Fate leads the willing and drags along those who hang back.
—Cleanthes, c. 250 BC
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Quotes
No human being is innocent, but there is a class of innocent human actions called games.
—W.H. Auden, 1962By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.
—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BCAs is the face, so is the mind.
—Roman proverbDon’t you find it a beautiful clean thought, a world empty of people, just uninterrupted grass, and a hare sitting up?
—D.H. Lawrence, 1920Bright youth passes as quickly as thought.
—Theognis, c. 550 BCThe planet keeps to the astronomer’s timetable, but the wind still bloweth almost where it listeth.
—John Henry Poynting, 1899In our family, as far as we are concerned, we were born and what happened before that is myth.
—V.S. Pritchett, 1968The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
—Thomas Jefferson, 1787Reputation, like beavers and cloaks, shall last some people twice the time of others.
—Douglas Jerrold, 1840I am not Athenian or Greek but a citizen of the world.
—Socrates, c. 420 BCTraveling is the ruin of all happiness! There’s no looking at a building here after seeing Italy.
—Fanny Burney, 1782You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.
—Leon Trotsky