All of the great musicians have borrowed from the songs of the common people.
—Antonín Dvořák, 1893
Archive
Quotes
Happiness (as the mathematicians might say) lies on a curve, and we approach it only by asymptote.
—Christopher Morley, 1919The world is dying of machinery; that is the great disease, that is the plague that will sweep away and destroy civilization; man will have to rise against it sooner or later.
—George Moore, 1888The friend of all humanity is no friend to me.
—Molière, 1666Travelers, poets, and liars are three words all of one significance.
—Richard Brathwaite, 1631In my dreams I sleep with everybody.
—Anaïs Nin, 1933The only places where American medicine can fully live up to its possibilities are the teaching hospitals.
—Bernard De Voto, 1951Music today is nothing more than the art of performing difficult pieces.
—Voltaire, 1759The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
—Oscar Wilde, 1891There’s folks ’ud hold a sieve under the pump and expect to carry away the water.
—George Eliot, 1859You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
—Henrik Ibsen, 1882There is a sickness among tyrants: they cannot trust their friends.
—Aeschylus, c. 458 BCIt is hard when nature does not respect your intentions, and she never does exactly respect them.
—Wendell Berry, 1985