The Quotes canon
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Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Rural vs. urban2 quotes
He likes the country, but in truth must own,
Most likes it, when he studies it in town. — William Cowper · 1782God made the country, and man made the town. — William Cowper · 1785Being right1 quote
A fool must now and then be right, by chance. — William Cowper · 1782Books1 quote
To desire to have many books, and never to use them, is like a childe that will have a candle burning by him all the while he is sleeping. — Henry Peacham · 1622Childhood1 quote
There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in. — Graham Greene · 1940Depression1 quote
He felt the loyalty we all feel to unhappiness—the sense that that is where we really belong. — Graham Greene · 1948Empathy1 quote
No human being can really understand another and no one can arrange another's happiness. — Graham Greene · 1948England1 quote
England, with all thy faults, I love thee still-My country! — William Cowper · 1785Existential solitude1 quote
No human being can really understand another and no one can arrange another's happiness. — Graham Greene · 1948Experts1 quote
No lesson seems to be so deeply inculcated by the experience of life as that you never should trust experts. If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome: if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent: if you believe the soldiers, nothing is safe. They all require to have their strong wine diluted by a very large admixture of insipid common sense. — Lord Salisbury · 1877Failure1 quote
Success is more dangerous than failure, (the ripples break over a wider coastline). — Graham Greene · 1980Fools1 quote
A fool must now and then be right, by chance. — William Cowper · 1782God1 quote
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm. — William Cowper · 1779Grief1 quote
Grief is itself a med'cine. — William Cowper · 1782Growing up1 quote
There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in. — Graham Greene · 1940Hunting1 quote
Detested sport,
That owes its pleasures to another's pain. — William Cowper · 1785Idleness1 quote
Absence of occupation is not rest,
A mind quite vacant is a mind distress'd. — William Cowper · 1782Incomprehensibility of God1 quote
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm. — William Cowper · 1779Journalism1 quote
Journalists belong in the gutter because that is where the ruling classes throw their guilty secrets. — Gerald Priestland · 1988Kindness1 quote
In human relations kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths. — Graham Greene · 1948Living life to the fullest1 quote
Give me a spirit that on this life's rough sea
Loves t' have his sails filled with a lusty wind,
Even till his sail-yards tremble, his masts crack,
And his rapt ship run on her side so low
That she drinks water, and her keel plows air. — George Chapman · 1608Loving others1 quote
One can't love humanity. One can only love people. — Graham Greene · 1943Man and animals1 quote
Detested sport,
That owes its pleasures to another's pain. — William Cowper · 1785Melancholy1 quote
He felt the loyalty we all feel to unhappiness—the sense that that is where we really belong. — Graham Greene · 1948Patriotism1 quote
England, with all thy faults, I love thee still-My country! — William Cowper · 1785Politics1 quote
One of the nuisances of the ballot is that when the oracle has spoken you never know what it means. — Lord Salisbury · 1877Probability1 quote
A fool must now and then be right, by chance. — William Cowper · 1782Regret1 quote
Remorse, the fatal egg by pleasure laid. — William Cowper · 1782Shadows1 quote
When the sun sets, shadows, that showed at noon
But small, appear most long and terrible. — Nathaniel Lee · 1679Success1 quote
Success is more dangerous than failure, (the ripples break over a wider coastline). — Graham Greene · 1980