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Quotes

All the world is topsy-turvy, and it has been topsy-turvy ever since the plague.

—Jack London, 1912

Our nature lies in movement; complete calm is death.

—Blaise Pascal, c. 1640

Governments are not overthrown by the poor, who have no power, but by the rich—when they are insulted by their inferiors and cannot obtain justice.

—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, c. 20 BC

Whoever has died is freed from sin.

—St. Paul, c. 50

The chief merit of language is clearness, and we know that nothing detracts so much from this as do unfamiliar terms.

—Galen, c. 175

Resorting to the law to resolve a dispute is a declaration of spiritual bankruptcy.

—Quentin Crisp, 1984

The desire of knowledge, like the thirst of riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it.

—Laurence Sterne, 1760

We cherish our friends not for their ability to amuse us but for ours to amuse them.

—Evelyn Waugh, 1963

The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.

—Edward Gibbon, 1788

I cannot bear a parent’s tears.

—Virgil, c. 25 BC

Where shall I, of wandering weary, find my resting place at last?

—Heinrich Heine, 1827

As natural selection works solely by and for the good of each being, all corporeal and mental endowments will tend to progress toward perfection.

—Charles Darwin, 1859

I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”

—Book of Ecclesiastes, 225 BC