“I think, therefore I am” is the statement of an intellectual who underrates toothaches.
—Milan Kundera, 1990
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Quotes
I imagined it was more difficult to die.
—Louis XIV, 1715I do not mean to call an elephant a vulgar animal, but if you think about him carefully, you will find that his nonvulgarity consists in such gentleness as is possible to elephantine nature—not in his insensitive hide, nor in his clumsy foot, but in the way he will lift his foot if a child lies in his way; and in his sensitive trunk, and still more sensitive mind, and capability of pique on points of honor.
—John Ruskin, 1860All men naturally hate each other. We have used concupiscence as best we can to make it serve the common good, but this is mere sham and a false image of charity, for essentially it is just hate.
—Blaise Pascal, c. 1655Love lasteth as long as the money endureth.
—William Caxton, 1476Famous, adj. Conspicuously miserable.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906The three little sentences that will get you through life. Number 1: Cover for me. Number 2: Oh, good idea, Boss! Number 3: It was like that when I got here.
—Nell Scovell, 1991Families, I hate you! Shut-in homes, closed doors, jealous possessions of happiness.
—André Gide, 1897One should always have one’s boots on and be ready to leave.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580Ocean. A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man—who has no gills.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906It would be madness, and inconsistency, to suppose that things which have never yet been performed can be performed without employing some hitherto untried means.
—Francis Bacon, 1620I'm all for bringing back the birch, but only between consenting adults.
—Gore Vidal, 1973Appearances often are deceiving.
—Aesop, c. 550 BC