Archive

Quotes

Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.

—Albert Camus, 1951

The noblest kind of retribution is not to become like your enemy.

—Marcus Aurelius, c. 175

If the people be the governors, who shall be governed?

—John Cotton, c. 1636

In our family, as far as we are concerned, we were born and what happened before that is myth.

—V.S. Pritchett, 1968

The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.

—Edward O. Wilson, 2009

You can put wings on a pig, but you don’t make it an eagle.

—Bill Clinton, 1996

In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.

—Voltaire, 1764

Mother died today. Or maybe it was yesterday, I don’t know. 

—Albert Camus, 1942

The sea serves the pirate as well as the trader.

—Prudentius, c. 405

Jesters do oft prove prophets.

—William Shakespeare, c. 1605

Glamour cannot exist without personal social envy being a common and widespread emotion.

—John Berger, 1972

The play is the tragedy “Man,” And its hero the conqueror worm.

—Edgar Allan Poe, 1843

Travelers, poets, and liars are three words all of one significance.

—Richard Brathwaite, 1631