The dead are often just as living to us as the living are, only we cannot get them to believe it. They can come to us, but till we die we cannot go to them. To be dead is to be unable to understand that one is alive.
—Samuel Butler, c. 1888
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Quotes
The period of a [Persian] boy’s education is between the ages of five and twenty, and he is taught three things only: to ride, to use the bow, and to speak the truth.
—Herodotus, c. 440 BCWhat one man can invent another can discover.
—Arthur Conan Doyle, 1905It is permitted to learn even from an enemy.
—Ovid, c. 8One religion is as true as another.
—Robert Burton, 1621From the cradle to the coffin, underwear comes first.
—Bertolt Brecht, 1928Had Cleopatra’s nose been shorter, the whole face of the world would have changed.
—Blaise Pascal, 1658Happiness does not dwell in herds, nor yet in gold.
—Democritus, c. 420 BCTo blow and to swallow at the same time is not easy; I cannot at the same time be here and also there.
—Plautus, c. 200 BCEvery thought is, strictly speaking, an afterthought.
—Hannah Arendt, 1978Man is no man, but a wolf, to a stranger.
—Plautus, c. 200 BCAll things are filled full of signs, and it is a wise man who can learn about one thing from another.
—Plotinus, c. 255It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.
—Thomas Hardy, 1874