A collection of quotes that I’ve gathered since the mid-1990s…
Each of us is a Renaissance where the world’s knowledge has to be reborn.— Sean Lysaght
A candour affected is a dagger concealed— Marcus Aurelius
A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.— Oscar Wilde
A man does not sin by commission only, but often by omission— Marcus Aurelius
A man’s manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait— Goethe
A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions— Marcus Aurelius
A sadist is a person who is kind to a masochist— Arthur Koestler
A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than for other people— Thomas Mann
All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher— Ambrose Bierce
Barbarism has a certain charm, particularly when it comes clothed in virtue— John Gray
Because a thing is difficult for you do not suppose it to be beyond mortal power— Marcus Aurelius
Before going out take off the last thing you put on— Coco Chanel
Character is fate— Heraclitus
Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.— A N Whitehead
Comedy is long shot, tragedy close-up— Jean-Luc Godard
Comedy occurs when people are reduced to their mechanical essence— Henri Bergson
Complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable to give possesses you— Andre Gide
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear— Ambrose Redmoon
Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember it didn’t work for the rabbit— R.E. Shay
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.— Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Even the most sublime nothingness gives birth to nothingness— Holderlin
Every concept of God is empty chatter. But the idea of divinity is the idea of all ideas— Friedrich Schlegel
Every great movement must experience three stages: ridicule, discussion, adoption— John Stuart Mill
Everyone hears only what he understands— Goethe
Failures are stepping-stones.— Elli Stassinopoulos
Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature— GB Shaw
Frugality is not poverty— Sunita Narain
Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance— Samuel Johnson
Guard against the folly of those who weary their day in much business, but lack any aim on which their whole effort, nay, their whole thought is focussed— Marcus Aurelius
Habitual recurrance to harmony will increase your mastery of it— Marcus Aurelius
He conquers who endures— Persius
He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money— Franklin
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it— Picasso
I don’t know why we are here, but I’m pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves— Wittgenstein
I know well that he who lightly quarrels with the world is reconciled with it even more quietly— Holderlin
If a person never contradicts himself, it must be that he says nothing— Miguel de Unamuno
If the people lead, the leaders will follow.— Mahatma Ghandi
If the universe was found to be finite or infinite, either discovery would be equally stupefying and impenetrable to me— Christopher Hitchens
If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us— Hermann Hesse
if you’re true to yourself then originality happens by default— David Mitchell
In any predicament, give all your attention to turning the event itself to some good account— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty— Emerson
In great matters men show themselves as they wish to be seen; in small matters, as they are— Gamaliel Bradford
Intellectualization is a defense mechanism of great power— Alice Miller
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education— Albert Einstein
It is incredible that a man should fear the most beautiful; yet it is so— Holderlin
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it— Aristotle
It pleases me as much to doubt as to know— Dante
It’s fun to make a noise but more rewarding to make a difference— Gyles Brandreth
Knowledge consists of knowing that a tomato is a fruit, and wisdom consists of not putting it in a fruit salad.— Miles Kington
Look at the inmost causes of things, stripped of their husks; note the intentions that underlie actions; study the essences of pain, pleasure, death, glory. Observe how man’s disquiet is all of his own making— Marcus Aurelius
Make it as good as you can, then cut ten minutes— Fred Astaire
Man is a god when he dreams, a beggar when he thinks— Holderlin
Many of the anxieties that harras you are superfluous; being but creatures of your own fancy, you can rid yourself of them— Marcus Aurelius
May you live your life as if the maxim of your actions were to become universal law— Kant
Never become unduly absorbed in things that are not of the first importance— Marcus Aurelius
No epoch contains the yardstick of all things— Ernst Toller
Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment, and especially on their children, than the unlived lives of the parents— Carl Jung
Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task— William James
Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul— Marcus Aurelius
One goal of education is to teach people to want the rewards life has to offer, but another goal is to teach them a modest degree of contempt for those rewards, too.— Louis Menand
One has no choice about what one writes about— Gustave Flaubert
One of the things the arts should do is slap the middle class in the face— Aravind Adiga
Only borrow money to pay for things that increase in value— Seth Godin
Our defects usually spring, for the most part, from the same sources as our good points— Longinus
Patriotism is, fundamentally, a conviction that a particular country is the best in the world because you were born in it— GB Shaw
Power is money, pasteurized— Alan Clarke, Paraphrased
Practise, even when success looks hopeless— Marcus Aurelius
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy— H.L. Mencken
Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears— Marcus Aurelius
Science is never neutral— Sunita Narain
Stately speech comes naturally to the proudest spirits— Longinus
Sublimity is the echo of a great soul— Longinus
Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm— Winston Churchill
Take no enterprise in hand at haphazard, or without regard to the principles governing its proper execution— Marcus Aurelius
Talent is the desire to practice— Malcolm Gladwell
Technology is the knack of so arranging the world that we do not have to experience it— Max Frisch
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant. Success in Circuit lies— Emily Dickinson
The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts— Locke
The challenge isn’t just to tell the truth: it’s to tell truth that resonates.— Seth Godin
The greatest danger that can befall us is that we shall allow ourselves to become like those with whom we are coping— George Kennan
The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts.— Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take— C. Northcote Parkinson
The memory of errors remains indelible, while that of excellences quickly dies away— Longinus
The mind that has no fixed aim loses itself— Montaigne
The most patriotic thing a creative artist can do is challenge people to see their country as it is— Aravind Adiga
The novelist’s job is to say what other people won’t say, and take the consequences— Gerard Donovan
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes— Marcel Proust
The pursuit of Utopia must be replaced by an attempt to cope with reality— John Gray
The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious— Marcus Aurelius
The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think.— E. Schlossberg
The state has always been made a hell by man’s wanting to make it his heaven— Holderlin
The things that we love tell us what we are— Aquinas
The true believer is in a high degree protected against the danger of certain neurotic afflictions; by accepting the universal neurosis he is spared the task of forming a personal neurosis— Freud
The whole of the truth lies in the presentation; therefore the expression should be studied in the interest of veracity. This is the only morality of art apart from subject— Joseph Conrad
There is more to life than meditating on the strangeness of man— Jean-Luc Godard
There is no better start for thinking than laughter— Walter Benjamin
There is no great beauty that hath not some strangeness to the proportion— Blake
There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact— Arthur Conan Doyle
There’s a special kind of stupidity that only very clever people are capable of.— Ian McEwan
Though men may hinder you from following the paths of reason, they can never succeed in deflecting you from sound action; but make sure that they are equally unsuccesful in destroying your charitable feelings towards them— Marcus Aurelius
To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong— Joseph Pearce
To refrain from imitation is the best revenge— Marcus Aurelius
We have art in order not to die of the truth— Friedrich Nietzsche
We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be— May Sarton
Wear the old coat and buy the new book.— Austin Phelps
What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence— Samuel Johnson
Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves, but deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wine is sunlight held together with water— Galileo
Wonder is the desire for knowledge— Aquinas
You belong to the class you feel you belong to— Marx
You have to love before you can be relentless.— Jonathan Franzen
Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts— Marcus Aurelius