What can you conceive more silly and extravagant than to suppose a man racking his brains and studying night and day how to fly?
—William Law, 1728
Archive
Quotes
Disease is not of the body but of the place.
—Latin proverbThe true mission of American sports is to prepare young men for war.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower, c. 1952Machines do not run in order to enable men to live, but we resign ourselves to feeding men in order that they may serve the machines.
—Simone Weil, 1934Revolution can never be forecast; it cannot be foretold; it comes of itself. Revolution is brewing and is bound to flare up.
—Vladimir Lenin, 1918Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
—Ecclesiastes, c. 250 BCWhatever the apparent cause of any riots may be, the real one is always want of happiness.
—Thomas Paine, 1792The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children.
—Edward VIII, 1957There is a vital force in rumor. Though crushed to earth, to all intents and purposes buried, it can rise again without apparent effort.
—Eleanor Robson Belmont, 1957Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
—Saint Augustine, c. 400To endeavor to forget anyone is a certain way of thinking of nothing else.
—Jean de La Bruyère, 1688We must select the illusion which appeals to our temperament and embrace it with passion if we want to be happy.
—Cyril Connolly, 1944Television is democracy at its ugliest.
—Paddy Chayefsky, 1976