Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in mixed company.
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 1754
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Quotes
There are two times in a man’s life when he should not speculate: when he can’t afford it, and when he can.
—Mark Twain, 1897Some of us would be greatly astonished to learn the reasons why others respect us.
—Marquis de Vauvenargues, 1746Education—a debt due from present to future generations.
—George Peabody, 1852The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
—Oscar Wilde, 1891I always think of nature as a great spectacle, somewhat resembling the opera.
—Bernard de Fontenelle, 1686If the heavens were all parchment, and the trees of the forest all pens, and every human being were a scribe, it would still be impossible to record all that I have learned from my teachers.
—Jochanan ben Zakkai, c. 75Spies are of no use nowadays. Their profession is over. The newspapers do their work instead.
—Oscar Wilde, 1895Appearances often are deceiving.
—Aesop, c. 550 BCA true German can’t stand the French, / Yet willingly he drinks their wines.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1832This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.
—Abraham Lincoln, 1861I have always been of the mind that in a democracy, manners are the only effective weapons against the bowie knife.
—James Russell Lowell, 1873The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.
—Dean Acheson, 1970