To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual.
—Oscar Wilde, 1891
Archive
Quotes
Guard more faithfully the secret which is confided to you than the money which is entrusted to your care.
—Isocrates, c. 370 BCThe life of the city never lets you go, nor do you ever want it to.
—Wallace Stevens, 1952Music is a beautiful opiate, if you don’t take it too seriously.
—Henry Miller, 1945All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the state.
—Albert Camus, 1951Understanding is a very dull occupation.
—Gertrude Stein, 1937I sometimes think of what future historians will say of us. A single sentence will suffice for modern man: he fornicated and read the papers.
—Albert Camus, 1957The future comes like an unwelcome guest.
—Edmund Gosse, 1873Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.
—Oscar Wilde, 1893Rebellion is no less a sin than divination.
—Book of Samuel, c. 550 BCThe fox knows lots of tricks, the hedgehog only one—but it’s a winner.
—Archilochus, c. 650 BCEducation is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.
—Joseph Stalin, 1934Physician, heal yourself: thus you help your patient too. Let his best help be to see with his own eyes the man who makes himself well.
—Friedrich Nietzsche, c. 1884