The only authors whom I acknowledge as American are the journalists. They indeed are not great writers, but they speak the language of their countrymen, and make themselves heard by them.
—Alexis de Tocqueville, 1840
Archive
Quotes
Jazz is the result of the energy stored up in America.
—George Gershwin, 1933I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1928Imagination is the secret and marrow of civilization. It is the very eye of faith.
—Henry Ward Beecher, 1887The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them.
—Denis Diderot, 1777The day unravels what the night has woven.
—Walter Benjamin, 1929No wise man ever wished to be younger.
—Jonathan Swift, 1706The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos, crazy for love.
—Donald Barthelme, 1964Credulity forges more miracles than trickery could invent.
—Joseph Joubert, 1811Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.
—E.M. Forster, 1951He who travels by sea is nothing but a worm on a piece of wood, a trifle in the midst of a powerful creation. The waters play about with him at will, and no one but God can help him.
—Muhammad as-Saffar, 1846The seeds of civilization are in every culture, but it is city life that brings them to fruition.
—Susanne K. Langer, 1962I’ve got some shit I’m conservative about and some shit I’m liberal about. Crime—I’m conservative. Prostitution—I’m liberal.
—Chris Rock, 2008