Archive

Quotes

I count myself in nothing else so happy / As in a soul remembering my good friends.

—William Shakespeare, c. 1595

It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.

—Francis Bacon, 1625

Let the young know they will never find a more interesting, more instructive book than the patient himself.

—Giorgio Baglivi, c. 1696

Business is other people’s money.

—Delphine de Girardin, 1852

Be a good animal, true to your animal instincts.

—D.H. Lawrence, 1911

In psychoanalysis nothing is true except the exaggerations.

—Theodor Adorno, 1951

I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigrees of nations.

—Samuel Johnson, 1773

Worldly fame is but a breath of wind that blows now this way, now that, and changes names as it changes in direction.

—Dante Alighieri, c. 1315

In tampering with the earth, we tamper with a mystery.

—Jonathan Schell, 2000

Few sons are equal to their fathers; most fall short, all too few surpass them. 

—Homer, c. 750 BC

I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed with him.

—Book of Revelations, c. 90

What can you conceive more silly and extravagant than to suppose a man racking his brains and studying night and day how to fly?

—William Law, 1728

People who’ve drunk neat wine don’t care a damn.

—Hipponax, c. 550 BC