It is impossible to translate the poets. Can you translate music?
—Voltaire, c. 1732
Archive
Quotes
Keep running after a dog, and he will never bite you.
—François Rabelais, 1535Democracy is the menopause of Western society, the grand climacteric of the body social. Fascism is its middle-aged lust.
—Jean Baudrillard, 1987Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.
—Arthur Miller, 2001We all have a contract with the public—in us they see themselves, or what they would like to be.
—Clark Gable, 1935The law is established from above but becomes custom below.
—Su Zhe, c. 1100The god of music dwelleth out of doors.
—Edith M. Thomas, 1887There is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1943For, say they, when cruising in an empty ship, if you can get nothing better out of the world, get a good dinner out of it, at least.
—Herman Melville, 1851It is strange indeed that the more we learn about how to build health, the less healthy Americans become.
—Adelle Davis, 1951The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
—Saint Augustine, c. 390Health indeed is a precious thing, to recover and preserve which we undergo any misery, drink bitter potions, freely give our goods—restore a man to his health, his purse lies open to thee.
—Robert Burton, 1621The sea is mother-death, and she is a mighty female, the one who wins, the one who sucks us all up.
—Anne Sexton, 1971