What a torture to talk to filled heads that allow nothing from the outside to enter them.
—Joseph Joubert, 1807Quotes
Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact.
—Bertrand Russell, 1930Such then is the human state, that to wish greatness for one’s country is to wish harm to one’s neighbors.
—Voltaire, 1764Better free in a strange land than a slave at home.
—German proverbThe unknown is the largest need of the intellect.
—Emily Dickinson, 1876To live outside the law, you must be honest.
—Bob Dylan, 1966Those who know the joys and miseries of celebrities when they have passed the age of forty know how to defend themselves.
—Sarah Bernhardt, 1904Enemies are so stimulating.
—Katharine Hepburn, 1969I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.
—Galileo Galilei, 1615Scandal begins where the police leave off.
—Karl Kraus, 1909Mammon, n. The god of the world’s leading religion. His chief temple is in the holy city of New York.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1911Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It’s what separates us from the animals—except the weasel.
—The Simpsons, 1993The history of the world is the record of the weakness, frailty, and death of public opinion.
—Samuel Butler, c. 1902