An 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 BC
Archive
Quotes
No nation was ever ruined by trade.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1774O flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified!
—William Shakespeare, c. 1596The world is made of the very stuff of the body.
—Maurice Merleau-Ponty, 1961A hick town is one where there is no place to go where you shouldn’t go.
—Alexander Woollcott, c. 1935War is fear cloaked in courage.
—William Westmoreland, 1966How sad a sight is human happiness to those whose thoughts can pierce beyond an hour!
—Edward Young, 1741No man ever distinguished himself who could not bear to be laughed at.
—Maria Edgeworth, 1809Ah, there are no children nowadays.
—Molière, 1673It is a luxury to be understood.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1831My mother protected me from the world and my father threatened me with it.
—Quentin Crisp, 1968He that serves God for money will serve the Devil for better wages.
—Roger L’Estrange, 1692Death from the bubonic plague is rated, with crucifixion, among the nastiest human experiences of all.
—Guy R. Williams, 1975