There is much difference between imitating a good man, and counterfeiting him.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1738
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Quotes
All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.
—Aristotle, c. 330 BCDemocracy forever teases us with the contrast between its ideals and its realities, between its heroic possibilities and its sorry achievements.
—Agnes Repplier, 1916More and more I like to take a train. I understand why the French prefer it to automobiling—it is so much more sociable, and of course these days so much more of an adventure, and the irregularity of its regularity is fascinating.
—Gertrude Stein, 1943The important thing, I think, is not to be bitter. You know, if it turns out that there is a God, I don’t think that he’s evil. I think that the worst thing you could say about him is that basically he’s an underachiever. After all, you know, there are worse things in life than death.
—Woody Allen, 1975Towns oftener swamp one than carry one out onto the big ocean of life.
—D.H. Lawrence, 1908Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury—to me these have always been contemptible. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.
—Albert Einstein, 1931Educate people without religion and you make them but clever devils.
—Arthur Wellesley, c. 1830When the root lives on, the new leaves come back.
—Aeschylus, c. 458 BCWhat are men anyway but balloons on legs, a lot of blown-up bladders?
—Gaius Petronius Arbiter, c. 64What is the city but the people?
—William Shakespeare, 1608Those who travel heedlessly from place to place, observing only their distance from each other and attending only to their accommodation at the inn at night, set out fools, and will certainly return so.
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 1747There is only one honest impulse at the bottom of puritanism, and that is the impulse to punish the man with a superior capacity for happiness.
—H.L. Mencken, 1920