Nature never jests.
—Albrecht von Haller, 1751
Archive
Quotes
The greatest thing in family life is to take a hint when a hint is intended—and not to take a hint when a hint isn’t intended.
—Robert Frost, 1939The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.
—LaoziHappiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.
—Pericles, c. 431 BCNight affords the most convenient shade for works of darkness.
—John Taylor, 1750All those who suffer in the world do so because of their desire for their own happiness.
—Shantideva, c. 750The body is an instrument which only gives off music when it is used as a body.
—Anaïs Nin, 1935To think ill of mankind, and not wish ill to them, is perhaps the highest wisdom and virtue.
—William Hazlitt, 1823A broken friendship may be soldered but will never be sound.
—Thomas Fuller, 1732Can we not live without pleasure, who cannot but with pleasure die?
—Tertullian, c. 215He that would eat the nut must crack the shell.
—Plautus, c. 200 BCWhat a glut of books! Who can read them? As already, we shall have a vast chaos and confusion of books; we are oppressed with them, our eyes ache with reading, our fingers with turning.
—Robert Burton, 1621He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.
—Francis Bacon, 1625