Even members of the nobility, let alone persons of no consequence, would do well not to have children.
—Yoshida Kenko, c. 1330
Archive
Quotes
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
—Mark Twain, 1894Give me chastity and continence, but not just now.
—Saint Augustine, 397Every gift has a personality—that of its giver.
—Nuruddin Farah, 1992A dissolute and intemperate youth hands down the body to old age in a worn-out state.
—Cicero, 44 BCIt is impossible to please all the world and one’s father.
—Jean de La Fontaine, 1668Law makes long spokes of the short stakes of men.
—William Empson, 1928It is impossible to live pleasurably without living wisely, well, and justly, and impossible to live wisely, well, and justly without living pleasurably.
—Epicurus, c. 300 BCAll God’s children are not beautiful. Most of God’s children are, in fact, barely presentable.
—Fran Lebowitz, 1978Nature is the art of God.
—Thomas Browne, 1635Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again.
—Willa Cather, 1918There’s hope a great man’s memory may outlive his life half a year.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1600A tree’s a tree. How many more do you need to look at?
—Ronald Reagan, 1965