Make the revolution a parent of settlement and not a nursery of future revolutions.
—Edmund Burke, 1790
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Quotes
If we pretend to respect the artist at all, we must allow him his freedom of choice, in the face, in particular cases, of innumerable presumptions that the choice will not fructify. Art derives a considerable part of its beneficial exercise from flying in the face of presumptions.
—Henry James, 1884Seize from every moment its unique novelty, and do not prepare your joys.
—André Gide, 1897Epitaph, n. An inscription on a tomb, showing that virtues acquired by death have a retroactive effect.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906Each night’s new terror drives away the terror of the night before.
—Sophocles, c. 450 BCRewards and punishment are the lowest form of education.
—Zhuangzi, c. 286 BCBy nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.
—Confucius, c. 500 BCOne sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.
—G.K. Chesterton, 1911The human working stock is of interest only insofar as it is profitable.
—Simone de Beauvoir, 1970There be beasts that, at a year old, observe more, and pursue that which is for their good more prudently, than a child can do at ten.
—Thomas Hobbes, 1651If the world were good for nothing else, it is a fine subject for speculation.
—William Hazlitt, 1823If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.
—Voltaire, 1764The brain is an unreliable organ, it is monstrously great, monstrously developed. Swollen, like a goiter.
—Aleksandr Blok, c. 1920