Death and vulgarity are the only two facts in the nineteenth century that one cannot explain away.
—Oscar Wilde, 1891
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Quotes
Spring now comes unheralded by the return of the birds, and the early mornings are strangely silent where once they were filled with the beauty of birdsong.
—Rachel Carson, 1962No punishment has ever possessed enough power of deterrence to prevent the commission of crimes.
—Hannah Arendt, 1963Music is a beautiful opiate, if you don’t take it too seriously.
—Henry Miller, 1945There are twelve hours in the day, and above fifty in the night.
—Madame de Sévigné, 1671All moanday, tearsday, wailsday, thumpsday, frightday, shatterday till the fear of the Law.
—James Joyce, 1939Animals hear about death for the first time when they die.
—Arthur Schopenhauer, 1819One is never as unhappy as one thinks, nor as happy as one hopes.
—La Rochefoucauld, 1664Despotism subjects a nation to one tyrant, democracy to many.
—Marguerite Gardiner, 1839Idolatry is the mother of all games.
—Novatian, c. 255Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at war with one another.
—Plato, c. 378 BCIf people think Nature is their friend, then they sure don’t need an enemy.
—Kurt Vonnegut, 1988There’s plenty of water in the universe without life, but nowhere is there life without water.
—Sylvia Alice Earle, 1995