The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletariat to the level of bourgeois stupidity.
—Gustave Flaubert, 1871
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Quotes
Fame is but the empty noise of madmen.
—Epictetus, c. 100Being a star has made it possible for me to get insulted in places where the average Negro could never hope to go and get insulted.
—Sammy Davis Jr., 1965Hatred of domestic work is a natural and admirable result of civilization.
—Rebecca West, 1912If I had no duties, and no reference to futurity, I would spend my life in driving briskly in a post-chaise with a pretty woman.
—Samuel Johnson, 1777It’s your business when your neighbor’s wall is in flames.
—Horace, 19 BCThe sleep of reason produces monsters.
—Francisco Goya, 1799God is alive. Magic is afoot.
—Leonard Cohen, 1966Worry over what has not occurred is a serious malady.
—Solomon ibn Gabirol, 1050Now there is fame! Of all—hunger, misery, the incomprehension by the public—fame is by far the worst. It is the castigation by God of the artist. It is sad. It is true.
—Pablo Picasso, c. 1961The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.
—Tacitus, c. 117As he brews, so shall he drink.
—Ben Jonson, 1598It is a luxury to be understood.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1831