A woman’s greatest glory is to be little talked about by men, whether for good or ill.
—Pericles, c. 450 BC
Archive
Quotes
Drunkenness is the very sepulcher / Of man’s wit and his discretion.
—Geoffrey Chaucer, c. 1390A Jewish man with parents alive is a fifteen-year-old boy, and will remain a fifteen-year-old boy till they die!
—Philip Roth, 1969Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth but not its twin.
—Barbara Kingsolver, 1990Liberty and democracy are eternal enemies.
—H.L. Mencken, 1925Human happiness never remains long in the same place.
—Herodotus, c. 430 BCSome writers take to drink, others take to audiences.
—Gore Vidal, 1981All people have the common desire to be elevated in honor, but all people have something still more elevated in themselves without knowing it.
—Mencius, c. 330 BCTo live for a time close to great minds is the best kind of education.
—John Buchan, 1940What is death? A scary mask. Take it off—see, it doesn’t bite.
—Epictetus, c. 110Men have written in the most convincing manner to prove that death is no evil, and this opinion has been confirmed on a thousand celebrated occasions by the weakest of men as well as by heroes. Even so I doubt whether any sensible person has ever believed it, and the trouble men take to convince others as well as themselves that they do shows clearly that it is no easy undertaking.
—La Rochefoucauld, 1665War is fear cloaked in courage.
—William Westmoreland, 1966After each night we are emptier: our mysteries and our griefs have leaked away into our dreams.
—E.M. Cioran, 1949