Freedom is not something that anybody can be given; freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be.
—James Baldwin, 1961
Archive
Quotes
A wise woman never yields by appointment. It should always be an unforeseen happiness.
—Stendhal, 1822I always think of nature as a great spectacle, somewhat resembling the opera.
—Bernard de Fontenelle, 1686I mean, why on earth (outside sickness and hangovers) aren’t people continually drunk? I want ecstasy of the mind all the time.
—Jack Kerouac, 1957He that commands the sea is at great liberty and may take as much and as little of the war as he will.
—Francis Bacon, c. 1600There is no small pleasure in sweet water.
—Ovid, c. 10Memory is like the moon, which hath its new, its full, and its wane.
—Margaret Cavendish, 1655The fox knows lots of tricks, the hedgehog only one—but it’s a winner.
—Archilochus, c. 650 BCRevolutions are not about trifles, but they are produced by trifles.
—Aristotle, c. 350 BCAll modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the state.
—Albert Camus, 1951A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch.
—Jane Austen, 1814Water is the readiest means of making friends with nature.
—Ludwig Feuerbach, 1841He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.
—Emperor Francis Joseph, c. 1850