Music sweeps by me as a messenger / Carrying a message that is not for me.
—George Eliot, 1868Quotes
Nationalism is an infantile disease, the measles of mankind.
—Albert Einstein, 1929As far as I can see, the history of experimental art in the twentieth century is intimately bound up with the experience of intoxification.
—Will Self, 1994The spirit of revolution, the spirit of insurrection, is a spirit radically opposed to liberty.
—François Guizot, 1830No nation was ever ruined by trade.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1774Who sees all beings in his own self, and his own self in all beings, loses all fear.
—The Upanishads, c. 800 BCAll attempts to adapt our ethical code to our situation in the technological age have failed.
—Max Born, 1968God sells us all things at the price of labor.
—Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1500Drive out nature with a pitchfork, and she will always come back.
—Horace, c. 25 BCOne great reason why many children abandon themselves wholly to silly sports and trifle away all their time insipidly is because they have found their curiosity baulked and their inquiries neglected.
—John Locke, 1693Alongside all swindlers the state now stands there as swindler-in-chief.
—Jacob Burckhardt, c. 1875Written 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 BCPeace is a natural effect of trade.
—Montesquieu, 1748