It is hard when nature does not respect your intentions, and she never does exactly respect them.
—Wendell Berry, 1985
Archive
Quotes
The believer in magic and miracles reflects on how to impose a law on nature—and, in brief, the religious cult is the outcome of this reflection.
—Friedrich Nietzsche, 1878Man is the one name belonging to every nation upon earth: there is one soul and many tongues, one spirit and various sounds; every country has its own speech, but the subjects of speech are common to all.
—Tertullian, c. 217Our allotted time is the passing of a shadow.
—Book of Wisdom, c. 100 BCIn the society of men, the truth resides now less in what things are than in what they are not. Our social realities are so ugly if seen in the light of exiled truth, and beauty is almost no longer possible if it is not a lie.
—R.D. Laing, 1967Seize from every moment its unique novelty, and do not prepare your joys.
—André Gide, 1897An American will build a house in which to pass his old age and sell it before the roof is on.
—Alexis de Tocqueville, 1840Too often, where we need water we find guns.
—Ban Ki-moon, 2008Even members of the nobility, let alone persons of no consequence, would do well not to have children.
—Yoshida Kenko, c. 1330Colonialism has meant selling our ore and being left with the holes.
—Samora Moisés Machel, c. 1976It is better to live unknown to the law.
—Irish proverbI am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas and land on barbarous coasts.
—Herman Melville, 1853Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.
—Charles Dickens, 1843