Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.
—Anatole France, 1881Quotes
Being a star has made it possible for me to get insulted in places where the average Negro could never hope to go and get insulted.
—Sammy Davis Jr., 1965Good fortune is light as a feather, but nobody knows how to hold it up. Misfortune is heavy as the earth, but nobody knows how to stay out of its way.
—Zhuangzi, c. 300 BCIn large states public education will always be mediocre, for the same reason that in large kitchens the cooking is usually bad.
—Friedrich Nietzsche, 1878I care. I care about it all. It takes too much energy not to care.
—Lorraine Hansberry, 1965What is death? A scary mask. Take it off—see, it doesn’t bite.
—Epictetus, c. 110When you drink water, think of its source.
—Chinese proverbJournalists belong in the gutter, because that is where the ruling classes throw their guilty secrets.
—Gerald Priestland, 1988By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.
—Confucius, c. 500 BCMake human nature your study wherever you reside—whatever the religion or the complexion, study their hearts.
—Ignatius Sancho, 1778Time, when it is left to itself and no definite demands are made on it, cannot be trusted to move at any recognized pace. Usually it loiters, but just when one has come to count upon its slowness, it may suddenly break into a wild irrational gallop.
—Edith Wharton, 1905Great cities must ever be centers of light and darkness, the home of the best and the worst of our race, holding within themselves the highest talent for good and evil.
—Matthew Hale Smith, 1868To know intense joy without a strong bodily frame, one must have an enthusiastic soul.
—George Eliot, 1872