You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends.
—Joseph Conrad, 1900
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Quotes
Anyone who’s never watched somebody die is suffering from a pretty bad case of virginity.
—John Osborne, 1956Envy and hatred are apt to blind the eyes and render them unable to behold things as they are.
—Margaret of Valois, c. 1600Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.
—W.H. Auden, 1957The state dictates and coerces; religion teaches and persuades. The state enacts laws; religion gives commandments. The state is armed with physical force and makes use of it if need be; the force of religion is love and benevolence.
—Moses Mendelssohn, 1783It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.
—Frederick Douglass, 1852I order that my funeral ceremonies be extremely modest, and that they take place at dawn or at the evening Ave Maria, without song or music.
—Giuseppe Verdi, 1900A change in the weather is sufficient to create the world and oneself anew.
—Marcel Proust, c. 1920I ride rough waters and shall sink with no one to save me.
—Virginia Woolf, 1931It’s easy to be independent when you’ve got money. But to be independent when you haven’t got a thing—that’s the Lord’s test.
—Mahalia Jackson, 1966Profit is profit even in Mecca.
—Nigerian proverbFame is no sanctuary from the passing of youth. Suicide is much easier and more acceptable in Hollywood than growing old gracefully.
—Julie Burchill, 1986A tremendous number of people in America work very hard at something that bores them. Even a rich man thinks he has to go down to the office everyday. Not because he likes it but because he can’t think of anything else to do.
—W.H. Auden, 1946