Archive

Quotes

The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children.

—Edward VIII, 1957

I was born without knowing why, I have lived without knowing why, and I am dying without either knowing why or how.

—Pierre Gassendi, 1655

Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.

—Reinhold Niebuhr, 1944

By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BC

Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands, and goes to work.

—Carl Sandburg, 1959

A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.

—George Eliot, 1876

One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.

—Oscar Wilde, 1894

Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, at a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.

—James Madison, 1794

What a man does abroad by night requires and implies more deliberate energy than what he is encouraged to do in the sunshine.

—Henry David Thoreau, 1852

If the bird does like its cage, and does like its sugar, and will not leave it, why keep the door so very carefully shut?

—Olive Schreiner, 1883

Where it is a duty to worship the sun, it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat.

—John Morley, 1872

Every man must descend into the flesh to meet mankind.

—G.K. Chesterton, 1910

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

—Aristotle, c. 330 BC