The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.
—James Fenimore Cooper, 1838
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Quotes
Even though counting heads is not an ideal way to govern, at least it is better than breaking them.
—Learned Hand, 1932The workers are the saviors of society, the redeemers of the race.
—Eugene V. Debs, 1905War is the child of pride, and pride the daughter of riches.
—Jonathan Swift, 1697Gossip is a sort of smoke that comes from the dirty tobacco pipes of those who diffuse it; it proves nothing but the bad taste of the smoker.
—George Eliot, 1876The chief merit of language is clearness, and we know that nothing detracts so much from this as do unfamiliar terms.
—Galen, c. 175I take it as a prime cause of the present confusion of society that it is too sickly and too doubtful to use pleasure frankly as a test of value.
—Rebecca West, 1939Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
—B.F. Skinner, 1964In a court of fowls, the cockroach never wins its case.
—Rwandan proverbHe that will cheat you at play, will cheat you any way.
—Thomas Fuller, 1732Under the wide and starry sky, / Dig the grave and let me lie.
—Robert Louis Stevenson, 1887Every tooth in a man’s head is more valuable than a diamond.
—Miguel de Cervantes, 1605There are chance meetings with strangers that interest us from the first moment, before a word is spoken.
—Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1866