Democracy forever teases us with the contrast between its ideals and its realities, between its heroic possibilities and its sorry achievements.
—Agnes Repplier, 1916
Archive
Quotes
I have often been convinced that a democracy is incapable of empire.
—Thucydides, c. 404 BCSlang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands, and goes to work.
—Carl Sandburg, 1959Envy and hatred are apt to blind the eyes and render them unable to behold things as they are.
—Margaret of Valois, c. 1600Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead.
—William Blake, c. 1790Drive out nature with a pitchfork, and she will always come back.
—Horace, c. 25 BCDon’t ever wear artistic jewelry; it wrecks a woman’s reputation.
—Colette, 1944The young always have the same problem—how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their elders and copying one another.
—Quentin Crisp, 1968Machines seem to sense that I am afraid of them. It makes them hostile.
—Sharyn McCrumb, 1990No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.
—Abraham LincolnIn every human breast, God has implanted a principle, which we call love of freedom; it is impatient of oppression and pants for deliverance.
—Phillis Wheatley, 1774As natural selection works solely by and for the good of each being, all corporeal and mental endowments will tend to progress toward perfection.
—Charles Darwin, 1859Every gift has a personality—that of its giver.
—Nuruddin Farah, 1992