Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations—wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco.
—Edmund Burke, 1795
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Quotes
Whoever gulps down wine as a horse gulps down water is called a Scythian.
—Athenaeus, c. 230Everyone who is sick is someone else’s patient zero.
—Leslie Jamison, 2020It hurts to watch the fluency of a body acclimated to its shackling.
—Leslie Jamison, 2014Why has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.
—Alexander Hamilton, 1787It is impossible to tell which of the two dispositions we find in men is more harmful in a republic, that which seeks to maintain an established position or that which has none but seeks to acquire it.
—Niccolò Machiavelli, c. 1515Fire is a natural symbol of life and passion, though it is the one element in which nothing can actually live.
—Susanne K. Langer, 1942We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink, for dining alone is leading the life of a lion or wolf.
—Epicurus, c. 300 BCThe real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
—B.F. Skinner, 1969Peace is a natural effect of trade.
—Montesquieu, 1748I am sick and tired of publicity. I want no more of it. It puts me in a bad light. I just want to be forgotten.
—Al Capone, 1929Who draws his sword against his prince must throw away the scabbard.
—James Howell, 1659The law looks at no one’s face.
—Gabriel Okara, 1964