No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.
—Bertrand Russell, 1961Quotes
Fear has a smell, as love does.
—Margaret Atwood, 1972Music is a beautiful opiate, if you don’t take it too seriously.
—Henry Miller, 1945I cannot bear a parent’s tears.
—Virgil, c. 25 BCOcean. A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man—who has no gills.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580A school without grades must have been concocted by someone who was drunk on nonalcoholic wine.
—Karl Kraus, 1909The noblest kind of retribution is not to become like your enemy.
—Marcus Aurelius, c. 175Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.
—Tom Robbins, 1976Human happiness never remains long in the same place.
—Herodotus, c. 430 BCI hate the sight of monkeys; they remind me so of poor relations.
—Henry Luttrell, 1820There are times when reality becomes too complex for oral communication. But legend gives it a form by which it pervades the whole world.
—Jean-Luc Godard, 1965Idolatry is the mother of all games.
—Novatian, c. 255