How can we bear misfortune most easily? If we see our enemies faring worse.
—Thales of Miletus, c. 585 BC
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Quotes
I began revolution with eighty-two men. If I had to do it again, I do it with ten or fifteen and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action.
—Fidel Castro, 1959
Of all objects that I have ever seen, there is none which affects my imagination so much as the sea or ocean. A troubled ocean, to a man who sails upon it, is, I think, the biggest object that he can see in motion, and consequently gives his imagination one of the highest kinds of pleasure that can arise from greatness.
—Joseph Addison, 1712The most fitting occupation for a civilized man is to do nothing.
—Théophile Gautier, c. 1835Nothing is so much to be shunned as sex relations.
—Saint Augustine, c. 387I’ve been on more laps than a napkin.
—Mae WestWater, thou hast no taste, no color, no odor; canst not be defined, art relished while ever mysterious.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1939Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
—George Washington, 1796The law looks at no one’s face.
—Gabriel Okara, 1964To put one’s trust in God is only a longer way of saying that one will chance it.
—Samuel Butler, c. 1890If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.
—Margaret Atwood, 2005Man punishes the action, but God the intention.
—Thomas Fuller, 1732What is the city but the people?
—William Shakespeare, 1608