Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.
—Hebrews, c. 60Quotes
The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.
—Dean Acheson, 1970As he brews, so shall he drink.
—Ben Jonson, 1598Methinks the human method of expression by sound of tongue is very elementary and ought to be substituted for some ingenious invention which should be able to give vent to at least six coherent sentences at once.
—Virginia Woolf, 1899I rather think the cinema will die. Look at the energy being exerted to revive it—yesterday it was color, today three dimensions. I don’t give it forty years more. Witness the decline of conversation. Only the Irish have remained incomparable conversationalists, maybe because technical progress has passed them by.
—Orson Welles, 1953The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right.
—Judge Learned Hand, 1944Seize from every moment its unique novelty, and do not prepare your joys.
—André Gide, 1897An honest man is all right even if he’s an idiot…but a crook must have brains.
—Maxim Gorky, 1902I shall soon be six-and-twenty. Is there anything in the future that can possibly console us for not being always twenty-five?
—Lord Byron, 1813Today’s friend may be tomorrow’s foe.
—Sophocles, 440 BCThe beginning of health lies in knowing the disease.
—Miguel de Cervantes, 1615When nature is overriden, she takes her revenge.
—Marya Mannes, 1958When the abbot throws the dice, the whole convent will play.
—Martin Luther, c. 1540