All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full.
—Book of Ecclesiastes, c. 250 BC
Archive
Quotes
To hide and feel guilty would be the beginning of defeat.
—Milan Kundera, 1978To live for a time close to great minds is the best kind of education.
—John Buchan, 1940Diseases, at least many of them, are like human beings. They are born, they flourish, and they die.
—David Riesman, 1937What harm is there in getting knowledge and learning, were it from a sot, a pot, a fool, a winter mitten, or an old slipper?
—François Rabelais, 1533All God’s children are not beautiful. Most of God’s children are, in fact, barely presentable.
—Fran Lebowitz, 1978It’s frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself… it seems unfair. You can’t assume the responsibility for everything you do—or don’t do.
—Simone de Beauvoir, 1966The happiness of society is the end of government.
—John Adams, 1776In dealing with the dead, if we treat them as if they were entirely dead, that would show a want of affection and should not be done; or, if we treat them as if they were entirely alive, that would show a want of wisdom and should not be done.
—Confucius, c. 500 BCHow sad a sight is human happiness to those whose thoughts can pierce beyond an hour!
—Edward Young, 1741The king times are fast finishing. There will be blood shed like water, and tears like mist; but the peoples will conquer in the end.
—Lord Byron, 1821The call of death is a call of love. Death can be sweet if we answer it in the affirmative, if we accept it as one of the great eternal forms of life and transformation.
—Hermann Hesse, 1950Revenge may be wicked, but it’s natural.
—William Makepeace Thackeray, 1847