War is the child of pride, and pride the daughter of riches.
—Jonathan Swift, 1697
Archive
Quotes
Colonialism has meant selling our ore and being left with the holes.
—Samora Moisés Machel, c. 1976Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.
—Anatole France, 1881A dog starved at his master’s gate / Predicts the ruin of the state.
—William Blake, 1807It is impossible to tell which of the two dispositions we find in men is more harmful in a republic, that which seeks to maintain an established position or that which has none but seeks to acquire it.
—Niccolò Machiavelli, c. 1515How can we bear misfortune most easily? If we see our enemies faring worse.
—Thales of Miletus, c. 585 BCWhat the brain does by itself is infinitely more fascinating and complex than any response it can make to chemical stimulation.
—Ursula K. Le Guin, 1971Pride and excess bring disaster for man.
—Xunzi, 250 BCFamilies, I hate you! Shut-in homes, closed doors, jealous possessions of happiness.
—André Gide, 1897Language ought to be the joint creation of poets and manual workers.
—George Orwell, 1944It is better to live unknown to the law.
—Irish proverbThere is no greater disaster than not to know contentment.
—Laozi, c. 550 BCTelevision is democracy at its ugliest.
—Paddy Chayefsky, 1976