And then, sir, there is this consideration: that if the abuse be enormous, nature will rise up and, claiming her original rights, overturn a corrupt political system.
—Samuel Johnson, 1791
Archive
Quotes
Family! Thou art the home of all social evil, a charitable institution for comfortable women, an anchorage for house-fathers, and a hell for children.
—August Strindberg, 1886If the human race wants to go to hell in a basket, technology can help it get there by jet.
—Charles M. Allen, 1967The brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over we realize this: that the human has been roughly handled, but that it has advanced.
—Victor Hugo, 1862The young always have the same problem—how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their elders and copying one another.
—Quentin Crisp, 1968Cooking is the most massive rush. It’s like having the most amazing hard-on, with Viagra sprinkled on top of it, and it’s still there twelve hours later.
—Gordon Ramsey, 2003Doing research on the web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by pack rats and vandalized nightly.
—Roger Ebert, 1998I shall curse you with book and bell and candle.
—Thomas Malory, c. 1470If a king loves music, there is little wrong in the land.
—Mencius, c. 330 BCWe have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.
—Oscar Wilde, 1887What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.
—Erasmus, 1515If the people be the governors, who shall be governed?
—John Cotton, c. 1636My advice to people today is as follows: if you take the game of life seriously, if you take your nervous system seriously, if you take your sense organs seriously, if you take the energy process seriously, you must turn on, tune in, and drop out.
—Timothy Leary, 1966