Such then is the human state, that to wish greatness for one’s country is to wish harm to one’s neighbors.
—Voltaire, 1764
Archive
Quotes
I imagine that one of the first forms of behavior, like one of the first signals, may be reduced to this: “Keep me warm.”
—Michel Serres, 1982Fear is the foundation of most governments.
—John Adams, 1776It is wretched business to be digging a well just as you’re dying of thirst.
—Plautus, c. 193 BCThe world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
—Saint Augustine, c. 390By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.
—Confucius, c. 500 BCMost vegetarians I ever saw looked enough like their food to be classed as cannibals.
—Finley Peter Dunne, 1900It belongs to a nobleman to weep in an hour of disaster.
—Euripides, 412 BCTrade is a social act.
—John Stuart Mill, 1859Eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, eight hours for what we will.
—Slogan of the National Labor Union of the United States, 1866Music today is nothing more than the art of performing difficult pieces.
—Voltaire, 1759The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.
—Donald Barthelme, 1964There are some who, if a cat accidentally comes into the room, though they neither see it nor are told of it, will presently be in a sweat and ready to die away.
—Increase Mather, 1684