Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.
—Anacharsis, c. 550 BC
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Quotes
Commerce tends to wear off those prejudices which maintain distinction and animosity between nations.
—William Robertson, 1769Love is giving something you haven’t got to someone who doesn’t exist.
—Jacques LacanWhether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.
—Arthur Miller, 2001In its function, the power to punish is not essentially different from that of curing or educating.
—Michel Foucault, 1975Is all our fire of shipwreck wood?
—Robert Browning, 1862You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation.
—Billie Holiday, 1956It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
—Dolores Ibárruri, 1936A crowded police court docket is the surest sign that trade is brisk and money plenty.
—Mark Twain, 1872Once suspicion is aroused, everything feeds it.
—Amelia Edith Barr, 1885What hath night to do with sleep?
—John Milton, 1637Reality is always the foe of famous names.
—Petrarch, 1337Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1921