The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.
—Edward O. Wilson, 2009
Archive
Quotes
The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.
—John Locke, 1695A true German can’t stand the French, / Yet willingly he drinks their wines.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1832War is sweet to those who don’t know it.
—Erasmus, 1508The best quarantine is hygiene.
—Richard D. Arnold, 1871We have to ask ourselves whether medicine is to remain a humanitarian and respected profession or a new but depersonalized science in the service of prolonging life rather than diminishing human suffering.
—Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 1969Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, “I would stay here and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.”
—Lisa St. Aubin de Terán, 1989What one knows is, in youth, of little moment; they know enough who know how to learn.
—Henry Adams, 1907Moderation in all things.
—Terence, 166 BCTo achieve harmony in bad taste is the height of elegance.
—Jean Genet, 1949Music melts all the separate parts of our bodies together.
—Anaïs Nin, 1939Conjecturing a Climate
Of unsuspended Suns –
Adds poignancy to Winter
Reminiscences make one feel so deliciously aged and sad.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1886