Luck is believing you’re lucky.
—William Carlos Williams, 1947
Archive
Quotes
Fate leads the willing and drags along those who hang back.
—Cleanthes, c. 250 BCThe life of spies is to know, not be known.
—George Herbert, c. 1621Despotism subjects a nation to one tyrant—democracy to many.
—Marguerite Gardiner, 1839Today’s friend may be tomorrow’s foe.
—Sophocles, 440 BCPolitics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.
—Paul Valéry, 1943A monument is money wasted. My memory will live on if my life has deserved it.
—Pliny the Younger, c. 109I wonder whether if I had an education I should have been more or less a fool than I am.
—Alice James, 1889Hang work! I wish that all the year were holiday; I am sure that Indolence—indefeasible Indolence—is the true state of man.
—Charles Lamb, 1805The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.
—G.K. Chesterton, 1908Man is merely a more perfect animal than the rest. He reasons better.
—Napoleon Bonaparte, 1816There was a great deal of drinking among us but little drunkenness. We all seemed to feel that Prohibition was a personal affront and that we had a moral duty to undermine it.
—Elizabeth Anderson, 1969Living is an ailment that is relieved every sixteen hours by sleep. A palliative. Death is the cure.
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas Chamfort, c. 1790