There 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
Archive
Quotes
It is noble to die before doing anything that deserves death.
—Anaxandrides, c. 376Real friends offer both hard truths and soft landings.
—Anna Quindlen, 2012I love everyone now that I have gray hair.
—Polatkin, c. 1855More pernicious nonsense was never devised by man than treaties of commerce.
—Benjamin Disraeli, 1880Just as language no longer has anything in common with the thing it names, so the movements of most of the people who live in cities have lost their connection with the earth; they hang, as it were, in the air, hover in all directions, and find no place where they can settle.
—Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903Unfortunately, humanitarianism has been the mark of an inhuman time.
—G.K. Chesterton, 1932We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.
—D.H. Lawrence, 1928The right to the pursuit of happiness is nothing else than the right to disillusionment phrased in another way.
—Aldous Huxley, 1956I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.
—Catherine the Great, c. 1796In America, everybody is, but some are more than others.
—Gertrude Stein, 1937Every gift has a personality—that of its giver.
—Nuruddin Farah, 1992An electoral choice of ten different fascists is like choosing which way one wishes to die.
—George Jackson, 1971