Archive

Quotes

Diseases are not immutable entities but dynamic social constructions that have biographies of their own.

—Robert P. Hudson, 1983

What timid man does not avoid contact with the sick, fearing lest he contract a disease so near?

—Ovid, c. 10

The root of the kingdom is in the State. The root of the State is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its Head.

—Mencius, c. 270 BC

That which the sober man keeps in his breast, the drunken man lets out at the lips. Astute people, when they want to ascertain a man’s true character, make him drunk.

—Martin Luther, 1569

The best quarantine is hygiene.

—Richard D. Arnold, 1871

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

—Fran Lebowitz, 1978

As natural selection works solely by and for the good of each being, all corporeal and mental endowments will tend to progress toward perfection.

—Charles Darwin, 1859

Society as a whole must be converted into a gigantic school.

—Che Guevara, 1965

It is better to live unknown to the law.

—Irish proverb

All men recognize the right of revolution, that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.

—Henry David Thoreau, 1849

Pride and excess bring disaster for man.

—Xunzi, 250 BC

People will never fight for your freedom if you have not given evidence that you are prepared to fight for it yourself.

—Bayard Rustin, 1986

The past is always tense and the future, perfect.

—Zadie Smith, 2000