What is outside my mind means nothing to it.
—Marcus Aurelius, c. 170
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Quotes
I think that to get under the surface and really appreciate the beauty of any country, one has to go there poor.
—Grace Moore, 1944When the missionaries first came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, “Let us pray.” We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land.
—Desmond Tutu, 1984While gossip among women is universally ridiculed as low and trivial, gossip among men, especially if it is about women, is called theory, or idea, or fact.
—Andrea Dworkin, 1983Hospitality consists in a little fire, a little food, and an immense quiet.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1856Unexemplary words and unfounded doctrines are avoided by the noble person. Why utter them?
—Dong Zhongshu, c. 120 BCCan we not live without pleasure, who cannot but with pleasure die?
—Tertullian, c. 215Nowadays three witty turns of phrase and a lie make a writer.
—G.C. Lichtenberg, c. 1780No poems can please long, nor live, that are written by water drinkers.
—Horace, 35 BCThe happy ending is our national belief.
—Mary McCarthy, 1947A first-class man subsists on the matter he destroys.
—Saul Bellow, 1989He who commands the sea has command of everything.
—Francis Bacon, c. 1600You can put wings on a pig, but you don’t make it an eagle.
—Bill Clinton, 1996