Archive

Quotes

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose. 

—Zora Neale Hurston, 1942

Gossip is a sort of smoke that comes from the dirty tobacco pipes of those who diffuse it; it proves nothing but the bad taste of the smoker.

—George Eliot, 1876

Who draws his sword against his prince must throw away the scabbard.

—James Howell, 1659

From hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.

—Herman Melville, 1851

Beautiful credit! The foundation of modern society.

—Mark Twain, 1873

We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction.

—Aesop, c. 600 BC

Rewards and punishment are the lowest form of education.

—Zhuangzi, c. 286 BC

History in its broadest aspect is a record of man’s migrations from one environment to another.

—Ellsworth Huntington, 1919

One’s body, hair, and skin are a gift from one’s parents—do not dare to allow them to be harmed.

—Classic of Filial Piety, c. 200 BC

Everybody says it; and what everybody says must be true.

—James Fenimore Cooper, 1844

Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again.

—Willa Cather, 1918

Many, many steeples would have to be stacked one on top of another to reach from the bottom to the surface of the sea. It is down there that the sea folk live.

—Hans Christian Andersen, 1837

There is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship.

—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1943