Any serious attempt to do anything worthwhile is ritualistic.
—Derek Walcott, 1986
Archive
Quotes
It is a luxury to be understood.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1831The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.
—Joseph Conrad, 1899Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
—Alexander Pope, 1738Time’s violence rends the soul; by the rent eternity enters.
—Simone Weil, 1947Towns oftener swamp one than carry one out onto the big ocean of life.
—D.H. Lawrence, 1908The tune I remember, could I but keep the words.
—Virgil, 38 BCAlas! We are ridiculous animals.
—Horace Walpole, 1777The workers are the saviors of society, the redeemers of the race.
—Eugene V. Debs, 1905It raineth every day, and the weather represents our tearful despair on a large scale.
—Mary Boykin Chesnut, 1865There’s folks ’ud hold a sieve under the pump and expect to carry away the water.
—George Eliot, 1859If I had the use of my body I would throw it out of the window.
—Samuel Beckett, 1951Little folks become their little fate.
—Horace, c. 20 BC