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Quotes

Fate leads the willing and drags along those who hang back.

—Cleanthes, c. 250 BC

Animals are such agreeable friends—they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.

—George Eliot, 1857

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

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.

—Richard Feynman, 1986

Alas! We are ridiculous animals.

—Horace Walpole, 1777

What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.

—Erasmus, 1515

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

—Sophocles, c. 441 BC

Carnal embrace is the practice of throwing one’s arms around a side of beef.

—Tom Stoppard, 1993

Life is the art of being well deceived.

—William Hazlitt, c. 1817

Of my friends, I am the only one I have left.

—Terence, 161 BC

I hate the present modes of living and getting a living. Farming and shopkeeping and working at a trade or profession are all odious to me. I should relish getting my living in a simple, primitive fashion.

—Henry David Thoreau, 1855

Idolatry is the mother of all games.

—Novatian, c. 255

No woman needs intercourse; few women escape it.

—Andrea Dworkin, 1978