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Quotes

Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.

—Pericles, c. 431 BC

He that raises a large family, does indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand…a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too. 

—Benjamin Franklin, 1786

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

—Oscar Wilde, 1890

When you name yourself, you always name another.

—Bertolt Brecht, 1926

The charm, one might say the genius, of memory is that it is choosy, chancy, and temperamental: it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly photographs the small boy outside, chawing a hunk of melon in the dust.

—Elizabeth Bowen, 1955

The march of the human mind is slow.

—Edmund Burke, 1775

I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.

—Maya Angelou, 1993

Lord, I do not ask that thou shouldst give me wealth; only show me where it is, and I will attend to the rest.

—Kate Douglas Wiggin, 1898

Seize from every moment its unique novelty, and do not prepare your joys.

—André Gide, 1897

An electoral choice of ten different fascists is like choosing which way one wishes to die.

—George Jackson, 1971

Plough deep while sluggards sleep.

—Benjamin Franklin, 1758

If you must take care that your opinions do not differ in the least from those of the person with whom you are talking, you might just as well be alone.

—Yoshida Kenko, c. 1330

All God’s children are not beautiful. Most of God’s children are, in fact, barely presentable.

—Fran Lebowitz, 1978