Archive

Quotes

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

—John F. Kennedy, 1962

Writing cannot express words fully; words cannot express thoughts fully.

—The Book of Changes, c. 350 BC

Law makes long spokes of the short stakes of men.

—William Empson, 1928

Reputation, like beavers and cloaks, shall last some people twice the time of others.

—Douglas Jerrold, 1840

The path of social advancement is, and must be, strewn with broken friendships.

—H.G. Wells, 1905

Friends are ourselves.

—John Donne, 1603

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

—Mario Cuomo, 1985

To be a successful father… there’s one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don’t look at it for the first two years.

—Ernest Hemingway, 1954

The man in constant fear is every day condemned.

—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BC

The most fitting occupation for a civilized man is to do nothing.

—Théophile Gautier, c. 1835

One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.

—G.K. Chesterton, 1911

Great cities must ever be centers of light and darkness, the home of the best and the worst of our race, holding within themselves the highest talent for good and evil.

—Matthew Hale Smith, 1868

Quarreling must lead to disorder, and disorder exhaustion.

—Xunzi, c. 250 BC