The best augury of a man’s success in his profession is that he thinks it the finest in the world.
—George Eliot, 1876
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Quotes
Money is a language for translating the work of the farmer into the work of the barber, doctor, engineer, or plumber.
—Marshall McLuhan, 1964It raineth every day, and the weather represents our tearful despair on a large scale.
—Mary Boykin Chesnut, 1865I’m doomed to die, right? Why should I care if I go to Hades either with gout in my leg or a runner’s grace? Plenty of people will carry me there.
—Nicharchus, c. 90After each night we are emptier: our mysteries and our griefs have leaked away into our dreams.
—E.M. Cioran, 1949Every man has a lurking wish to appear considerable in his native place.
—Samuel Johnson, 1771The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.
—Donald Barthelme, 1964Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth but not its twin.
—Barbara Kingsolver, 1990No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.
—Bertrand Russell, 1961Let us make our own mistakes, but let us take comfort in the knowledge that they are our own mistakes.
—Tom Mboya, 1958Pictures made in childhood are painted in bright hues.
—Kate Douglas Wiggin, 1886The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
—Saint Augustine, c. 390The only competition worthy a wise man is with himself.
—Anna Jameson, 1846