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, 1787Quotes
There are chance meetings with strangers that interest us from the first moment, before a word is spoken.
—Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1866The less intelligent the white man is, the more stupid he thinks the black.
—André Gide, 1927France has neither winter, summer, nor morals—apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country.
—Mark Twain, 1879When you name yourself, you always name another.
—Bertolt Brecht, 1926The misfortune of the man of color is having been enslaved. The misfortune and inhumanity of the white man are having killed man somewhere.
—Frantz Fanon, 1952To think ill of mankind, and not wish ill to them, is perhaps the highest wisdom and virtue.
—William Hazlitt, 1823The noblest kind of retribution is not to become like your enemy.
—Marcus Aurelius, c. 175Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts, unguarded.
—The Dhammapada, c. 400 BCI do desire we may be better strangers.
—William Shakespeare, 1600To need to dominate others is to need others. The commander is dependent.
—Fernando Pessoa, c. 1935Nothing 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