If a man will observe as he walks the streets, I believe he will find the merriest countenances in mourning coaches.
—Jonathan Swift, 1706
Archive
Quotes
The brain is an unreliable organ, it is monstrously great, monstrously developed. Swollen, like a goiter.
—Aleksandr Blok, c. 1920A great step toward independence is a good-humored stomach, one that is willing to endure rough treatment.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 60The elephant, although a gross beast, is yet the most decent and most sensible of any other upon earth. Although he never changes his female, and hath so tender a love for her whom he hath chosen, yet he never couples with her but at the end of every three years, and then only for the space of five days.
—St. Francis de Sales, 1609Nature never breaks her own laws.
—Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1500He who would be happy should stay at home.
—Greek proverbWhen the abbot throws the dice, the whole convent will play.
—Martin Luther, c. 1540We should always presume the disease to be curable until its own nature proves it otherwise.
—Peter Mere Latham, c. 1845The state dictates and coerces; religion teaches and persuades. The state enacts laws; religion gives commandments. The state is armed with physical force and makes use of it if need be; the force of religion is love and benevolence.
—Moses Mendelssohn, 1783The 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 BCAs I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
—Abraham Lincoln, c. 1858He makes his cook his merit, and the world visits his dinners and not him.
—Molière, 1666Flesh was the reason why oil painting was invented.
—Willem de Kooning, 1949