Being a star has made it possible for me to get insulted in places where the average Negro could never hope to go and get insulted.
—Sammy Davis Jr., 1965
Archive
Quotes
There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.
—Thomas Hardy, 1874Is there no way out of the mind?
—Sylvia Plath, 1962By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.
—Confucius, c. 500 BCIn Washington, the first thing people tell you is what their job is. In Los Angeles you learn their star sign. In Houston you’re told how rich they are. And in New York they tell you what their rent is.
—Simon Hoggart, 1990A traveler’s chief aim should be to make men wiser and better, and to improve their minds by the bad—as well as good—example of what they deliver concerning foreign places.
—Jonathan Swift, 1726A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.
—Arthur Miller, 1961I am leaving the town to the invaders: increasingly numerous, mediocre, dirty, badly behaved, shameless tourists.
—Brigitte Bardot, 1989Feasts must be solemn and rare, or else they cease to be feasts.
—Aldous Huxley, 1929If you stain clear water with filth, you will never find a drink.
—Aeschylus, 458 BCOne great reason why many children abandon themselves wholly to silly sports and trifle away all their time insipidly is because they have found their curiosity baulked and their inquiries neglected.
—John Locke, 1693I went [to war] because I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want the glory or the pay; I wanted the right thing done.
—Louisa May Alcott, 1863