All Quotes · Page 245

6202 hand-picked quotes from 239 philosophers, writers, and leaders.

Page 245 of 259

“To be left alone is the most precious thing one can ask of the modern world.”

“The price of contributing to the greatest literature the world has ever seen is often struggle and penury: art is still too often its own reward.”

— Anthony Burgess

“A mechanical description of the act tells us nothing, any more than a scientifically accurate account of mastication will convey the flavour of roast duck.”

— Anthony Burgess

“It is a great mortification to the vanity of man, that his utmost art and industry can never equal the meanest of nature's productions, either for beauty or value.”

— David Hume

“Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.”

— David Hume

“In a word, human life is more governed by fortune than by reason; is to be regarded more as a dull pastime than as a serious occupation; and is more influenced by particular…”

— David Hume

“The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds; and instead of vines and olives for the pleasure and use of man, produces, to…”

— David Hume

“Nothing appears more surprising to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit…”

— David Hume

“Where ambition can be so happy as to cover its enterprizes, even to the person himself, under the appearance of principle, it is the most incurable and inflexible of all human…”

— David Hume

“It is natural for us to seek a Standard of Taste; a rule, by which the various sentiments of men may be reconciled; at least, a decision, afforded, confirming one sentiment, and…”

— David Hume

“It is dangerous and harmful to be guided in our life's course by hatreds and aversions, for they are wasteful of energy and limit and twist the mind and prevent it from perceiving…”

— Jawaharlal Nehru

“That great disaster is a symbol to us to remember the big things of life and to forget the small things. We have thought too much of the small things.”

— Jawaharlal Nehru

“We have achieved political freedom but our revolution is not yet complete and is still in progress, for political freedom without the assurance of the right to live and to pursue…”

— Jawaharlal Nehru

“Every little thing counts in a crisis and we want our weight felt and our voice heard in quarters which are for the avoidance of world conflict.”

— Jawaharlal Nehru

“Evil unchecked grows, Evil tolerated poisons the whole system.”

— Jawaharlal Nehru

“But the past is dead and gone and our immortal civilisation does not help us greatly in solving the problems of today.”

— Jawaharlal Nehru

“That which is in a man, not that which lies beyond his vision is the main factor in what is about to befall him: the operation upon him is the event.”

— George MacDonald

“God hides nothing. His very work from the beginning is revelation, — a casting aside of veil after veil, a showing unto men of truth after truth.”

— George MacDonald

“Age is not all decay; it is the ripening, the swelling, of the fresh life within, that withers and bursts the husks.”

— George MacDonald

“I think the reason children get tired of their toys so soon is just that it is against human nature to be really interested in what is of no use.”

— George MacDonald

“You would not think any duty small, If you yourself were great.”

— George MacDonald

“It is better, a thousand-fold, for a proud man to fall and be humbled, than to hold up his head in his pride and fancied innocence.”

— George MacDonald

“In the midst of the disguises and artifices that reign among men, it is only attention and vigilance that can save us from surprises.”

— Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

“But God laughs at the prayers we make to him to avert public misfortunes, when we do not oppose what is being done to bring them about.”

— Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet