Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.
—Mark Twain, 1893
Archive
Quotes
I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.
—George Borrow, 1843I mean, why on earth (outside sickness and hangovers) aren’t people continually drunk? I want ecstasy of the mind all the time.
—Jack Kerouac, 1957As he brews, so shall he drink.
—Ben Jonson, 1598A functioning police state needs no police.
—William S. Burroughs, 1959Fear has a smell, as love does.
—Margaret Atwood, 1972Newspapers always excite curiosity. No one ever lays one down without a feeling of disappointment.
—Charles Lamb, 1833He who treats another human being as divine thereby assigns to himself the relative status of a child or an animal.
—E. R. Dodds, 1951I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.
—Catherine the Great, c. 1796Unexemplary words and unfounded doctrines are avoided by the noble person. Why utter them?
—Dong Zhongshu, c. 120 BCThere will always be a lost dog somewhere that will prevent me from being happy.
—Jean Anouilh, 1934Knowledge is an ancient error reflecting on its youth.
—Francis Picabia, 1949Good or ill fortune is very little at our disposal.
—David Hume, 1742