Nothing so fortifies a friendship as a belief on the part of one friend that he is superior to the other.
—Honoré de Balzac, 1847
Archive
Quotes
Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.
—Ecclesiastes, c. 250 BCIt is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard for their own interest.
—Adam Smith, 1776Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
—Saint Augustine, c. 400At the start there’s always energy.
—Suzan-Lori Parks, 2006I hate the present modes of living and getting a living. Farming and shopkeeping and working at a trade or profession are all odious to me. I should relish getting my living in a simple, primitive fashion.
—Henry David Thoreau, 1855They say, “We only have the life of this world. We die and we live, and nothing destroys us but time.” Yet, not true knowledge have they of this—only belief.
—The Qur’an, c. 620One man’s loss is another man’s profit.
—Michel de Montaigne, c. 1580I am dying with the help of too many physicians.
—Alexander the Great, c. 323 BCThe less intelligent the white man is, the more stupid he thinks the black.
—André Gide, 1927Often the prudent, far from making their destinies, succumb to them; it is destiny which makes them prudent.
—Voltaire, 1764All law is of necessity defective in the beginning.
—Han Yu, c. 800Whoever expects to walk peacefully in the world must be money’s guest.
—Norman O. Brown, 1959