Worldly fame is but a breath of wind that blows now this way, now that, and changes names as it changes in direction.
—Dante Alighieri, c. 1315
Archive
Quotes
Do not lessen the time of following desire, for the wasting of time is an abomination to the spirit.
—Ptahhotep, c. 2350 BCPower is so apt to be insolent, and Liberty to be saucy, that they are very seldom upon good terms.
—George Savile, c. 1690What delight can there be, and not rather displeasure, in hearing the barking and howling of dogs? Or what greater pleasure is there to be felt when a dog followeth a hare than when a dog followeth a dog?
—Thomas More, 1516Until you’ve lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is.
—Margaret Mitchell, 1936Religion! How it dominates man’s mind, how it humiliates and degrades his soul. God is everything, man is nothing, says religion. But out of that nothing God has created a kingdom so despotic, so tyrannical, so cruel, so terribly exacting that naught but gloom and tears and blood have ruled the world since gods began.
—Emma Goldman, 1910To lose confidence in one’s body is to lose confidence in oneself.
—Simone de Beauvoir, 1949We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.
—Jonathan Swift, 1706Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
—Book of Proverbs, c. 150 BCReal friends offer both hard truths and soft landings.
—Anna Quindlen, 2012And, after all, what is a lie? ’Tis but the truth in masquerade.
—Lord Byron, 1822Make the revolution a parent of settlement and not a nursery of future revolutions.
—Edmund Burke, 1790The world began without man, and it will end without him.
—Claude Lévi-Strauss, 1955