I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas and land on barbarous coasts.
—Herman Melville, 1853
Archive
Quotes
The first mistake of art is to assume that it’s serious.
—Lester Bangs, 1971For most of us, nighttime dreaming brings us closer to our identities and our power than any activity in the waking world.
—Walter Mosley, 2000Friendships begin with liking or gratitude—roots that can be pulled up.
—George Eliot, 1876That which the sober man keeps in his breast, the drunken man lets out at the lips. Astute people, when they want to ascertain a man’s true character, make him drunk.
—Martin Luther, 1569It is not too much to expect that our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter.
—Lewis Strauss, 1954Some writers take to drink, others take to audiences.
—Gore Vidal, 1981There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
—Oscar Wilde, 1891Thou art not to learn the humors and tricks of that old bald cheater, time.
—Ben Jonson, 1601When you drink water, think of its source.
—Chinese proverbTime’s violence rends the soul; by the rent eternity enters.
—Simone Weil, 1947Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.
—Albert Camus, 1951Today’s friend may be tomorrow’s foe.
—Sophocles, 440 BC