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Quotes

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

—Aleister Crowley, 1904

The more men are massed together, the more corrupt they become. Disease and vice are the sure results of overcrowded cities.

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1762

Many are the wonders of the world, and none so wonderful as man.

—Sophocles, c. 441 BC

It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.

—Frederick Douglass, 1852

These landscapes of water and reflection have become an obsession.

—Claude Monet, 1908

Envy and hatred are apt to blind the eyes and render them unable to behold things as they are.

—Margaret of Valois, c. 1600

To desire immortality for the individual is really the same as wanting to perpetuate an error forever.

—Arthur Schopenhauer, 1819

Bright youth passes as quickly as thought.

—Theognis, c. 550 BC

It was the men I deceived the most that I loved the most.

—Marguerite Duras, 1987

Don’t talk to me about naval tradition. It’s nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash.

—Winston Churchill, 1939

Jests and scoffs do lessen majesty and greatness and should be far from great personages and men of wisdom.

—Henry Peacham, 1622

The 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, 1804

All civilization has from time to time become a thin crust over a volcano of revolution.

—Havelock Ellis, 1921