Archive

Quotes

Each night’s new terror drives away the terror of the night before.

—Sophocles, c. 450 BC

The doctor occupies a seat in the front row of the stalls of the human drama, and is constantly watching and even intervening in the tragedies, comedies, and tragicomedies which form the raw material of the literary art.

—W. Russell Brain, 1952

By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.

—Confucius, c. 500 BC

It is impossible to translate the poets. Can you translate music?

—Voltaire, c. 1732

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard for their own interest.

—Adam Smith, 1776

Don’t lose your mind unless you have paid for it.

—Stanisław Jerzy Lec, 1957

When you name yourself, you always name another.

—Bertolt Brecht, 1926

No nation was ever ruined by trade.

—Benjamin Franklin, 1774

Some things are privileged from jest—namely, religion, matters of state, great persons, all men’s present business of importance, and any case that deserves pity.

—Francis Bacon, 1597

The merchant always has fresh losses to expect, and the dread of base poverty forbids his rest.

—Decimus Magnus Ausonius, c. 390

There must be quite a few things a hot bath won’t cure, but I don’t know many of them.

—Sylvia Plath, 1963

In a true democracy, everyone can be upper-class and live in Connecticut.

—Lisa Birnbach, 1980

The United States has virtually set up an empire on impounded and redistributed water.

—Charles P. Berkey, 1946