Divine nature gave the fields; human art built the cities.
—Marcus Terentius Varro, c. 70 BC
Archive
Quotes
Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the inclination of your heart and the desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
—Book of Ecclesiastes, c. 200 BCGo to the pine if you want to learn about the pine, or to the bamboo if you want to learn about the bamboo.
—Matsuo Basho, c. 1685Friendship’s a noble name, ’tis love refined.
—Susanna Centlivre, 1703Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.
—Shimon Peres, 1995We never are definitely right; we can only be sure we are wrong.
—Richard P. Feynman, 1965Insurgents are like conquerors: they must go forward; the moment they are stopped, they are lost.
—Duke of Wellington, c. 1819Children and fools cannot lie.
—John Heywood, 1546We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea—whether it is to sail or to watch it—we are going back whence we came.
—John F. Kennedy, 1962If you read somebody’s diary, you get what you deserve.
—David Sedaris, 2004To live for a time close to great minds is the best kind of education.
—John Buchan, 1940After all, crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor.
—John Huston, 1950Information can tell us everything. It has all the answers. But they are answers to questions we have not asked, and which doubtless don’t even arise.
—Jean Baudrillard, c. 1987