The more laws, the more lawbreakers.
—Tao Te Ching, c. 500 BC
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Quotes
A sick child is always the mother’s property; her own feelings generally make it so.
—Jane Austen, 1816He who travels by sea is nothing but a worm on a piece of wood, a trifle in the midst of a powerful creation. The waters play about with him at will, and no one but God can help him.
—Muhammad as-Saffar, 1846Even diseases have lost their prestige, there aren’t so many of them left.
—Louis-Ferdinand Céline, 1960I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.
—Maya Angelou, 1993I have always been of the mind that in a democracy, manners are the only effective weapons against the bowie knife.
—James Russell Lowell, 1873To think ill of mankind, and not wish ill to them, is perhaps the highest wisdom and virtue.
—William Hazlitt, 1823Avoid the law—the first loss is generally the least.
—Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee, 1844Reality is always the foe of famous names.
—Petrarch, 1337The future comes like an unwelcome guest.
—Edmund Gosse, 1873The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
—Oscar Wilde, 1891Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately, you occasionally find men who disgrace labor.
—Ulysses S. Grant, 1877It is wretched business to be digging a well just as you’re dying of thirst.
—Plautus, c. 193 BC