Fate leads the willing and drags along those who hang back.
—Cleanthes, c. 250 BC
Archive
Quotes
It is not right for a ruler who has the nation in his charge, a man with so much on his mind, to sleep all night.
—Homer, c. 750 BCMen have an extraordinarily erroneous opinion of their position in nature; and the error is ineradicable.
—W. Somerset Maugham, 1896I look for the end of the future, but it never ceases to arrive.
—Zhuangzi, c. 325 BCWhen a man dies, and his kin are glad of it, they say, “He is better off.”
—Edgar Watson Howe, 1911Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.
—Socrates, c. 430 BCTo teach is to learn twice over.
—Joseph Joubert, c. 1805Appearances often are deceiving.
—Aesop, c. 550 BCAnd to our age’s drowsy blood / Still shouts the inspiring sea.
—James Russell Lowell, 1848They are trying to make me into a fixed star. I am an irregular planet.
—Martin Luther, c. 1530No wise man ever wished to be younger.
—Jonathan Swift, 1706True friendship withstands time, distance, and silence.
—Isabel Allende, 2000Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.
—Arthur Miller, 2001