By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.
—Confucius, c. 500 BC
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Quotes
If we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare.
—George W. Bush, 2005I’ve been bathing in the poem / Of star-infused and milky sea / Devouring the azure greens.
—Arthur Rimbaud, 1871However harmless a thing is, if the law forbids it, most people will think it wrong.
—W. Somerset Maugham, 1896I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do—that was one of my favorite things about it—and when I first did it, I felt perverse.
—Diane Arbus, c. 1950When law can do no right,
Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong.
All those who suffer in the world do so because of their desire for their own happiness.
—Shantideva, c. 750Religion! How it dominates man’s mind, how it humiliates and degrades his soul. God is everything, man is nothing, says religion. But out of that nothing God has created a kingdom so despotic, so tyrannical, so cruel, so terribly exacting that naught but gloom and tears and blood have ruled the world since gods began.
—Emma Goldman, 1910Rebellion is no less a sin than divination.
—Book of Samuel, c. 550 BCThe most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them.
—Denis Diderot, 1777There be beasts that, at a year old, observe more, and pursue that which is for their good more prudently, than a child can do at ten.
—Thomas Hobbes, 1651I hate the whole race. There is no believing a word they say—your professional poets, I mean—there never existed a more worthless set than Byron and his friends for example.
—Duke of Wellington, c. 1810The path of social advancement is, and must be, strewn with broken friendships.
—H.G. Wells, 1905