Selected Quotes

"Give me a condor's quill! Give me Vesuvius' crater for an inkstand! "

"I have no objection to any person's religion, be in what it may, so long as that person does not kill or murder any other in its name. "

"The sea is his; he is but a copycat of the true owner. "

"To preach the Truth to him who knew it not, is but to give him a little time to run about the world in misery and desolation. "

"Heaven have mercy on us all – Presbyterians and Pagans alike – for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending. "

"As for finish, that reminds me of the old Scriptural exhortation to some to pray without ceasing – but I never knew how to go about it. "

"I leave a white and turbid wake; pale waters, paler cheeks, where'er we sail. "

"Thou showest thy black side; and again, thy loveliest Isle of Love is just as- Black. "

"I'll try a pagan friend; since Christian kindness has proved so hollow-hearted. "

"Is there no middle ground between mammon and mammoth? "

"A hat without any crown! "

"And I only am escaped alone to tell thee! "

"Unbidden curses blasted him, and how, O Jane, Joan, you might have snatched back the eternity of general fancy. Now it was too late! "

"Oh, ye foolish! Throw all these thunderheads into the ocean – you are but a conservative man. "

"Yes, this was the life; saving up pennies on the damp pavement, and then I'll ruin them with dry flour and grease. "

"That root is to hit the hardest, you'd think it somewhat. "

"With fishbone ropes and bracelets they mock me; wearing my guard as an adversary. "

"So very like a woman – so very unlike a whale. "

"The mighty whale is mine! Have you seen him? "

"He was the bravest boy I ever met! "

"History doesn't repeat itself, but It often rhymes "

"If you want to make an audience laugh, you dress a man up as an old lady, then kick him down the stairs. If you want to make a comedian laugh, it has to be an actual old lady. "

"Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you. Give me a pig. He just looks you in the eye and treats you as an equal. "

"I do not see how a man can work at the frontiers of physics and write poetry at the same time. They are in opposition. In science you want to say something nobody knew before, in words which everyone can understand. In poetry you are bound to say something that everybody knows already in words that nobody can understand. "

"In 2024, Kamala Harris did worse among Black voters than Joe Biden did in 2020. She did worse among female voters. She did much worse among Latino voters. She did much worse among young voters. She did manage to outperform Biden among two groups: affluent people and white voters, especially white men. If there is one sentence that captures the surprising results of this election, it is this one from the sociologist Musa al-Gharbi: 'Democrats lost because everyone except for whites moved in the direction of Donald Trump this cycle.' Going into this campaign, I did not have that one on my bingo card. "