The fundamental concept in social science is power, in the same sense in which energy is the fundamental concept in physics.
—Bertrand Russell, 1938
Archive
Quotes
Profit is profit even in Mecca.
—Nigerian proverbDemocracy produces both heroes and villains, but it differs from a fascist state in that it does not produce a hero who is a villain.
—Margaret Halsey, 1946Strangers are an endangered species.
—Adrienne Rich, 1980So long as one believes in God, one has the right to do the Good in order to be moral.
—Jean-Paul Sartre, c. 1950It is impossible to please all the world and one’s father.
—Jean de La Fontaine, 1668Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.
—E.B. White, 1944An exile with no home anywhere is a corpse without a grave.
—Publilius Syrus, 50 BCMan is merely a more perfect animal than the rest. He reasons better.
—Napoleon Bonaparte, 1816There is nothing sillier than a silly laugh.
—Catullus, c. 60 BCYou can put wings on a pig, but you don’t make it an eagle.
—Bill Clinton, 1996The deed is everything, the glory naught.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1832The subconscious is ceaselessly murmuring, and it is by listening to these murmurs that one hears the truth.
—Gaston Bachelard, 1960