No man ever distinguished himself who could not bear to be laughed at.
—Maria Edgeworth, 1809
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Quotes
History is a people’s memory, and without a memory man is demoted to the level of the lower animals.
—Malcolm X, 1964All art is a revolt against man’s fate.
—André Malraux, 1951Revolutionaries are greater sticklers for formality than conservatives.
—Italo Calvino, 1957The period of a [Persian] boy’s education is between the ages of five and twenty, and he is taught three things only: to ride, to use the bow, and to speak the truth.
—Herodotus, c. 440 BCI cannot but bless the memory of Julius Caesar, for the great esteem he expressed for fat men and his aversion to lean ones.
—David Hume, 1751The thirsty earth soaks up the rain, / And drinks, and gapes for drink again.
—Abraham Cowley, 1656How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.
—Søren Kierkegaard, 1843Night affords the most convenient shade for works of darkness.
—John Taylor, 1750I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm’s way.
—John Paul Jones, 1778We must consider that we shall be a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.
—John Winthrop, 1630The call of death is a call of love. Death can be sweet if we answer it in the affirmative, if we accept it as one of the great eternal forms of life and transformation.
—Hermann Hesse, 1950By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.
—Confucius, c. 500 BC