Fortune resists half-hearted prayers.
—Ovid, 8
Archive
Quotes
Every communist must grasp the truth: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
—Mao Zedong, 1938Animals are such agreeable friends—they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.
—George Eliot, 1857I can’t see (or feel) the conflict between love and religion. To me they’re the same thing.
—Elizabeth Bowen, c. 1970Usually speaking, the worst-bred person in company is a young traveler just returned from abroad.
—Jonathan Swift, c. 1730All attempts to adapt our ethical code to our situation in the technological age have failed.
—Max Born, 1968If you stain clear water with filth, you will never find a drink.
—Aeschylus, 458 BCOf all the creatures that breathe and creep on the surface of the earth, none is more to be pitied than man.
—Homer, c. 750 BCIf you were to ask me if I’d ever had the bad luck to miss my daily cocktail, I’d have to say that I doubt it; where certain things are concerned, I plan ahead.
—Luis Buñuel, 1983When we see a natural style we are quite amazed and delighted, because we expected to see an author and find a man.
—Blaise Pascal, c. 1657A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch.
—Jane Austen, 1814I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm’s way.
—John Paul Jones, 1778Two crimes undid me: a poem and a mistake.
—Ovid, 10