If men are to wait for liberty till they become wise and good in slavery, they may indeed wait forever.
—Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1843
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Quotes
To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable.
—Oscar Wilde, 1891Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a god.
—Jean Rostand, 1939Nothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1938The young always have the same problem—how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their elders and copying one another.
—Quentin Crisp, 1968And to our age’s drowsy blood / Still shouts the inspiring sea.
—James Russell Lowell, 1848I have often repented speaking, but never of holding my tongue.
—Xenocrates, c. 350 BCHappy is the man who hath never known what it is to taste of fame—to have it is a purgatory, to want it is a hell!
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1843Hatred of domestic work is a natural and admirable result of civilization.
—Rebecca West, 1912I never even saw the use of the sea. Many a sad heart has it caused, and many a sick stomach has it occasioned! The boldest sailor climbs on board with a heavy soul and leaps on land with a light spirit.
—Benjamin Disraeli, 1827The only places where American medicine can fully live up to its possibilities are the teaching hospitals.
—Bernard De Voto, 1951Revenge may be wicked, but it’s natural.
—William Makepeace Thackeray, 1847In every ill turn of fortune, the most unhappy sort of unfortunate man is the one who has been happy.
—Boethius, c. 520