Nature never jests.
—Albrecht von Haller, 1751Quotes
He who is afraid of his own memories is cowardly, really cowardly.
—Elias Canetti, 1954There is no work of human hands which time does not wear away and reduce to dust.
—Marcus Tullius Cicero, 46 BCThere are two things that will be believed of any man whatsoever, and one of them is that he has taken to drink.
—Booth Tarkington, 1914You can put wings on a pig, but you don’t make it an eagle.
—Bill Clinton, 1996By night an atheist half believes a God.
—Edward Young, c. 1745There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.
—Arthur Conan Doyle, 1891In every man is a wild beast; most of them don’t know how to hold it back, and the majority give it full rein when they are not restrained by terror of law.
—Frederick the Great, 1759The law is far, the fist is near.
—Korean proverbAnimals are such agreeable friends—they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.
—George Eliot, 1857I’ve seen the future, brother; it is murder.
—Leonard Cohen, 1992The doctor should be opaque to his patients and, like a mirror, should show them nothing but what is shown to him.
—Sigmund Freud, 1912After all, crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor.
—John Huston, 1950