The elephant, although a gross beast, is yet the most decent and most sensible of any other upon earth. Although he never changes his female, and hath so tender a love for her whom he hath chosen, yet he never couples with her but at the end of every three years, and then only for the space of five days.
—St. Francis de Sales, 1609
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Quotes
The less intelligent the white man is, the more stupid he thinks the black.
—André Gide, 1927If not us, who? If not now, when?
—Czech slogan, 1989Seaward ho! Hang the treasure! It’s the glory of the sea that has turned my head.
—Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883Like a broken gong be still, be silent. Know the stillness of freedom where there is no more striving.
—Siddhartha Gautama, c. 500 BCDisbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.
—Tom Robbins, 1976The earth is our existence, and our body is attached to the earth.
—Daulat Qazi, c. 1650There’s folks ’ud hold a sieve under the pump and expect to carry away the water.
—George Eliot, 1859A shopkeeper will never get the more custom by beating his customers; and what is true of a shopkeeper is true of a shopkeeping nation.
—Josiah Tucker, 1766One race there is of men, one of gods, but from one mother we both draw our breath.
—Pindar, c. 450 BCWhy has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.
—Alexander Hamilton, 1787I don’t believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others.
—Coretta Scott King, 1994There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy’s life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.
—Mark Twain, 1876