Music sweeps by me as a messenger / Carrying a message that is not for me.
—George Eliot, 1868Quotes
To lose confidence in one’s body is to lose confidence in oneself.
—Simone de Beauvoir, 1949Language ought to be the joint creation of poets and manual workers.
—George Orwell, 1944In dealing with the dead, if we treat them as if they were entirely dead, that would show a want of affection and should not be done; or, if we treat them as if they were entirely alive, that would show a want of wisdom and should not be done.
—Confucius, c. 500 BCI’ve been bathing in the poem / Of star-infused and milky sea / Devouring the azure greens.
—Arthur Rimbaud, 1871Most authors seek fame, but I seek for justice—a holier impulse than ever entered into the ambitious struggles of the votaries of that fickle, flirting goddess.
—Davy Crockett, 1834One race there is of men, one of gods, but from one mother we both draw our breath.
—Pindar, c. 450 BCIt raineth every day, and the weather represents our tearful despair on a large scale.
—Mary Boykin Chesnut, 1865I imagine that one of the first forms of behavior, like one of the first signals, may be reduced to this: “Keep me warm.”
—Michel Serres, 1982Educate people without religion and you make them but clever devils.
—Arthur Wellesley, c. 1830Time will reveal everything. It is a babbler and speaks even when not asked.
—Euripides, c. 425 BCCooking is the most massive rush. It’s like having the most amazing hard-on, with Viagra sprinkled on top of it, and it’s still there twelve hours later.
—Gordon Ramsey, 2003The law looks at no one’s face.
—Gabriel Okara, 1964