Jokes are grievances.
—Marshall McLuhan, 1969Quotes
For what do we live but to make sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn?
—Jane Austen, 1813Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact.
—Bertrand Russell, 1930I proclaim night more truthful than the day.
—Léopold Sédar Senghor, 1956One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy.
—E.B. White, 1977They say, “We only have the life of this world. We die and we live, and nothing destroys us but time.” Yet, not true knowledge have they of this—only belief.
—The Qur’an, c. 620In every man is a wild beast; most of them don’t know how to hold it back, and the majority give it full rein when they are not restrained by terror of law.
—Frederick the Great, 1759Better a thousand enemies outside the house than one inside.
—Arabic proverbWe all have a contract with the public—in us they see themselves, or what they would like to be.
—Clark Gable, 1935There is a demon who puts wings on certain tales and launches them like eagles out into space.
—Alexandre Dumas, 1846Reading is learning, but applying is also learning and the more important kind of learning at that.
—Mao Zedong, 1936Nature contains no one constant form.
—Paul-Henri Dietrich d’Holbach, 1770Music today is nothing more than the art of performing difficult pieces.
—Voltaire, 1759