All law is of necessity defective in the beginning.
—Han Yu, c. 800
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Quotes
Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.
—W.H. Auden, 1957He who would have clear water should go to the fountainhead.
—Italian proverbHe who has nothing has no friends.
—Greek proverbI think we are inexterminable, like flies and bedbugs.
—Robert Frost, 1959The severity of a teacher is better than the love of a father.
—Saadi, 1258I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”
—Book of Ecclesiastes, 225 BCMany are the wonders of the world, and none so wonderful as man.
—Sophocles, c. 441 BCI cannot bear a parent’s tears.
—Virgil, c. 25 BCEducation is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
—B.F. Skinner, 1964When a man dies, and his kin are glad of it, they say, “He is better off.”
—Edgar Watson Howe, 1911I have loved war too well.
—Louis XIV, 1715My own experience is that a certain kind of genius among students is best brought out in bed.
—Allen Ginsberg, 1981