Famous quotes
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“Sun-swept beaches with a light wind blowing From the immense blue circle of the sea, And the soft thunder where long waves whiten — These were the same for Sappho as for me. Two thousand years — much has gone by forever, Change takes the gods and ships and speech of men — But here on the beaches that time passes over The heart aches now as then.”
Sara Teasdale (1884–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The gods, after all, are only human, and once their rage has been placated they are perfectly capable of acts of mercy and grace.”
Thomas M. Disch (1940–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nonsense prevails, modesty fails Grace and virtue turn into stupidity While the calendar fades almost all barricades to a pale compromise And our leaders have feasts on the backsides of beasts They still think they're the gods of antiquity If something you missed didn't even exist It was just an ideal — is it such a surprise?”
Elvis Costello (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All the difference in the world are as nothing compared to this: the difference between being you and being me. It makes the chasms between gods and men, between men and women, between dead and alive, seem almost trivial.You are you. She is someone else. Between lie the stars.”
Michael Marshall Smith (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Direct me gods, whose changes are all holy, To where it flickers deep in grass, the moly.”
Thom Gunn (1929–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Agni, the sum-total of the Gods. He is Vishnu and the Sun in His glory; He is the fire of matter and the fire of mind blended and fused; He is the intelligence which throbs in every atom; He is the Mind that actuates the system; He is the fire of substance and the substance of fire; He is the Flame and that which the Flame destroys. p. 602”
Alice Bailey (1880–1949) said by 1949 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let us try to see things from their better side: You complain about seeing thorny rose bushes; Me, I rejoice and give thanks to the gods That thorns have roses.”
Alphonse Karr (1808–1890) first seen 1853 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letters written from my garden", 1853
“Lasirèn, pray you a quick death for Hopping John. Pray you no more of this life for him. Even though no gods answer black people’s prayers here in this place.”
Nalo Hopkinson (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All the people sick and dead on the ships, and the ones sick and dead on this soil. What are gods for, then, if they let things like this to happen to their people?”
Nalo Hopkinson (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A glimpse of Breidablick, whose walls are light As e'en the silver on the cliff it shone; Of dark blue steel its columns azure height And the big altar was one agate stone. It seemed as if the air upheld alone Its dome, unless supporting spirits bore it, Studded with stars Odin's spangled throne, A light inscrutable burned fiercely o'er it; In sky-blue mantles, Sat the gold-crowned gods before it.”
Esaias Tegnér (1782–1846) said by 1846 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think you’re just so gods-damned certain of your own importance that you haven’t figured it out. So let me make this clear: I don’t care about you. You’re irrelevant. It’s a waste of my energy even to hate you!”
N. K. Jemisin (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That was how I came to understand, how I came to know why all these brothers wrote and talked so big. Even the Knowledged feared the streets. But the rhyme pad was a spell book—it summoned asphalt elementals, elder gods, and weeping ancestors, all of whom had your back. That summer, I knew what Fruitie was trying to say, that when under the aegis of , you never lived alone, you never walked alone.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[In the mid-90s] The older gods were falling off. were breaking. had taken us as far as they could, and already the new voices were being hijacked by the death cults. Brothers who last week were shouting out were flipped into studio gangsters, killing every nigger in sight.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The pseudoscience of astrology has no place in magick. Astrology has already died twice: once with the classical gods, and a second time after the Enlightenment. The complete failure of contemporary psychology to create anything other than a vocabulary of intellectual rubbish has encouraged astrology to resurface.”
Peter J. Carroll (1953–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Flat Earth theory serves well enough for a trip from the cave to the water hole and back, and a third dimension going up into the sky and down underground serves to accommodate gods and devils — A lot of people still think like that, believe it or not.”
Peter J. Carroll (1953–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't give a damn, laddie. Until the actual moment, when they cut me down, I shall still be looking to win. And the gods of war are fickle at best.”
David Gemmell (1948–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We don't seem to be overflowing with luck." "You make your own. I put no faith in gods, Lake. Never have. If they exist, they care very little—if at all—about ordinary mortals. I put my faith in me, and do you know why? Because I have never lost!”
David Gemmell (1948–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One may call the world a myth, in which bodies and things are visible, but souls and minds hidden. Besides, to wish to teach the whole truth about the Gods to all produces contempt in the foolish, because they cannot understand, and lack of zeal in the good, whereas to conceal the truth by myths prevents the contempt of the foolish, and compels the good to practice philosophy.”
Sallustius (400–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Theological myths suit philosophers, physical and psychic suit poets, mixed suit religious initiations, since every initiation aims at uniting us with the world and the Gods.”
Sallustius (400–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“May these explanations of the myths find favour in the eyes of the Gods themselves and the souls of those who wrote the myths.”
Sallustius (400–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Of the cosmic Gods some make the world be, others animate it, others harmonize it, consisting as it does of different elements; the fourth class keep it when harmonized.”
