Fame is but the empty noise of madmen.
—Epictetus, c. 100
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Quotes
He who is afraid of his own memories is cowardly, really cowardly.
—Elias Canetti, 1954It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard for their own interest.
—Adam Smith, 1776Reading is learning, but applying is also learning and the more important kind of learning at that.
—Mao Zedong, 1936Friends are ourselves.
—John Donne, 1603This is a fault common to all singers, that among their friends they will never sing when they are asked; unasked, they will never desist.
—Horace, c. 35 BCAll the married heiresses I have known have shipwrecked.
—Benjamin Disraeli, 1880What can you conceive more silly and extravagant than to suppose a man racking his brains and studying night and day how to fly?
—William Law, 1728The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other.
—Mario Puzo, 2001Why listen to me? I can only predict epidemics and plagues.
—Larry Kramer, 1992The passion for setting people right is in itself an afflictive disease.
—Marianne Moore, 1935What keeps the democracy alive at all but the hatred of excellence, the desire of the base to see no head higher than their own?
—Mary Renault, 1956Among all nations, through the darkest polytheism glimmer some faint sparks of monotheism.
—Immanuel Kant, 1781