All Quotes · Page 248

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

Page 248 of 259

“So in all human affairs one notices, if one examines them closely, that it is impossible to remove one inconvenience without another emerging.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“I assert once again as a truth to which history as a whole bears witness that men may second their fortune, but cannot oppose it; that they may weave its warp, but cannot break it.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“Discipline in war counts more than fury.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“No proceeding is better than that which you have concealed from the enemy until the time you have executed it.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please.”

— Niccolò Machiavelli

“A people that is happy and free has need of festivities more than of theatres; it will always see in itself the finest spectacle.”

— Romain Rolland

“A hundred facts testify to how great an extent the East was mingled with Hellenic thought during the second century of our era.”

— Romain Rolland

“Let us return to our eagle's nest in the Himalayas.”

— Romain Rolland

“The greatest human ideal is the great cause of bringing together the thoughts of Europe and Asia; the great soul of India will topple our world.”

— Romain Rolland

“Never having been hampered by a priestly order, each man has been entirely free to search wherever he pleased for the spiritual explanation of the spectacle of the universe.”

— Romain Rolland

“Such tolerance may be surprising to religious believers in the West, but it is an integral part of Vedantic belief.”

— Romain Rolland

“Of course, this entire fabric of Indian life stands solidly on faith, that is to say, on a slender and emotional hypothesis.”

— Romain Rolland

“But amid all the beliefs of Europe, and of Asia, that of the Indian Brahmins seems to me infinitely the most alluring.”

— Romain Rolland

“Greater than all European philosophies, it is even capable of adjusting itself to the vast hypotheses of modern science.”

— Romain Rolland

“India, ever mindful of the natural differences in souls and in philosophies, endeavors to blend them into each other, so as to recreate in its fullest perfection the complete…”

— Romain Rolland

“The matching of opposites produces the true rhythm of life.”

— Romain Rolland

“Everything has its place, every being has its function, and all take part in the divine concert, their different voices, and their very dissonances, creating, in the phrase of…”

— Romain Rolland

“I hear Siva dancing, dancing in the heart of the world, in my own heart.”

— Romain Rolland

“Never do I hesitate to look squarely at the unexpected face that every passing hour unveils to us, and to sacrifice the false images of it formed in advance, however dear they may…”

— Romain Rolland

“May life herself speak! However inadequate I may be in listening to her, and in repeating her words, I shall try to record them, even if they contradict my most secret desires.”

— Romain Rolland

“And this definition is something you may then carry with you for the rest of your life, trying to confirm it or extend or correct or deny it; but you can never eliminate it.”

— Italo Calvino

“With cities, it is as with dreams: everything imaginable can be dreamed, but even the most unexpected dream is a rebus that conceals a desire or, its reverse, a fear.”

— Italo Calvino

“Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals…”

— Italo Calvino

“The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno where we live every day, that we form by being together.”

— Italo Calvino