Archive

Quotes

I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.

—Catherine the Great, c. 1796

A woman’s greatest glory is to be little talked about by men, whether for good or ill.

—Pericles, c. 450 BC

There’s hope a great man’s memory may outlive his life half a year.

—William Shakespeare, c. 1600

All progress is based upon a universal, innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.

—Samuel Butler, c. 1890

Politics is the art of the possible.

—Otto von Bismarck, 1867

It is shameful and inhuman to treat men like chattels to make money by, or to regard them merely as so much muscle or physical power.

—Pope Leo XIII, 1891

It is so difficult not to become vain about one’s own good luck.

—Simone de Beauvoir, 1963

One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats.

—Iris Murdoch, 1978

Because the newer methods of treatment are good, it does not follow that the old ones were bad: for if our honorable and worshipful ancestors had not recovered from their ailments, you and I would not be here today.

—Confucius, c. 515 BC

The less intelligent the white man is, the more stupid he thinks the black.

—André Gide, 1927

These landscapes of water and reflection have become an obsession.

—Claude Monet, 1908

A passion for horses, players, and gladiators seems to be the epidemic folly of the times. The child receives it in his mother’s womb; he brings it with him into the world, and in a mind so possessed, what room for science, or any generous purpose?

—Tacitus, c. 100

The spirit of revolution, the spirit of insurrection, is a spirit radically opposed to liberty.

—François Guizot, 1830