The more the pleasures of the body fade away, the greater to me is the pleasure and charm of conversation.
—Plato, c. 375 BC
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Quotes
We must confess that at present the rich predominate, but the future will be for the virtuous and ingenious.
—Jean de La Bruyère, 1688Those things are better which are perfected by nature than those which are finished by art.
—Cicero, c. 45 BCThe bathing was so delightful this morning, and Molly so pressing with me to enjoy myself, that I believe I stayed in rather too long, as since the middle of the day I have felt unreasonably tired. I shall be more careful another time, and shall not bathe tomorrow as I had before intended.
—Jane Austen, 1804Petty laws breed great crimes.
—Ouida, 1880Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.
—Arthur Schopenhauer, 1851For, say they, when cruising in an empty ship, if you can get nothing better out of the world, get a good dinner out of it, at least.
—Herman Melville, 1851The 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, 1975Some of us would be greatly astonished to learn the reasons why others respect us.
—Marquis de Vauvenargues, 1746He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.
—Francis Bacon, 1625Of all the creatures that breathe and creep on the surface of the earth, none is more to be pitied than man.
—Homer, c. 750 BCJokes are grievances.
—Marshall McLuhan, 1969Diseases are not immutable entities but dynamic social constructions that have biographies of their own.
—Robert P. Hudson, 1983