Epitaph, n. An inscription on a tomb, showing that virtues acquired by death have a retroactive effect.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906Quotes
One’s friends are that part of the human race with which one can be human.
—George Santayana, c. 1914Nature contains no one constant form.
—Paul-Henri Dietrich d’Holbach, 1770One man’s loss is another man’s profit.
—Michel de Montaigne, c. 1580Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the inclination of your heart and the desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
—Book of Ecclesiastes, c. 200 BCWhere happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment.
—George Santayana, c. 1905You are dust, and to dust you shall return.
—Book of Genesis, c. 800 BCThe traveler with nothing on him sings in the robber’s face.
—Juvenal, c. 125It is hell to belong to a suppressed minority.
—Claude McKay, 1937What the brain does by itself is infinitely more fascinating and complex than any response it can make to chemical stimulation.
—Ursula K. Le Guin, 1971I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be a Catholic) how to act and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote.
—John F. Kennedy, 1960If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.
—Voltaire, 1764It is hard when nature does not respect your intentions, and she never does exactly respect them.
—Wendell Berry, 1985