For what do we live but to make sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn?
—Jane Austen, 1813
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Quotes
Fashion, n. A despot whom the wise ridicule and obey.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1911The fear of war is worse than war itself.
—Seneca, c. 50We must select the illusion which appeals to our temperament and embrace it with passion if we want to be happy.
—Cyril Connolly, 1944Imagine a number of men in chains, all under sentence of death, some of whom are each day butchered in the sight of the others; those remaining see their own condition in that of their fellows and, looking at each other with grief and despair, await their turn. This is an image of the human condition.
—Blaise Pascal, 1669You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends.
—Joseph Conrad, 1900By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.
—Confucius, c. 500 BCThe world owes all its onward impulses to men ill at ease. The happy man inevitably confines himself within ancient limits.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851After each night we are emptier: our mysteries and our griefs have leaked away into our dreams.
—E.M. Cioran, 1949Can you take your country with you on the soles of your shoes?
—Georg Büchner, 1835One is never as unhappy as one thinks, nor as happy as one hopes.
—La Rochefoucauld, 1664The self is like an infant: given free rein, it craves to suckle.
—al-Busiri, c. 1250Revolutionaries are greater sticklers for formality than conservatives.
—Italo Calvino, 1957