Archive

Quotes

Commerce tends to wear off those prejudices which maintain distinction and animosity between nations.

—William Robertson, 1769

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

—Laozi, c. 500 BC

Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve and from which he cannot escape.

—Erich Fromm, 1947

Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost.

—Robert Southey, 1809

Better no law than no law enforced.

—Danish proverb

There is no blindness more insidious, more fatal, than this race for profit.

—Helen Keller, 1928

A world is sooner destroyed than made.

—Thomas Burnet, 1684

The tune I remember, could I but keep the words.

—Virgil, 38 BC

It is more blessed to give than to receive.

—Acts of the Apostles, c. 80

Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It’s what separates us from the animals—except the weasel.

—The Simpsons, 1993

Have you ever, looking up, seen a cloud like to a centaur, a leopard, a wolf, or a bull?

—Aristophanes, 423 BC

The merchant always has fresh losses to expect, and the dread of base poverty forbids his rest.

—Decimus Magnus Ausonius, c. 390

Drunkenness is the very sepulcher / Of man’s wit and his discretion.

—Geoffrey Chaucer, c. 1390