I was born without knowing why, I have lived without knowing why, and I am dying without either knowing why or how.
—Pierre Gassendi, 1655
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Quotes
Every city has a sex and an age which have nothing to do with demography. Rome is feminine. So is Odessa. London is a teenager, an urchin, and in this hasn’t changed since the time of Dickens. Paris, I believe, is a man in his twenties in love with an older woman.
—John Berger, 1987What touches all shall be approved by all.
—Edward I, 1295The character which results from wealth is that of a prosperous fool.
—Aristotle, c. 322 BCEducate people without religion and you make them but clever devils.
—Arthur Wellesley, c. 1830Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.
—Francis Bacon, 1625To desire immortality for the individual is really the same as wanting to perpetuate an error forever.
—Arthur Schopenhauer, 1819Reminiscences make one feel so deliciously aged and sad.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1886We seek with our human hands to create a second nature in the natural world.
—Marcus Tullius Cicero, 45 BCHow sickness enlarges the dimension of a man’s self to himself! He is his own exclusive object.
—Charles Lamb, 1833Liberty and democracy are eternal enemies.
—H.L. Mencken, 1925A criminal may improve and become a decent member of society. A foreigner cannot improve. Once a foreigner, always a foreigner. There is no way out for him.
—George Mikes, 1946The righteous know the needs of their animals, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.
—Book of Proverbs, c. 500 BC