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Quotes

France has neither winter, summer, nor morals—apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country.

—Mark Twain, 1879

Some of us would be greatly astonished to learn the reasons why others respect us.

—Marquis de Vauvenargues, 1746

In settling an island, the first building erected by a Spaniard will be a church, by a Frenchman a fort, by a Dutchman a warehouse, and by an Englishman an alehouse.

—Francis Grose, 1787

Strangers are an endangered species.

—Adrienne Rich, 1980

Many need no other provocation to enmity than that they find themselves excelled.

—Samuel Johnson, 1751

When you name yourself, you always name another.

—Bertolt Brecht, 1926

There is no foreign land; it is the traveler only that is foreign.

—Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883

Nothing is more narrow-minded than chauvinism or racial hatred. To me all men are equal; there are flatheads everywhere and I despise them all equally.

—Karl Kraus, 1909

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

—Hebrews, c. 60

If you wish to avoid foreign collision, you had better abandon the ocean.

—Henry Clay, 1812

Intolerance is evidence of impotence.

—Aleister Crowley, c. 1925

It’s good to remember that in crises, natural crises, human beings forget for a while their ignorances, their biases, their prejudices. For a little while, neighbors help neighbors and strangers help strangers.

—Maya Angelou, 2011
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