I have been a stranger here in my own land all my life.
—Sophocles, c. 441 BC
Archive
Quotes
Let him who desires peace prepare for war.
—Vegetius, c. 385New things are always ugly.
—Willa Cather, 1921God is alive. Magic is afoot.
—Leonard Cohen, 1966That sweet bondage which is freedom’s self.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1813An honest man is all right even if he’s an idiot…but a crook must have brains.
—Maxim Gorky, 1902Hang work! I wish that all the year were holiday; I am sure that Indolence—indefeasible Indolence—is the true state of man.
—Charles Lamb, 1805The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.
—Dean Acheson, 1970Drinking with women is as unnatural as scolding with ’em.
—William Wycherley, 1675Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.
—Shimon Peres, 1995My ideas are clear. My orders are precise. Within five years, Rome must appear marvelous to all the people of the world—vast, orderly, powerful, as in the time of the empire of Augustus.
—Benito Mussolini, 1929From hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.
—Herman Melville, 1851It is wretched business to be digging a well just as you’re dying of thirst.
—Plautus, c. 193 BC