Avoid the talk of men. For talk is mischievous, light, and easily raised, but hard to bear and difficult to be rid of. Talk never wholly dies away when many people voice her: even talk is in some ways divine.
—Hesiod, c. 700 BC
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Quotes
The subconscious is ceaselessly murmuring, and it is by listening to these murmurs that one hears the truth.
—Gaston Bachelard, 1960In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards.
—Mark Twain, 1897Too often, where we need water we find guns.
—Ban Ki-moon, 2008Think rich. Look poor.
—Andy Warhol, 1975The law’s made to take care o’ raskills.
—George Eliot, 1860I do love cricket—it’s so very English.
—Sarah Bernhardt, c. 1908The best augury of a man’s success in his profession is that he thinks it the finest in the world.
—George Eliot, 1876You cannot endow even the best machine with initiative; the jolliest steamroller will not plant flowers.
—Walter Lippmann, 1913I never even saw the use of the sea. Many a sad heart has it caused, and many a sick stomach has it occasioned! The boldest sailor climbs on board with a heavy soul and leaps on land with a light spirit.
—Benjamin Disraeli, 1827Guard more faithfully the secret which is confided to you than the money which is entrusted to your care.
—Isocrates, c. 370 BCThere is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580Whole nations have melted away like balls of snow before the sun.
—Dragging Canoe, 1775