How gloriously legible are the constellations of the heavens!
—Anthony Trollope, 1859
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Quotes
To gaze upon a drop of water is to behold the nature of all the waters of the universe.
—Huangbo Xiyun, c. 850A miracle entails a degree of irrationality—not because it shocks reason, but because it makes no appeal to it.
—Emmanuel Lévinas, 1952The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.
—Donald Barthelme, 1964No nation was ever ruined by trade.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1774To place oneself in the position of God is painful: being God is equivalent to being tortured. For being God means that one is in harmony with all that is, including the worst. The existence of the worst evils is unimaginable unless God willed them.
—Georges Bataille, 1957War has silenced all laws.
—Lucan, c. 65Night is torment. That is why people go to sleep. To avoid clear sight and torment.
—Dorothy M. Richardson, 1923He who commands the sea has command of everything.
—Francis Bacon, c. 1600When the stomach is full, it is easy to talk of fasting.
—St. Jerome, 395Jokes are grievances.
—Marshall McLuhan, 1969We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.
—Jonathan Swift, 1706Journeys, like artists, are born and not made. A thousand differing circumstances contribute to them, few of them willed or determined by the will—whatever we may think.
—Lawrence Durrell, 1957