Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
There, close enough to spit on--if I'd been a barbarian and inclined to spit--was the dragon.
Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
When a man is in love, jealous, and just whipped by the Inquisition, he is no longer himself.
It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
All the ancient histories, as one of our wits say, are just fables that have been agreed upon
But for what purpose was the earth formed?" asked Candide. "To drive us mad," replied Martin.
We learn from history as much as a rabbit learns from an experiment that's performed upon it.
It is not age which killed Boston, for no cities die of age; it is the youth of other cities.
I am a fruitarian and I will only eat leaves picked by virgins in the moonlight - Steve Jobs
The justification of majority rule in politics is not to be found in its ethical superiority.
Ideals are an imaginative understanding of that which is desirable in that which is possible.
We cannot be contented because we are happy, and we cannot be happy because we are contented.
I hate false words, and seek with care, difficulty, and moroseness, those that fit the thing.
The eyes of critics, whether in commending or carping, are both on one side, like a turbot's.
I find it preferable not to have public opinions about anything. It's good for me to shut up.
Liberty is a luxury of security; the free individual is a product and a mark of civilization.
To the man grown the long crowded mile of his boyhood becomes less than the throw of a stone.
It takes two people to make you, and one people to die. That's how the world is going to end.
One of the pleasantest things in the world is going on a journey; but I like to go by myself.
An honest man speaks the truth, though it may give offence; a vain man, in order that it may.
Our repugnance to death increases in proportion to our consciousness of having lived in vain.
Without the aid of prejudice and custom, I should not be able to find my way across the room.
Religion either makes men wise and virtuous, or it makes them set up false pretenses to both.
A proud man is satisfied with his own good opinion, and does not seek to make converts to it.
The truth is, we pamper little griefs into great ones, and bear great ones as well as we can.
Those who are fond of setting things to rights, have no great objection to seeing them wrong.
A scholar is like a book written in a dead language. It is not every one that can read in it.
Gracefulness has been defined to be the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul.
People don't ever seem to realize that doing what's right is no guarantee against misfortune.
The swift years slip and slide adown the steep; The slow years pass; neither will come again.
Writing improves in direct ratio to the things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there.
Writing wasn't easy and wasn't fun. It was hard and lonely, and the words seldom just flowed.
Let's say there are prospects for a new Nigeria, but I don't think we have a new Nigeria yet.
Novels are food for the leftover hours of life, the in-between times, the moments of waiting.
Shorts are silly. Men in shorts are silly men. And silly is the very worst thing a man can be.
I don't think you can tell the objective truth about a person. That's why people write novels.
Fear of death has never played a large part in my consciousness - perhaps unimaginative of me.
Plant trees. They give us two of the most crucial elements for our survival: oxygen and books.
Drawing need not be the bones of art, but skill must always be the skeleton of accomplishment.
The more honest and authentic we are, the more deeply we go into the mystery of our own being.
When we're in our true being, the purpose of life is to feel that every moment is the purpose.
There is only consciousness. There is no individual apart from consciousness who is conscious.
The most beautiful smile is the one for someone who isn’t there, who just popped on your mind.
The challenge for a human now is to be more interesting to another than his or her smartphone.
It is by finding out what something is not that one comes closest to understanding what it is.
There's a whole category of people who miss out by not allowing themselves to be weird enough.
Our greatest furies spring from events which violate our sense of the ground of our existence.
We are properly ready for marriage when we are strong enough to embrace a life of frustration.
Some of the reason why we marry the wrong people is that we don't really understand ourselves.
Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.