I am a friend of the workingman, and I would rather be his friend than be one.
—Clarence Darrow, 1932
Archive
Quotes
Superstitions are habits rather than beliefs.
—Marlene Dietrich, 1962Even though counting heads is not an ideal way to govern, at least it is better than breaking them.
—Learned Hand, 1932Despotism subjects a nation to one tyrant—democracy to many.
—Marguerite Gardiner, 1839’Tis the sport to have the engineer / Hoist with his own petard.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1600The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
—B.F. Skinner, 1969Enemies to me are the sauce piquant to my dish of life.
—Elsa Maxwell, 1955For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.
—Robert Louis Stevenson, 1879It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.
—Francis Bacon, 1625What one man can invent another can discover.
—Arthur Conan Doyle, 1905Secrets are rarely betrayed or discovered according to any program our fear has sketched out.
—George Eliot, 1860Music sweeps by me as a messenger / Carrying a message that is not for me.
—George Eliot, 1868If the heavens were all parchment, and the trees of the forest all pens, and every human being were a scribe, it would still be impossible to record all that I have learned from my teachers.
—Jochanan ben Zakkai, c. 75