The Church says that the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in the shadow than in the Church.
—Ferdinand Magellan, c. 1510
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Quotes
The boy is, of all wild beasts, the most difficult to manage.
—Plato, c. 348 BCThe best quarantine is hygiene.
—Richard D. Arnold, 1871In my dreams I sleep with everybody.
—Anaïs Nin, 1933We must consider that we shall be a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.
—John Winthrop, 1630Time’s violence rends the soul; by the rent eternity enters.
—Simone Weil, 1947One’s body, hair, and skin are a gift from one’s parents—do not dare to allow them to be harmed.
—Classic of Filial Piety, c. 200 BCIdolatry is the mother of all games.
—Novatian, c. 255Comedy, like sodomy, is an unnatural act.
—Marty Feldman, 1969They say that gifts persuade even the gods.
—Euripides, 431 BCOf troubles none is greater than to be robbed of one’s native land.
—Euripides, 431 BCThe affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1774Technology feeds on itself. Technology makes more technology possible.
—Alvin Toffler, 1970