If you steal, do not steal too much at a time. You may be arrested. Steal cleverly, little by little.
—Mobutu Sese Seko, 1991
Archive
Quotes
I take it as a prime cause of the present confusion of society that it is too sickly and too doubtful to use pleasure frankly as a test of value.
—Rebecca West, 1939We cannot say what the woman might be physically, if the girl were not allowed all the freedom of the boy in romping, climbing, swimming, playing whoop and ball.
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1848Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.
—Jane Austen, 1811Animals are good to think with.
—Claude Lévi-Strauss, 1962Profit is profit even in Mecca.
—Nigerian proverbIt is not my design to drink or sleep; my design is to make what haste I can to be gone.
—Oliver Cromwell, 1658An honest man is all right even if he’s an idiot…but a crook must have brains.
—Maxim Gorky, 1902They say that gifts persuade even the gods.
—Euripides, 431 BCThe vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.
—John Nance Garner, c. 1967The man in constant fear is every day condemned.
—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BCThere is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.
—Anthony Trollope, 1862Some memories are like lucky charms, talismans, one shouldn’t tell about them or they’ll lose their power.
—Iris Murdoch, 1985