An old man is twice a child, and so is a drunken man.
—Plato, c. 360 BC
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Quotes
The only competition worthy a wise man is with himself.
—Anna Jameson, 1846They say that gifts persuade even the gods.
—Euripides, 431 BCIf the heavens were all parchment, and the trees of the forest all pens, and every human being were a scribe, it would still be impossible to record all that I have learned from my teachers.
—Jochanan ben Zakkai, c. 75Drive out nature with a pitchfork, and she will always come back.
—Horace, c. 25 BCThe world owes all its onward impulses to men ill at ease. The happy man inevitably confines himself within ancient limits.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851Bereavement is a darkness impenetrable to the imagination of the unbereaved.
—Iris Murdoch, 1974Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again.
—Willa Cather, 1918Those who believe in freedom of the will have never loved and never hated.
—Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, 1893The day unravels what the night has woven.
—Walter Benjamin, 1929It’s only the futility of the first flood that prevents God from sending a second.
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas Chamfort, c. 1794I’ve dreamed enough to have a drink.
—François Rabelais, 1546One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
—André Gide, 1926