Men have an extraordinarily erroneous opinion of their position in nature; and the error is ineradicable.
—W. Somerset Maugham, 1896
Archive
Quotes
Strength of mind is exercise, not rest.
—Alexander Pope, 1733The sea receives us in a proper way only when we are without clothes.
—Pliny the Elder, 77The only authors whom I acknowledge as American are the journalists. They indeed are not great writers, but they speak the language of their countrymen, and make themselves heard by them.
—Alexis de Tocqueville, 1840What keeps the democracy alive at all but the hatred of excellence, the desire of the base to see no head higher than their own?
—Mary Renault, 1956Never make a defense or apology before you be accused.
—Charles I, 1636People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.
—Edmund Burke, 1790Is it only the mouth and belly which are injured by hunger and thirst? Men’s minds are also injured by them.
—Mencius, 300 BCDespotism achieves great things illegally; democracy doesn’t even take the trouble to achieve small things legally.
—Honoré de Balzac, 1831Every ass thinks himself worthy to stand with the king’s horses.
—Gnomologia, 1732If you find excrement somewhere in the village, the chief was the one who put it there.
—Congolese proverbDo that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.
—Laozi, c. 500 BCReading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but most important, it finds homes for us everywhere.
—Hazel Rochman, 1995