Archive

Quotes

Living is an ailment that is relieved every sixteen hours by sleep. A palliative. Death is the cure.

—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas Chamfort, c. 1790

I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.

—Susan Sontag, 1977

An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.

—George Eliot, 1866

A functioning police state needs no police.

—William S. Burroughs, 1959

Nowadays three witty turns of phrase and a lie make a writer.

—G.C. Lichtenberg, c. 1780

The life of spies is to know, not be known.

—George Herbert, c. 1621

Everyone complains about his memory, and no one complains about his judgment.

—La Rochefoucauld, 1666

The universe is an object of thought at least as much as it is a means of satisfying needs.

—Claude Lévi-Strauss, 1962

Democracy is the fig leaf of elitism.

—Florence King, 1989

I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.

—Jerome K. Jerome, 1889

Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare for it today.

—Malcolm X, 1964

All pain is one malady with many names.

—Antiphanes, c. 400 BC

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest.

—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BC