The physician should look upon the patient as a besieged city and try to rescue him with every means that art and science place at his command.
—Alexander of Tralles, c. 600
Archive
Quotes
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1903Superstitions are habits rather than beliefs.
—Marlene Dietrich, 1962Misfortune, n. The kind of fortune that never misses.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906To live outside the law you must be honest.
—Bob Dylan, 1966We should always presume the disease to be curable until its own nature proves it otherwise.
—Peter Mere Latham, c. 1845Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, “I would stay here and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.”
—Lisa St. Aubin de Terán, 1989I cannot live without books, but fewer will suffice where amusement, and not use, is the only future object.
—Thomas Jefferson, 1815Humiliation is the beginning of sanctification.
—John Donne, c. 1629Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906Luck, in the great game of war, is undoubtedly lord of all.
—Arthur Griffiths, 1899The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways—I to die, and you to live. Which is better, only the god knows.
—Socrates, 399 BCThe charm, one might say the genius, of memory is that it is choosy, chancy, and temperamental: it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly photographs the small boy outside, chawing a hunk of melon in the dust.
—Elizabeth Bowen, 1955