A witticism is an epigram on the death of a feeling.

The luster of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies; the lights of a picture are created by the shades; the highest pleasure which nature has indulged to sensitive perception is that of rest after fatigue.

Samuel Johnson

At times it has been doubtful to me if Emerson really knows or feels what Poetry is at its highest, as in the Bible, for instance, or Homer or Shakspeare. I see he covertly or plainly likes best superb verbal polish, or something old or odd

Walt Whitman, Emerson, 1892

I saw a ship of material build (Her standards set, her brave apparel on)Directed as by madness mereAgainst a solid iceberg steer,Nor budge it, though the infactuate ship went down.The impact made huge ice-cubes fallSullen in tons that crashed the deck;But that one avalanche was all--No other movement save the foundering wreck.Along the spurs of ridges pale,Not any slenderest shaft and frail,A prism over glass-green gorges lone,Toppled; or lace or traceries fine,Nor pendant drops in grot or mineWere jarred, when the stunned ship went down.Nor sole the gulls in cloud that wheeledCircling one snow-flanked peak afar,But nearer fowl the floes that skimmedAnd crystal beaches, felt no jar.No thrill transmitted stirred the lockOf jack-straw neddle-ice at base;Towers indermined by waves--the blockAtilt impending-- kept their place.Seals, dozing sleek on sliddery ledgesSlipt never, when by loftier edgesThrough the inertia overthrown,The impetuous ship in bafflement went down.Hard Berg (methought), so cold, so vast,With mortal damps self-overcast;Exhaling still thy dankish breath--Adrift dissolving, bound for death;Though lumpish thou, a lumbering one--A lumbering lubbard loitering slow,Impingers rue thee ad go slowSounding thy precipice below,Nor stir the slimy slug that sprawlsAlong thy dead indifference of walls.

Herman Melville, The Berg (A Dre

A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.

Don Marquis

The country has charms only for those not obliged to stay there.

Edouard Manes

I have only one yardstick by which I test every major problem - and that yardstick is: Is it good for America?

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Maybe one day the world will change, that we'll be in a luxurious position of being able to debate whether or not it's inherently wrong to eat animals, but the question doesn't matter right now.

Jonathan Safran Foer

I mean, the fight for a health care bill to cover all Americans and leave none behind is attacked as being a race appeal, which is not true, but then it's put out in the media as true.

Jesse Jackson

A free people claim their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their magistrate.

Thomas Jefferson

Prince or commoner, tenor or bass,Painter or plumber or never-do-well,Do me a favor and shut your face -Poets alone should kiss and tell.

Dorothy Parker

Two monologues do not make a dialogue.

Jeff Daly