Many need no other provocation to enmity than that they find themselves excelled.
—Samuel Johnson, 1751
Archive
Quotes
The god of music dwelleth out of doors.
—Edith M. Thomas, 1887“Work” does not exist in a nonliterate world. The primitive hunter or fisherman did no work, any more than does the poet, painter, or thinker of today. Where the whole man is involved there is no work.
—Marshall McLuhan, 1964Revolutions are celebrated when they are no longer dangerous.
—Pierre Boulez, 1989A dissolute and intemperate youth hands down the body to old age in a worn-out state.
—Cicero, 44 BCIt’s the educated barbarian who is the worst: he knows what to destroy.
—Helen MacInnes, 1963Africa has her mysteries, and even a wise man cannot understand them. But a wise man respects them.
—Miriam Makeba, 1988If law and justice do not attain their ends, the people will be unable to move hand or foot.
—Confucius, c. 500Time will reveal everything. It is a babbler and speaks even when not asked.
—Euripides, c. 425 BCWatch with glittering eyes the whole world around you, because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.
—Roald Dahl, 1990Only the little people pay taxes.
—Leona Helmsley, 1989That sweet bondage which is freedom’s self.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1813Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead.
—William Blake, c. 1790