The true art of memory is the art of attention.
—Samuel Johnson, 1759
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Quotes
What one knows is, in youth, of little moment; they know enough who know how to learn.
—Henry Adams, 1907When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong.
—Eugene V. Debs, 1918You cannot endow even the best machine with initiative; the jolliest steamroller will not plant flowers.
—Walter Lippmann, 1913That which the sober man keeps in his breast, the drunken man lets out at the lips. Astute people, when they want to ascertain a man’s true character, make him drunk.
—Martin Luther, 1569An American will build a house in which to pass his old age and sell it before the roof is on.
—Alexis de Tocqueville, 1840A real leader is somebody who can help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.
—David Foster Wallace, 2000It would be madness, and inconsistency, to suppose that things which have never yet been performed can be performed without employing some hitherto untried means.
—Francis Bacon, 1620There is no crime without precedent.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 60No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.
—Abraham LincolnAlas! We are ridiculous animals.
—Horace Walpole, 1777Real friends offer both hard truths and soft landings.
—Anna Quindlen, 2012Once a woman has lost her chastity she will shrink from nothing.
—Tacitus, c. 100