Fortune resists half-hearted prayers.
—Ovid, 8Quotes
I’d like to be a machine, wouldn’t you?
—Andy Warhol, 1963You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends.
—Joseph Conrad, 1900Everything remembered is dear, endearing, touching, precious. At least the past is safe—though we didn’t know it at the time.
—Susan Sontag, 1973Idolatry is the mother of all games.
—Novatian, c. 255Education—a debt due from present to future generations.
—George Peabody, 1852The first duty of a good inquisitor is to suspect especially those who seem sincere to him.
—Umberto Eco, 1980The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea.
—James Joyce, 1922The pleasure we hold in esteem for the course of our lives ought to have a greater share of our time dedicated to it; we should refuse no occasion nor omit any opportunity of drinking, and always have it in our minds.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580Fire destroys that which feeds it.
—Simone Weil, c. 1940From hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.
—Herman Melville, 1851It is remarkable that only small birds properly sing.
—Charles Darwin, 1871Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be.
—William Hazlitt, 1819