Calamities are of two kinds: misfortune to ourselves, and good fortune to others.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906
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Quotes
The civilized man has built a coach but has lost the use of his feet.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841It is noble to die before doing anything that deserves death.
—Anaxandrides, c. 376The one thing the world will never have enough of is the outrageous.
—Salvador Dalí, 1953Seek not water, only show you are thirsty, / That water may spring up all around you.
—Rumi, c. 1260Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
—Saint Augustine, c. 400The doctor should be opaque to his patients and, like a mirror, should show them nothing but what is shown to him.
—Sigmund Freud, 1912Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth but not its twin.
—Barbara Kingsolver, 1990The only places where American medicine can fully live up to its possibilities are the teaching hospitals.
—Bernard De Voto, 1951Some of us would be greatly astonished to learn the reasons why others respect us.
—Marquis de Vauvenargues, 1746Commerce has made all winds her ministers.
—John Sterling, 1843All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.
—Al Smith, 1933The first duty of a good inquisitor is to suspect especially those who seem sincere to him.
—Umberto Eco, 1980