Wit enables us to act rudely with impunity.
—La Rochefoucauld, 1678
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Quotes
Nothing from nothing ever yet was born.
—Lucretius, c. 58 BCLife is no way to treat an animal.
—Kurt Vonnegut, 2005There are some who, if a cat accidentally comes into the room, though they neither see it nor are told of it, will presently be in a sweat and ready to die away.
—Increase Mather, 1684All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.
—Al Smith, 1933I care. I care about it all. It takes too much energy not to care.
—Lorraine Hansberry, 1965That which the sober man keeps in his breast, the drunken man lets out at the lips. Astute people, when they want to ascertain a man’s true character, make him drunk.
—Martin Luther, 1569Bereavement is a darkness impenetrable to the imagination of the unbereaved.
—Iris Murdoch, 1974I drink for the thirst to come.
—François Rabelais, 1535When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.
—Chinese proverbAll art is a revolt against man’s fate.
—André Malraux, 1951For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.
—Robert Louis Stevenson, 1879Man is a troublesome animal and therefore is not very manageable.
—Plato, c. 349 BC