Style is the image of character.
—Edward Gibbon, c. 1789
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Quotes
Despotism achieves great things illegally; democracy doesn’t even take the trouble to achieve small things legally.
—Honoré de Balzac, 1831I am sure of this: that if everybody was to drink their bottle a day, there would not be half the disorders in the world there are now.
—Jane Austen, c. 1798You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation.
—Billie Holiday, 1956Are we not ourselves nature, nature without end?
—Stanisław Lem, 1961Had Cleopatra’s nose been shorter, the whole face of the world would have changed.
—Blaise Pascal, 1658The pleasure we hold in esteem for the course of our lives ought to have a greater share of our time dedicated to it; we should refuse no occasion nor omit any opportunity of drinking, and always have it in our minds.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.
—James Russell Lowell, c. 1865Nature never jests.
—Albrecht von Haller, 1751The gift of a common tongue is a priceless inheritance and it may well some day become the foundation of a common citizenship.
—Winston Churchill, 1943Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.
He who laugheth too much, hath the nature of a fool; he that laugheth not at all, hath the nature of an old cat.
—Thomas Fuller, 1732I don’t believe in an afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear.
—Woody Allen, 1971