet she’ll be constantly running back.
—Horace, 20 BCAbstainer, n. A weak man who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906It is more blessed to give than to receive.
—Acts of the Apostles, c. 80He who is afraid of his own memories is cowardly, really cowardly.
—Elias Canetti, 1954