Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.
—Laozi, c. 500 BCQuotes
Toil is man’s allotment; toil of brain, or toil of hands, or a grief that’s more than either, the grief and sin of idleness.
—Herman Melville, 1849A tree’s a tree. How many more do you need to look at?
—Ronald Reagan, 1965Rivalry adds so much to the charms of one’s conquests.
—Louisa May Alcott, 1866There’s hope a great man’s memory may outlive his life half a year.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1600I shall embrace my rival—until I suffocate him.
—Jean Racine, 1669I am dying with the help of too many physicians.
—Alexander the Great, c. 323 BCDemocracy, like the human organism, carries within it the seed of its own destruction.
—Veronica Wedgwood, 1946Darkness endows the small and ordinary ones among mankind with poetical power.
—Thomas Hardy, 1874It is a greater advantage to be honestly educated than honorably born.
—Erasmus, 1518As usual, what we call “progress” is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance.
—Havelock Ellis, 1914For sooner will men hold fire in their mouths than keep a secret.
—Petronius, c. 60Hygienic law, like martial law, supersedes rights in crises.
—Samuel Hopkins Adams, 1913