They say that gifts persuade even the gods.
—Euripides, 431 BC
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Quotes
It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.
—Francis Bacon, 1625As the saying goes, an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb.
—Chinua Achebe, 1958Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.
—William Shakespeare, 1603Happiness does not dwell in herds, nor yet in gold.
—Democritus, c. 420 BCThere is a kind of revolution of so general a character that it changes the mental tastes as well as the fortunes of the world.
—La Rochefoucauld, 1665The world owes all its onward impulses to men ill at ease. The happy man inevitably confines himself within ancient limits.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a god.
—Jean Rostand, 1939He laughs best who laughs last.
—French proverbIt is shameful and inhuman to treat men like chattels to make money by, or to regard them merely as so much muscle or physical power.
—Pope Leo XIII, 1891God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on trying other things.
—Pablo Picasso, 1964In my dreams I sleep with everybody.
—Anaïs Nin, 1933Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth but not its twin.
—Barbara Kingsolver, 1990