Archive

Quotes

Of troubles none is greater than to be robbed of one’s native land.

—Euripides, 431 BC

There are chance meetings with strangers that interest us from the first moment, before a word is spoken.

—Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1866

Fashion, n. A despot whom the wise ridicule and obey.

—Ambrose Bierce, 1911

What touches all shall be approved by all.

—Edward I, 1295

I know what I have given you. I do not know what you have received.

—Antonio Porchia, 1943

For most of us, nighttime dreaming brings us closer to our identities and our power than any activity in the waking world.

—Walter Mosley, 2000

A change of fortune hurts a wise man no more than a change of the moon.

—Benjamin Franklin, 1732

Only the little people pay taxes.

—Leona Helmsley, 1989

One who is frivolous all day will never establish a household.

—Ptahhotep, c. 2400 BC

I am weary of friends, and friendships are all monsters.

—Jonathan Swift, 1710

Understanding is a very dull occupation.

—Gertrude Stein, 1937

It is impossible to translate the poets. Can you translate music?

—Voltaire, c. 1732

What are men anyway but balloons on legs, a lot of blown-up bladders?

—Gaius Petronius Arbiter, c. 64