Bright youth passes as quickly as thought.
—Theognis, c. 550 BCQuotes
Many are the wonders of the world, and none so wonderful as man.
—Sophocles, c. 441 BCWater its living strength first shows, / When obstacles its course oppose.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1815It is a greater advantage to be honestly educated than honorably born.
—Erasmus, 1518I have yet, I believe, some years in store, for I have a good state of health and a happy mind, and I take care of both by nourishing the first with temperance and the latter with abundance. This, I believe, you will allow to be the true philosophy of life.
—Thomas Paine, 1803We want a lot of engineers in the modern world, but we do not want a world of engineers.
—Winston Churchill, 1948Carnal embrace is the practice of throwing one’s arms around a side of beef.
—Tom Stoppard, 1993A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom.
—Amiri Baraka, 1962When you name yourself, you always name another.
—Bertolt Brecht, 1926Health in all lands is among the indispensable guarantees of human progress.
—Helen Keller, 1936Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
—Lord Acton, 1887What is the city but the people?
—William Shakespeare, 1608When they shout “Long live progress,” always ask, “Progress of what?”
—Stanisław Jerzy Lec, 1957