If I lose at play, I blaspheme, and if my fellow loses, he blasphemes. So that God is always sure to be the loser.
—John Donne, 1623
Archive
Quotes
It is impossible to translate the poets. Can you translate music?
—Voltaire, c. 1732Often an entire city has suffered because of an evil man.
—Hesiod, c. 700 BCThis is a fault common to all singers, that among their friends they will never sing when they are asked; unasked, they will never desist.
—Horace, c. 35 BCThe main object of a revolution is the liberation of man, not the interpretation and application of some transcendental ideology.
—Jean Genet, 1983Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all.
—Aristotle, c. 350 BCTrade’s proud empire hastes to swift decay.
—Oliver Goldsmith, 1770A woman’s greatest glory is to be little talked about by men, whether for good or ill.
—Pericles, c. 450 BCAll water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.
—Toni Morrison, 1987I have a terrible memory; I never forget a thing.
—Edith Konecky, 1976Physician, heal yourself: thus you help your patient too. Let his best help be to see with his own eyes the man who makes himself well.
—Friedrich Nietzsche, c. 1884Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in mixed company.
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 1754Art is a jealous mistress, and if a man have a genius for painting, poetry, music, architecture, or philosophy, he makes a bad husband and an ill provider.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1860