Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury—to me these have always been contemptible. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.
—Albert Einstein, 1931
Archive
Quotes
Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.
—Shimon Peres, 1995Two things only the people anxiously desire, bread and the circus games.
—Juvenal, c. 121Football causeth fighting, brawling, contention, quarrel picking, murder, homicide and great effusion of bloode, as daily experience teacheth.
—Philip Stubbes, 1583Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.
—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BCA dead enemy always smells good.
—Aulus Vitellius, 69Just to fill the hour—that is happiness.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844If they prescribe a lot of remedies for some sickness or other, it means that the sickness is incurable.
—Anton Chekhov, 1904A college degree is a social certificate, not a proof of competence.
—Elbert Hubbard, 1911I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal.
—John Maynard Keynes, 1917The surest guide to the correctness of the path that women take is joy in the struggle. Revolution is the festival of the oppressed.
—Germaine Greer, 1970Greeting cards routinely tell us everybody deserves love. No. Everybody deserves clean water.
—Zadie Smith, 2000Some folks want their luck buttered.
—Thomas Hardy, 1886