We must consider that we shall be a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.
—John Winthrop, 1630
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Quotes
The play is the tragedy “Man,” And its hero the conqueror worm.
—Edgar Allan Poe, 1843The slander of some people is as great a recommendation as the praise of others.
—Henry Fielding, 1730By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.
—Confucius, c. 500 BCDespotism achieves great things illegally; democracy doesn’t even take the trouble to achieve small things legally.
—Honoré de Balzac, 1831When law can do no right,
Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong.
Sex is more exciting on the screen and between the pages than between the sheets.
—Andy Warhol, 1975We must confess that at present the rich predominate, but the future will be for the virtuous and ingenious.
—Jean de La Bruyère, 1688Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.
—Kate Moss, 2009The state dictates and coerces; religion teaches and persuades. The state enacts laws; religion gives commandments. The state is armed with physical force and makes use of it if need be; the force of religion is love and benevolence.
—Moses Mendelssohn, 1783Is it only the mouth and belly which are injured by hunger and thirst? Men’s minds are also injured by them.
—Mencius, 300 BCThey are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.
—Francis Bacon, 1605I'm all for bringing back the birch, but only between consenting adults.
—Gore Vidal, 1973