The merchant always has fresh losses to expect, and the dread of base poverty forbids his rest.
—Decimus Magnus Ausonius, c. 390
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Quotes
Speak without regard for the consequences, and it is too late for silence when disaster strikes.
—Huan Kuan, 81 BCHe that raises a large family, does indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand…a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1786Will and energy sometimes prove greater than either genius or talent or temperament.
—Isadora Duncan, c. 1902A bull contents himself with one meadow, and one forest is enough for a thousand elephants; but the little body of a man devours more than all other living creatures.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 64Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.
—Rudy Giuliani, 1999That obtained in youth may endure like characters engraved in stones.
—Ibn Gabirol, 1040Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1776The art of invention grows young with the things invented.
—Francis Bacon, 1605The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. And I knew we’d get into that rotten stuff pretty soon. Probably at the next gas station.
—Hunter S. Thompson, 1971War is sweet to those who don’t know it.
—Erasmus, 1508The past grows gradually around one, like a placenta for dying.
—John Berger, 1984Our nature lies in movement; complete calm is death.
—Blaise Pascal, c. 1640