The purpose of a work of fiction is to appeal to the lingering after-effects in the reader's mind as differing from, say, the purpose of oratory or philosophy which respectively leave people in a fighting or thoughtful mood.

No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye.

Aristotle

Oh! too convincing -- dangerously dear -- In woman's eye the unanswerable tear!

Lord (George Gordon) Byron

One of the most important things one can do in life is to brutally question every single thing you are taught.

Bryant H. McGill

Some may say that such a girl is not ready for a relationship with a man, especially a man in his late sixties. But to that I say: We don't know anything. We don't know how to cure a cold or what dogs are thinking. We do terrible things, we make wars, we kill people out of greed. So who are we to say how to love. I wouldn't force her. I wouldn't have to. She would want me. We would be in love. What do you know. You don't know anything. Call me when you've cured AIDS, give me a ring then and I'll listen.

Miranda July

My definition of a decent society is one that first of all takes care of its losers, and protects its weak.

John le Carre

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.

Voltaire

A hint - don't paint too much direct from nature. Art is an abstraction! study nature then brood on it and treasure the creation which will result, which is the only way to ascend towards God - to create like our Divine Master.

Paul Gauguin

While neurological studies have tried to identify components responsible for fear and greed, the impact on finance is less clear.

Andrew Lo

There is in most passions a shrinking away from ourselves. The passionate pursuer has all the earmarks of a fugitive.

Eric Hoffer

Cats don't like change without their consent.

Roger Caras

The study of mathematics is apt to commence in disappointment... We are told that by its aid the stars are weighed and the billions of molecules in a drop of water are counted. Yet, like the ghost of Hamlet's father, this great science eludes the efforts of our mental weapons to grasp it.

Alfred North Whitehead

Behind all their personal vanity, women themselves always have an impersonal contempt for woman.

Friedrich Nietzsche