Quotes

Trade’s proud empire hastes to swift decay.

—Oliver Goldsmith, 1770

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.

—Saint Augustine, c. 390

You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends.

—Joseph Conrad, 1900

The first mistake of art is to assume that it’s serious.

—Lester Bangs, 1971

Where shall I, of wandering weary, find my resting place at last?

—Heinrich Heine, 1827

Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.

—Alexander Pope, 1709

Alongside all swindlers the state now stands there as swindler-in-chief.

—Jacob Burckhardt, c. 1875

The best physician is he who can distinguish the possible from the impossible.

—Herophilus, c. 290 BC

Love is giving something you haven’t got to someone who doesn’t exist.

—Jacques Lacan

And to our age’s drowsy blood / Still shouts the inspiring sea.

—James Russell Lowell, 1848

If you stain clear water with filth, you will never find a drink.

—Aeschylus, 458 BC

I don’t believe in an afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear.

—Woody Allen, 1971

Flesh was the reason why oil painting was invented.

—Willem de Kooning, 1949

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