The greatest thing in family life is to take a hint when a hint is intended—and not to take a hint when a hint isn’t intended.
—Robert Frost, 1939
Archive
Quotes
The desire of knowledge, like the thirst of riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it.
—Laurence Sterne, 1760my mind is
a big hunk of irrevocable nothing
Sick, irritated, and the prey to a thousand discomforts, I go on with my labor like a true workingman, who, with sleeves rolled up, in the sweat of his brow, beats away at his anvil, not caring whether it rains or blows, hails or thunders.
—Gustave Flaubert, 1845Slang is as old as speech and the congregating together of people in cities. It is the result of crowding and excitement and artificial life.
—John Camden Hotten, 1859Most authors seek fame, but I seek for justice—a holier impulse than ever entered into the ambitious struggles of the votaries of that fickle, flirting goddess.
—Davy Crockett, 1834I wonder whether if I had an education I should have been more or less a fool than I am.
—Alice James, 1889It is shameful and inhuman to treat men like chattels to make money by, or to regard them merely as so much muscle or physical power.
—Pope Leo XIII, 1891To outwit an enemy is not only just and glorious but profitable and sweet.
—Plutarch, c. 100There is a sickness among tyrants: they cannot trust their friends.
—Aeschylus, c. 458 BCFire destroys that which feeds it.
—Simone Weil, c. 1940To know all is not to forgive all. It is to despise everybody.
—Quentin Crisp, 1968Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts, unguarded.
—The Dhammapada, c. 400 BC