All the daughters of music shall be brought low.
—Ecclesiastes, c. 400 BC
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Quotes
Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.
—Ecclesiastes, c. 250 BCThe conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.
—Joseph Conrad, 1899The first mistake of art is to assume that it’s serious.
—Lester Bangs, 1971In dealing with the dead, if we treat them as if they were entirely dead, that would show a want of affection and should not be done; or, if we treat them as if they were entirely alive, that would show a want of wisdom and should not be done.
—Confucius, c. 500 BCI have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.
—Gregory VII, c. 1085The happiness of society is the end of government.
—John Adams, 1776Such then is the human state, that to wish greatness for one’s country is to wish harm to one’s neighbors.
—Voltaire, 1764Jazz is the result of the energy stored up in America.
—George Gershwin, 1933A dead enemy always smells good.
—Aulus Vitellius, 69Those who believe in freedom of the will have never loved and never hated.
—Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, 1893One religion is as true as another.
—Robert Burton, 1621Calamities are of two kinds: misfortune to ourselves, and good fortune to others.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906