How sad a sight is human happiness to those whose thoughts can pierce beyond an hour!
—Edward Young, 1741
Archive
Quotes
A jest breaks no bones.
—Samuel Johnson, 1781A change of fortune hurts a wise man no more than a change of the moon.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1732Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.
—Carl Sandburg, 1936As usual, what we call “progress” is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance.
—Havelock Ellis, 1914As he brews, so shall he drink.
—Ben Jonson, 1598Every country has the government it deserves.
—Joseph de Maistre, 1811I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.
—Jerome K. Jerome, 1889Don’t try to make a profit on a bad trade; just try to find the best place to get out.
—Linda Bradford Raschke, 1992It 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, 1776The period is not very remote when the benefits of a liberal and free commerce will, pretty generally, succeed to the devastations and horrors of war.
—George Washington, 1786Health indeed is a precious thing, to recover and preserve which we undergo any misery, drink bitter potions, freely give our goods—restore a man to his health, his purse lies open to thee.
—Robert Burton, 1621In every man is a wild beast; most of them don’t know how to hold it back, and the majority give it full rein when they are not restrained by terror of law.
—Frederick the Great, 1759