A good dog, sir, deserves a good bone.
—Ben Jonson, 1633
Archive
Quotes
The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.
—LaoziI was born without knowing why, I have lived without knowing why, and I am dying without either knowing why or how.
—Pierre Gassendi, 1655People living deeply have no fear of death.
—Anaïs Nin, 1935War has silenced all laws.
—Lucan, c. 65I imagine that one of the first forms of behavior, like one of the first signals, may be reduced to this: “Keep me warm.”
—Michel Serres, 1982Families, I hate you! Shut-in homes, closed doors, jealous possessions of happiness.
—André Gide, 1897The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a star.
—Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, 1825Many need no other provocation to enmity than that they find themselves excelled.
—Samuel Johnson, 1751My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.
—Charles F. Kettering, 1946To be a poet is to have a soul so quick to discern that no shade of quality escapes it, and so quick to feel that discernment is but a hand playing with finely ordered variety on the chords of emotion—a soul in which knowledge passes instantaneously into feeling, and feeling flashes back as a new organ of knowledge. One may have that condition by fits only.
—George Eliot, c. 1872The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.
—Anthony Burgess, 1972Animals are such agreeable friends—they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.
—George Eliot, 1857