Democracy forever teases us with the contrast between its ideals and its realities, between its heroic possibilities and its sorry achievements.
—Agnes Repplier, 1916
Archive
Quotes
Being a star has made it possible for me to get insulted in places where the average Negro could never hope to go and get insulted.
—Sammy Davis Jr., 1965At the bottom of enmity between strangers lies indifference.
—Søren Kierkegaard, 1850Sex: in America, an obsession; in other parts of the world, a fact.
—Marlene Dietrich, 1962The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1870Good men must not obey the laws too well.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844The first mistake of art is to assume that it’s serious.
—Lester Bangs, 1971And then, sir, there is this consideration: that if the abuse be enormous, nature will rise up and, claiming her original rights, overturn a corrupt political system.
—Samuel Johnson, 1791The law is not the same at morning and at night.
—George Herbert, c. 1633To think ill of mankind, and not wish ill to them, is perhaps the highest wisdom and virtue.
—William Hazlitt, 1823In Washington, the first thing people tell you is what their job is. In Los Angeles you learn their star sign. In Houston you’re told how rich they are. And in New York they tell you what their rent is.
—Simon Hoggart, 1990Home is the girl’s prison and the woman’s workhouse.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1903We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea—whether it is to sail or to watch it—we are going back whence we came.
—John F. Kennedy, 1962