Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.
—Rosa Luxemburg, 1918
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Quotes
A mind lively and at ease can do with seeing nothing, and can see nothing that does not answer.
—Jane Austen, 1815What is death? A scary mask. Take it off—see, it doesn’t bite.
—Epictetus, c. 110There 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, 1920Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands, and goes to work.
—Carl Sandburg, 1959Never greet a stranger in the night, for he may be a demon.
—Babylonian Talmud, c. 600Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, “I would stay here and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.”
—Lisa St. Aubin de Terán, 1989Fame is no sanctuary from the passing of youth. Suicide is much easier and more acceptable in Hollywood than growing old gracefully.
—Julie Burchill, 1986Charity is murder and you know it.
—Dorothy Parker, 1956An irreligious man is not one who denies the gods of the majority, but one who applies to the gods the opinions of the majority. For what most men say about the gods are not ideas derived from sensation, but false opinions, according to which the greatest evils come to the wicked, and the greatest blessings come to the good from the gods.
—Epicurus, c. 250 BCThe seeds of civilization are in every culture, but it is city life that brings them to fruition.
—Susanne K. Langer, 1962A person who sees only fashion in fashion is a fool.
—Honoré de Balzac, 1830Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.
—Francis Bacon, 1625