By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.
—Confucius, c. 500 BC
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Quotes
A dissolute and intemperate youth hands down the body to old age in a worn-out state.
—Cicero, 44 BCMen are able to assist fortune but not to thwart her. They can weave her designs, but they cannot destroy them.
—Niccolò Machiavelli, 1531Men, my dear, are very queer animals—a mixture of horse nervousness, ass stubbornness, and camel malice.
—T. H. Huxley, 1895An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.
—George Eliot, 1866Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.
—Alexander Pope, 1709Power is so apt to be insolent, and Liberty to be saucy, that they are very seldom upon good terms.
—George Savile, c. 1690The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a star.
—Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, 1825Animals are such agreeable friends—they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.
—George Eliot, 1857The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1774’Tis the sport to have the engineer / Hoist with his own petard.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1600No woman needs intercourse; few women escape it.
—Andrea Dworkin, 1978This is Year Zero.
—Pol Pot, 1975