A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch.
—Jane Austen, 1814
Archive
Quotes
A passion for horses, players, and gladiators seems to be the epidemic folly of the times. The child receives it in his mother’s womb; he brings it with him into the world, and in a mind so possessed, what room for science, or any generous purpose?
—Tacitus, c. 100Envy is the basis of democracy.
—Bertrand Russell, 1930Machines seem to sense that I am afraid of them. It makes them hostile.
—Sharyn McCrumb, 1990To put one’s trust in God is only a longer way of saying that one will chance it.
—Samuel Butler, c. 1890Whatever the apparent cause of any riots may be, the real one is always want of happiness.
—Thomas Paine, 1792Money speaks sense in a language all nations understand.
—Aphra Behn, 1677We are as near to heaven by sea as by land!
—Humphrey Gilbert, 1583New things are always ugly.
—Willa Cather, 1921What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.
—Henry David Thoreau, 1850I have been ever of the opinion that revolutions are not to be evaded.
—Benjamin Disraeli, 1844It is hard when nature does not respect your intentions, and she never does exactly respect them.
—Wendell Berry, 1985Fear is a poor guarantor of a long life.
—Marcus Tullius Cicero, 44