Archive

Quotes

Necessity knows no law except to conquer.

—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BC

Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in mixed company.

—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 1754

For the merchant, even honesty is a financial speculation.

—Charles Baudelaire, c. 1865

On no other stage are the scenes shifted with a swiftness so like magic as on the great stage of history when once the hour strikes.

—Edward Bellamy, 1888

Every thought is, strictly speaking, an afterthought.

—Hannah Arendt, 1978

It is so difficult not to become vain about one’s own good luck.

—Simone de Beauvoir, 1963

Who hears the fishes when they cry?

—Henry David Thoreau, 1849

Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o’clock is a scoundrel.

—Samuel Johnson, c. 1770

All people have the common desire to be elevated in honor, but all people have something still more elevated in themselves without knowing it.

—Mencius, c. 330 BC

Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare for it today.

—Malcolm X, 1964

Every fool becomes a philosopher after ten days of rain.

—Clover Adams, 1882

How sickness enlarges the dimension of a man’s self to himself! He is his own exclusive object.

—Charles Lamb, 1833

When nature is overriden, she takes her revenge.

—Marya Mannes, 1958