Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.
—Arthur Schopenhauer, 1851
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Quotes
Insurrection of thought always precedes insurrection of arms.
—Wendell Phillips, 1859A crowded police court docket is the surest sign that trade is brisk and money plenty.
—Mark Twain, 1872He who travels by sea is nothing but a worm on a piece of wood, a trifle in the midst of a powerful creation. The waters play about with him at will, and no one but God can help him.
—Muhammad as-Saffar, 1846A regime which combines perpetual surveillance with total indulgence is hardly conducive to healthy development.
—P.D. James, 1992The most fitting occupation for a civilized man is to do nothing.
—Théophile Gautier, c. 1835Being offended is the natural consequence of leaving one’s home.
—Fran Lebowitz, 1981Friendship itself will not stand the strain of very much good advice for very long.
—Robert Wilson Lynd, 1924The less intelligent the white man is, the more stupid he thinks the black.
—André Gide, 1927Why is a ship under sail more poetical than a hog in a high wind? The hog is all nature, the ship is all art.
—Lord Byron, 1821In meeting again after a separation, acquaintances ask after our outward life, friends after our inner life.
—Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, 1880There was a great deal of drinking among us but little drunkenness. We all seemed to feel that Prohibition was a personal affront and that we had a moral duty to undermine it.
—Elizabeth Anderson, 1969Famous, adj. Conspicuously miserable.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906