Some of us would be greatly astonished to learn the reasons why others respect us.
—Marquis de Vauvenargues, 1746
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Quotes
We should have a great many fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves.
—John Locke, 1690If you stain clear water with filth, you will never find a drink.
—Aeschylus, 458 BCDespotism subjects a nation to one tyrant—democracy to many.
—Marguerite Gardiner, 1839As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.
—Pope John Paul II, 1986There must be quite a few things a hot bath won’t cure, but I don’t know many of them.
—Sylvia Plath, 1963No poems can please long, nor live, that are written by water drinkers.
—Horace, 35 BCThe world is wearied of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians.
—Benjamin Disraeli, 1870At the start there’s always energy.
—Suzan-Lori Parks, 2006Time, when it is left to itself and no definite demands are made on it, cannot be trusted to move at any recognized pace. Usually it loiters, but just when one has come to count upon its slowness, it may suddenly break into a wild irrational gallop.
—Edith Wharton, 1905Soldiers in peace are like chimneys in summer.
—William Cecil, Lord Burghley, c. 1555Man is always a wizard to man, and the social world is at first magical.
—Jean-Paul Sartre, 1939Guard more faithfully the secret which is confided to you than the money which is entrusted to your care.
—Isocrates, c. 370 BC