Archive

Quotes

Any serious attempt to do anything worthwhile is ritualistic.

—Derek Walcott, 1986

Everything is a miracle. It is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one’s bath like a lump of sugar.

—Pablo Picasso, 1929

In the society of men, the truth resides now less in what things are than in what they are not. Our social realities are so ugly if seen in the light of exiled truth, and beauty is almost no longer possible if it is not a lie.

—R.D. Laing, 1967

Appearances often are deceiving.

—Aesop, c. 550 BC

On no other stage are the scenes shifted with a swiftness so like magic as on the great stage of history when once the hour strikes.

—Edward Bellamy, 1888

The subconscious is ceaselessly murmuring, and it is by listening to these murmurs that one hears the truth.

—Gaston Bachelard, 1960

Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you, because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.

—Roald Dahl, 1990

The fact is certain because it is impossible.

—Tertullian, c. 200

Men willingly believe what they wish.

—Julius Caesar, c. 50 BC

Once something becomes discernible, or understandable, we no longer need to repeat it. We can destroy it.

—Robert Wilson, 1991

To ensure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough; a police force is needed as well.

—Albert Camus, 1951

Egypt was the mother of magicians.

—Clement of Alexandria, c. 200

I shall curse you with book and bell and candle.

—Thomas Malory, c. 1470