Sallustius (400–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is a certain force, less primary than being but more primary than the soul, which draws its existence from being and completes the soul as the sun completes the eyes. Of souls some are rational and immortal, some irrational and mortal. The former are derived from the first Gods, the latter from the secondary.”
Sallustius (400–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is impossible that there should be so much providence in the last details, and none in the first principles. Then the arts of prophecy and of healing, which are part of the cosmos, come of the good providence of the Gods.”
Sallustius (400–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That power of the Gods which orders for the good things which are not uniform, and which happen contrary to expectation, is commonly called Fortune, and it is for this reason that the Goddess is especially worshipped in public by cities; for every city consists of elements which are not uniform.”
Sallustius (400–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Gods being good and making all things, there is no positive evil, it only comes by absence of good; just as darkness itself does not exist, but only comes about by absence of light.”
Sallustius (400–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Since we have received everything from the Gods, and it is right to pay the giver some tithe of his gifts, we pay such a tithe of possessions in votive offering, of bodies in gifts of (hair and) adornment, and of life in sacrifices.”
Sallustius (400–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Words are like little gods. The pronoun "him" instead of "her," if used often enough, can disuade a girl from science or math. The words you use determine the density of gray matter in your brain. They affect your political leanings, influence how you see reality, determine your level of confidence and thus, define what it means to be you. That's what words do.”
Tom Heehler wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Words are like little gods; to forsake their power is to forsake yours.”
Tom Heehler wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I inclined To lose my faith in Ballyrush and Gortin Till Homer's ghost came whispering to my mind. He said: I made the Iliad from such A local row. Gods make their own importance.”
Patrick Kavanagh (1904–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men imitate the gods whom they adore, and to such miserable beings their crimes become their religion.”
Cyprian (200–258) said by 258 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Evolution teaches us, Nicholas, that the original purpose of language was to ritualize men’s threats and curses, his spells to compel the gods; communication came later.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Death of Doctor Island” in Universe 3 (1973), ed. Terry Carr, p. 37; reprinted in Gene Wolfe, The Wolfe Archipelago (1983); reprinted in Gene Wolfe, The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009)
“Men build scales, but the gods blow upon the lighter pan.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Volume 1: Nightside the Long Sun (1993), Ch. 1
“The gods smile on us, my son, or so it is written. It's a wonder they don't laugh aloud.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The jokes of the gods are long in the telling.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What little I have learned in the course of a long life, regarding the gods, I have tried to forget.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When neither our fellows nor our gods spoil our plans, we spoil them ourselves.”
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At that period, everybody in the Roman Empire had some kind of religion, but nobody bothered much about it. Just like today. ...Although Romans had plenty of gods, in reality they believed in none.”
Wilhelm Busch (pastor) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dostoevsky believed that the gods of rationalism and materialist utilitarianism had joined in conspiracy against all other ethical systems. … The accumulation of capital, or the acquisition of money, are endeavors par excellence which establish a quantifiable goal: hence they are directly amenable to maximization formulae.”
John Carroll (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Liquor does this? Even after you’re sober?” “A cruel joke, isn’t it? The gods put a price tag on everything, it seems.”
Scott Lynch (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I suspect that drink has made you impulsive.“ “Drink makes me see funny; the gods made me impulsive.”
Scott Lynch (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only gods-damned fools die for lines drawn on maps.”
Scott Lynch (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Gods, all this maneuvering for moral advantage. You’d think we were married.”
Scott Lynch (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You know, believe it or not, ‘the gods will provide’ is not a fucking plan, lad. You’ve got one hell of a talent for improvisation, but when that lets you down, it lets you down hard.”
Scott Lynch (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In my dreams I sign chits and file papers,” Nikoros muttered. “Then I awake to sign real chits and file real papers. I imagine my grave marker will be carved as a writing desk. ‘Here lies Nikoros Via Lupa, wifeless and heirless, but gods how he could alphabetize!’”
Scott Lynch (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are none so blind as those who see angels...None so deaf as those who hear gods.”
James K. Morrow (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Isn’t there anything you can do about the predator?” Carmody asked. “Nothing. Nor would I if I could. Predation is a necessary circumstance. Even the Gods are eventually eaten by Fate. You will not be an exception to the universal rule.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don’t have much truck with romantic notions of human destiny, or Gods, or Good Guys winning out in the end. I have seen destiny in action, and I can tell you, it stinks.”
John Varley (1947–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the dead sunlight of a forgotten spring the major leaguers were trim, graceful and effortless. They might have been gods for these seemed true Olympians to a boy who wanted to become a manand who sensed that it was an exalted manly thing to catch a ball with one hand thrust across your body and make a crowd leap to its feet and cheer.”
Roger Kahn (1927–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[We are] gods with anuses.”
Ernest Becker (1924–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Billions of people may not be free enough to let go of their made-up gods. You will not allow that sad fact to prevent you from proving the exception. Billions of people may not be equal to seeing beyond limited self-interest to a more mindful self-interest that takes into account the future of the species. You will not allow that sad fact to prevent you from proving the exception.”
Eric Maisel (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source