Familiarity breeds contempt—and children.
—Mark Twain, c. 1900Quotes
Luck is believing you’re lucky.
—William Carlos Williams, 1947When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.
—Chinese proverbThe older one grows, the more one likes indecency.
—Virginia Woolf, 1921Talk to me about the truth of religion and I’ll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I’ll listen submissively. But don’t come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don’t understand.
—C.S. Lewis, 1961I curse the night, yet doth from day me hide.
—William Drummond, 1616Every man has a lurking wish to appear considerable in his native place.
—Samuel Johnson, 1771The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.
—Erich Fromm, 1941Think rich. Look poor.
—Andy Warhol, 1975The law’s made to take care o’ raskills.
—George Eliot, 1860The fact is certain because it is impossible.
—Tertullian, c. 200The features of our face are hardly more than gestures which force of habit has made permanent.
—Marcel Proust, 1919Good fortune is light as a feather, but nobody knows how to hold it up. Misfortune is heavy as the earth, but nobody knows how to stay out of its way.
—Zhuangzi, c. 300 BC