The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
—Wendell Berry, 1983
Archive
Quotes
For most of us, nighttime dreaming brings us closer to our identities and our power than any activity in the waking world.
—Walter Mosley, 2000I 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, 1982There is a vital force in rumor. Though crushed to earth, to all intents and purposes buried, it can rise again without apparent effort.
—Eleanor Robson Belmont, 1957A family’s photograph album is generally about the extended family—and, often, is all that remains of it.
—Susan Sontag, 1977Celibacy goes deeper than the flesh.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1920It is remarkable that only small birds properly sing.
—Charles Darwin, 1871I’m doomed to die, right? Why should I care if I go to Hades either with gout in my leg or a runner’s grace? Plenty of people will carry me there.
—Nicharchus, c. 90Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.
—Laozi, c. 500 BCDon’t lose your mind unless you have paid for it.
—Stanisław Jerzy Lec, 1957No poems can please long, nor live, that are written by water drinkers.
—Horace, 35 BCFor sooner will men hold fire in their mouths than keep a secret.
—Petronius, c. 60Once a woman has lost her chastity she will shrink from nothing.
—Tacitus, c. 100