"You may tell a man, thou art a fiend, but not, your nose wants blowing. To him alone who can bear a thing of that kind, you may tell all."

Johann Kaspar Lavater Literature See all quotes by Johann Kaspar Lavater →

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“The public seldom forgive twice.”

“There are but three classes of men — the retrograde, the stationary, the progressive.”

“The more honesty a man has, the less he affects the air of a saint — the affectation of sanctity is a blotch on the face of piety.”

“Too much gravity argues a shallow mind.”

“He who, when called upon to speak a disagreeable truth, tells it boldly and has done, is both bolder and milder than he who nibbles in a low voice, and never ceases nibbling.”

“Neatness begets order; but from order to taste there is the same difference as from taste to genius, or from love to friendship.”

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"A mathematician may say anything he pleases, but a physicist must be at least partially sane."

— Josiah Willard Gibbs

Science1839–1903

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"A raiding party led by Zayd set out against Umm in Ramadan. During it, Umm suffered a cruel death. Zyad tied her legs with rope and then tied her between two camels until they split her in two. She wa…"

— Al-Tabari

Mathematics

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"The system of building, described in this work, is intended for repetition. It would hardly pay to adopt it in its entirety for a single house if the matter were to end there. Where the processes and …"

— Ernest Flagg

architecture1857–1947

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"It often happens that we are most touched by what we are least capable of. Evanescent delicacy is not the quality in the arts that I admire most, but it is often the characteristic by which I am most …"

— Clive James

Literature1939–2019

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