By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.
—Confucius, c. 500 BC
Archive
Quotes
Mammon, n. The god of the world’s leading religion. His chief temple is in the holy city of New York.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1911Even members of the nobility, let alone persons of no consequence, would do well not to have children.
—Yoshida Kenko, c. 1330I have been ever of the opinion that revolutions are not to be evaded.
—Benjamin Disraeli, 1844Is it a fact—or have I dreamed it—that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?
—Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851As usual, what we call “progress” is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance.
—Havelock Ellis, 1914When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.
—Chinese proverbA win always seems shallow: it is the loss that is so profound and suggests nasty infinities.
—E.M. Forster, 1919What can you conceive more silly and extravagant than to suppose a man racking his brains and studying night and day how to fly?
—William Law, 1728Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost.
—Robert Southey, 1809Life’s no resting, but a moving.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, c. 1795One thing alone not even God can do: to make undone whatever has been done.
—Aristotle, c. 350 BCI haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.
—Susan Sontag, 1977