The elephant, although a gross beast, is yet the most decent and most sensible of any other upon earth. Although he never changes his female, and hath so tender a love for her whom he hath chosen, yet he never couples with her but at the end of every three years, and then only for the space of five days.
—St. Francis de Sales, 1609
Archive
Quotes
It is better to live unknown to the law.
—Irish proverbHow like to us is that filthy beast the ape.
—Cicero, 45 BCWho draws his sword against his prince must throw away the scabbard.
—James Howell, 1659It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.
—Francis Bacon, 1625The great difficulty lies in trying to transpose last night’s moment to a day which has no knowledge of it.
—Zora Neale Hurston, 1942We must select the illusion which appeals to our temperament and embrace it with passion if we want to be happy.
—Cyril Connolly, 1944Conjecturing a Climate
Of unsuspended Suns –
Adds poignancy to Winter
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 BCWater astonishing and difficult altogether makes a meadow and a stroke.
—Gertrude Stein, 1914The sleep of reason produces monsters.
—Francisco Goya, 1799I have often repented speaking, but never of holding my tongue.
—Xenocrates, c. 350 BCMost authors seek fame, but I seek for justice—a holier impulse than ever entered into the ambitious struggles of the votaries of that fickle, flirting goddess.
—Davy Crockett, 1834