As peace is of all goodness, so war is an emblem, a hieroglyphic, of all misery.
—John Donne, 1622
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Quotes
The misfortune of the man of color is having been enslaved. The misfortune and inhumanity of the white man are having killed man somewhere.
—Frantz Fanon, 1952Brains are the only things worth having in this world.
—L. Frank Baum, 1899Take back your golden fiddles, and we’ll beat to open sea.
—Rudyard Kipling, 1892I find the pain of a little censure, even when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure of much praise.
—Thomas Jefferson, 1789Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
—Oscar Wilde, 1890In the society of men, the truth resides now less in what things are than in what they are not. Our social realities are so ugly if seen in the light of exiled truth, and beauty is almost no longer possible if it is not a lie.
—R.D. Laing, 1967The important thing, I think, is not to be bitter. You know, if it turns out that there is a God, I don’t think that he’s evil. I think that the worst thing you could say about him is that basically he’s an underachiever. After all, you know, there are worse things in life than death.
—Woody Allen, 1975To love a woman who scorns you is to lick honey from a thorn.
—Welsh proverbThe country only has charms for those not obliged to stay there.
—Édouard Manet, c. 1860We cannot say what the woman might be physically, if the girl were not allowed all the freedom of the boy in romping, climbing, swimming, playing whoop and ball.
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1848The greatest veneration one can show the law is to keep a watch on it.
—Nadine Gordimer, 1971If you wish to avoid foreign collision, you had better abandon the ocean.
—Henry Clay, 1812