Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.
—Denis Diderot, 1774
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Quotes
One of the animals which a generous and sociable man would soonest become is a dog. A dog can have a friend; he has affections and character; he can enjoy equally the field and the fireside; he dreams, he caresses, he propitiates; he offends and is pardoned; he stands by you in adversity; he is a good fellow.
—Leigh Hunt, 1834Disease makes men more physical, it leaves them nothing but body.
—Thomas Mann, 1924A monument is money wasted. My memory will live on if my life has deserved it.
—Pliny the Younger, c. 109The most may err as grossly as the few.
—John Dryden, 1681At the bottom of enmity between strangers lies indifference.
—Søren Kierkegaard, 1850The happy ending is our national belief.
—Mary McCarthy, 1947We possess art lest we perish of the truth.
—Friedrich Nietzsche, 1887It is noble to die before doing anything that deserves death.
—Anaxandrides, c. 376Doctors don’t know everything really. They understand matter, not spirit. And you and I live in spirit.
—William Saroyan, 1943Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1776Appearances are a glimpse of the obscure.
—Anaxagoras, c. 450 BCIn 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