To be too conscious is an illness—a real thoroughgoing illness.
—Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1864
Archive
Quotes
Trade is a social act.
—John Stuart Mill, 1859I imagined it was more difficult to die.
—Louis XIV, 1715Attacks on me will do no harm, and silent contempt is the best answer to them.
—James Monroe, 1808More and more I like to take a train. I understand why the French prefer it to automobiling—it is so much more sociable, and of course these days so much more of an adventure, and the irregularity of its regularity is fascinating.
—Gertrude Stein, 1943I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.
—Catherine the Great, c. 1796A fool and water will go the way they are diverted.
—Ethiopian proverbMusic is our myth of the inner life.
—Susanne K. Langer, 1942To be sick is to enjoy monarchal prerogatives.
—Charles Lamb, 1833Enemies to me are the sauce piquant to my dish of life.
—Elsa Maxwell, 1955Kings and fools know no law.
—German proverbCarnal embrace is the practice of throwing one’s arms around a side of beef.
—Tom Stoppard, 1993Every gift has a personality—that of its giver.
—Nuruddin Farah, 1992