Anyone who’s never watched somebody die is suffering from a pretty bad case of virginity.
—John Osborne, 1956
Archive
Quotes
Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.
—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BCFreedom of the press is only guaranteed to those who own one.
—A.J. Liebling, 1960’Tis the sport to have the engineer / Hoist with his own petard.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1600Necessity knows no law except to conquer.
—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BCI curse the night, yet doth from day me hide.
—William Drummond, 1616Rebellion is no less a sin than divination.
—Book of Samuel, c. 550 BCOf troubles none is greater than to be robbed of one’s native land.
—Euripides, 431 BCIt is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
—The BibleThat which the sober man keeps in his breast, the drunken man lets out at the lips. Astute people, when they want to ascertain a man’s true character, make him drunk.
—Martin Luther, 1569Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it. Martyrdom is the test.
—Samuel Johnson, 1780It is a luxury to be understood.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1831A joke is at most a temporary rebellion against virtue, and its aim is not to degrade the human being but to remind him that he is already degraded.
—George Orwell, 1945