How gloriously legible are the constellations of the heavens!
—Anthony Trollope, 1859
Archive
Quotes
I always think of nature as a great spectacle, somewhat resembling the opera.
—Bernard de Fontenelle, 1686I don’t believe in total freedom for the artist. Left on his own, free to do anything he likes, the artist ends up doing nothing at all. If there’s one thing that’s dangerous for an artist, it’s precisely this question of total freedom, waiting for inspiration and all the rest of it.
—Federico Fellini, c. 1950If a man will observe as he walks the streets, I believe he will find the merriest countenances in mourning coaches.
—Jonathan Swift, 1706The traveler with nothing on him sings in the robber’s face.
—Juvenal, c. 125Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.
—Shimon Peres, 1995See one promontory (said Socrates of old), one mountain, one sea, one river, and see all.
—Robert Burton, c. 1620Gossip is a sort of smoke that comes from the dirty tobacco pipes of those who diffuse it; it proves nothing but the bad taste of the smoker.
—George Eliot, 1876The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes “sightseeing.”
—Daniel Boorstin, 1961Two things only the people anxiously desire, bread and the circus games.
—Juvenal, c. 121The peasants alone are revolutionary, for they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The starving peasant, outside the class system, is the first among the exploited to discover that only violence pays. For him there is no compromise, no possible coming to terms.
—Frantz Fanon, 1961Being offended is the natural consequence of leaving one’s home.
—Fran Lebowitz, 1981The purest joy is to live without disguise, unconstrained by the ties of a grave reputation.
—Al-Hariri, c. 1108