To achieve harmony in bad taste is the height of elegance.
—Jean Genet, 1949
Archive
Quotes
As usual, what we call “progress” is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance.
—Havelock Ellis, 1914Glamour cannot exist without personal social envy being a common and widespread emotion.
—John Berger, 1972The human working stock is of interest only insofar as it is profitable.
—Simone de Beauvoir, 1970History does not merely touch on language, but takes place in it.
—Theodor Adorno, c. 1946A functioning police state needs no police.
—William S. Burroughs, 1959Nothing is more narrow-minded than chauvinism or racial hatred. To me all men are equal; there are flatheads everywhere and I despise them all equally.
—Karl Kraus, 1909There is a time to battle against nature, and a time to obey her. True wisdom lies in making the right choice.
—Arthur C. Clarke, 1979Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury—to me these have always been contemptible. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.
—Albert Einstein, 1931Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea? How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea.
—Sydney Smith, 1855I count myself in nothing else so happy / As in a soul remembering my good friends.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1595One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.
—Elbert Hubbard, 1911The only places where American medicine can fully live up to its possibilities are the teaching hospitals.
—Bernard De Voto, 1951