I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark.
—Thomas Hobbes, 1679
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Quotes
Life is the art of being well deceived.
—William Hazlitt, c. 1817Man is the one name belonging to every nation upon earth: there is one soul and many tongues, one spirit and various sounds; every country has its own speech, but the subjects of speech are common to all.
—Tertullian, c. 217The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
—Wendell Berry, 1983Inventions that are not made, like babies that are not born, are rarely missed.
—John Kenneth Galbraith, 1958The surest guide to the correctness of the path that women take is joy in the struggle. Revolution is the festival of the oppressed.
—Germaine Greer, 1970The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.
—James Fenimore Cooper, 1838People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.
—Edmund Burke, 1790Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts, unguarded.
—The Dhammapada, c. 400 BCReading is learning, but applying is also learning and the more important kind of learning at that.
—Mao Zedong, 1936He that raises a large family, does indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand…a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1786Like a broken gong be still, be silent. Know the stillness of freedom where there is no more striving.
—Siddhartha Gautama, c. 500 BCIn all the ancient states and empires, those who had the shipping, had the wealth.
—William Petty, 1690