The beginning of health lies in knowing the disease.
—Miguel de Cervantes, 1615
Archive
Quotes
Civilization, a much-abused word, stands for a high matter quite apart from telephones and electric lights.
—Edith Hamilton, 1930There is something stirring in the way civilization gapes like a savage at the achievements of nature.
—Karl Kraus, 1909Men have an extraordinarily erroneous opinion of their position in nature; and the error is ineradicable.
—W. Somerset Maugham, 1896Ours is an age which consciously pursues health, and yet only believes in the reality of sickness.
—Susan Sontag, 1963Among famous traitors of history, one might mention the weather.
—Ilka Chase, 1969One need merely visit the marketplace and the graveyard to determine whether a city is in both physical and metaphysical order.
—Ernst Jünger, 1977Abstainer, n. A weak man who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906It’s the end of the world every day, for someone.
—Margaret Atwood, 2000Love lasteth as long as the money endureth.
—William Caxton, 1476If you steal, do not steal too much at a time. You may be arrested. Steal cleverly, little by little.
—Mobutu Sese Seko, 1991Towns oftener swamp one than carry one out onto the big ocean of life.
—D.H. Lawrence, 1908It’s frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself… it seems unfair. You can’t assume the responsibility for everything you do—or don’t do.
—Simone de Beauvoir, 1966