When night in her rusty dungeon has imprisoned our eyesight, and that we are shut separately in our chambers from resort, the devil keeps his audit in our sin-guilty consciences.
—Thomas Nashe, 1594
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Quotes
A bad reputation is easy to come by, painful to bear, and difficult to clear.
—Hesiod, c. 700 BCHave nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.
—William Morris, 1882Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.
—Anacharsis, c. 550 BCWe must not always talk in the marketplace of what happens to us in the forest.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850I’ve been on more laps than a napkin.
—Mae WestA difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.
—George Eliot, 1876A miracle entails a degree of irrationality—not because it shocks reason, but because it makes no appeal to it.
—Emmanuel Lévinas, 1952Friendship is not possible between two women, one of whom is very well dressed.
—Laurie Colwin, 1978All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.
—Toni Morrison, 1987Sex and drugs and rock and roll.
—Ian Dury, 1977Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.
—Tom Robbins, 1976Without virtue, both riches and honor, to me, seem like the passing cloud.
—Confucius, c. 350 BC