Archive

Quotes

The human body is the best picture of the human soul.

—Ludwig Wittgenstein, c. 1947

If I see something sagging, dragging, or bagging, I’m going to go have the stuff tucked or plucked.

—Dolly Parton, 2003

As the saying goes, an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb.

—Chinua Achebe, 1958

Shame on the soul, to falter on the road of life while the body still perseveres.

—Marcus Aurelius, c. 170

I’m at an age when my back goes out more than I do.

—Phyllis Diller, 1981

And your very flesh shall be a great poem.

—Walt Whitman, 1855

O flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified!

—William Shakespeare, c. 1596

The world is made of the very stuff of the body.

—Maurice Merleau-Ponty, 1961

Every tooth in a man’s head is more valuable than a diamond.

—Miguel de Cervantes, 1605

One’s body, hair, and skin are a gift from one’s parents—do not dare to allow them to be harmed.

—Classic of Filial Piety, c. 200 BC

Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.

—Oscar Wilde, 1890

Flesh was the reason why oil painting was invented.

—Willem de Kooning, 1949

My face looks like a wedding cake left out in the rain.

—W.H. Auden, c. 1967