Archive

Quotes

Childhood knows what it wants—to leave childhood behind.

—Jean Cocteau, 1947

From hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.

—Herman Melville, 1851

I 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, 1939

Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost.

—Robert Southey, 1809

Is this dying? Is this all? Is this all that I feared when I prayed against a hard death? Oh, I can bear this! I can bear it!

—Cotton Mather, 1728

To be a successful father… there’s one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don’t look at it for the first two years.

—Ernest Hemingway, 1954

The civilized man has built a coach but has lost the use of his feet.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841

It is a luxury to be understood.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1831

The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.

—John Nance Garner, c. 1967

Survivors look back and see omens, messages they missed.

—Joan Didion, 2005

Revolutions are not about trifles, but they are produced by trifles. 

—Aristotle, c. 350 BC

I sometimes think of what future historians will say of us. A single sentence will suffice for modern man: he fornicated and read the papers.

—Albert Camus, 1957

I never even saw the use of the sea. Many a sad heart has it caused, and many a sick stomach has it occasioned! The boldest sailor climbs on board with a heavy soul and leaps on land with a light spirit.

—Benjamin Disraeli, 1827