Every man has a lurking wish to appear considerable in his native place.
—Samuel Johnson, 1771
Archive
Quotes
By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.
—Confucius, c. 500 BCA joke is at most a temporary rebellion against virtue, and its aim is not to degrade the human being but to remind him that he is already degraded.
—George Orwell, 1945Ours is an age which consciously pursues health, and yet only believes in the reality of sickness.
—Susan Sontag, 1963To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable.
—Oscar Wilde, 1891I look for the end of the future, but it never ceases to arrive.
—Zhuangzi, c. 325 BCA man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.
—James Joyce, 1922If not us, who? If not now, when?
—Czech slogan, 1989Many, many steeples would have to be stacked one on top of another to reach from the bottom to the surface of the sea. It is down there that the sea folk live.
—Hans Christian Andersen, 1837A friend in power is a friend lost.
—Henry Adams, 1905The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.
—Erich Fromm, 1941We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink, for dining alone is leading the life of a lion or wolf.
—Epicurus, c. 300 BCWhat is outside my mind means nothing to it.
—Marcus Aurelius, c. 170