It is easy to distinguish between the joking that reflects good breeding and that which is coarse—the one, if aired at an apposite moment of mental relaxation, is becoming in the most serious of men, whereas the other is unworthy of any free person, if the content is indecent or the expression obscene.
- Cicero, c. 44 BC
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Quotes
This 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, 1861No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.
- Abraham Lincoln,The fear of the Lord is true wisdom, and he who hath it not can in no way penetrate the true secrets of magic.
- Abraham the Jew, c. 1400It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard for their own interest.
- Adam Smith, 1776Fear is the foundation of most governments.
- John Adams, 1776I am ill every time it blows hard, and nothing but my enthusiastic love for the profession keeps me one hour at sea.
- Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1804He alone who owns the youth gains the future.
- Adolf Hitler, 1935Strangers are an endangered species.
- Adrienne Rich, 1980There is a sickness among tyrants: they cannot trust their friends.
- Aeschylus, c. 458 BCAppearances often are deceiving.
- Aesop, c. 550 BCI am sick and tired of publicity. I want no more of it. It puts me in a bad light. I just want to be forgotten.
- Al Capone, 1929All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.
- Al Smith, 1933