As the saying goes, an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb.
—Chinua Achebe, 1958
Archive
Quotes
In time history must become a fairy tale—it will become again what it was in the beginning.
—Novalis, c. 1798The soul of a journey is liberty, perfect liberty, to think, feel, do just as one pleases. We go on a journey chiefly to be free of all impediments and of all inconveniences—to leave ourselves behind, much more to get rid of others.
—William Hazlitt, 1822The men of today are born to criticize; of Achilles they see only the heel.
—Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, 1880One’s friends are divided into two classes, those one knows because one must and those one knows because one mustn’t.
—Sybil Taylor, 1922Don’t hit a man at all if you can avoid it, but if you have to hit him, knock him out.
—Theodore Roosevelt, 1916This is not a clash between civilizations. It is a clash about civilization.
—Tony Blair, 2006Machines do not run in order to enable men to live, but we resign ourselves to feeding men in order that they may serve the machines.
—Simone Weil, 1934If we pretend to respect the artist at all, we must allow him his freedom of choice, in the face, in particular cases, of innumerable presumptions that the choice will not fructify. Art derives a considerable part of its beneficial exercise from flying in the face of presumptions.
—Henry James, 1884Nature contains no one constant form.
—Paul-Henri Dietrich d’Holbach, 1770The features of our face are hardly more than gestures which force of habit has made permanent.
—Marcel Proust, 1919Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.
—Charles Dickens, 1843Friend! It is a common word, often lightly used. Like other good and beautiful things, it may be tarnished by careless handling.
—Harriet Jacobs, 1861