"Many things can make you miserable for weeks; few can bring you a whole day of happiness."

Mignon McLaughlin Journalism See all quotes by Mignon McLaughlin →

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“The ideal home: big enough for you to hear the children, but not very well.”

“We have to call it "freedom": who'd die for "a lesser tyranny"?”

“The neurotic longs to touch bottom, so at least he won't have that to worry about anymore.”

“A woman asks little of love: only that she be able to feel like a heroine.”

“Every group of six or more has its inner circle, its outer circle, and its hangers-on.”

“The total history of almost anyone would shock almost everyone.”

Resonant Thoughts

"You know when it really got bad here? When they tried to help. With medicine. And irrigation. They sank deep wells, with sweet, flowing water, and of course the nomads settled there. So instead of mov…"

— Bruce Sterling

Science1954

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"Paradoxical as it may seem, a Latin prose or a geometry problem, even though they are done wrong, may be of a great service one day, provided we devote the right kind of effort to them. Should the occ…"

— Simone Weil

Philosophy1909–1943

#time

"I should not interfere with this natural march of history. To hold onto power for another half-year, when the country has a strong man who is worthy of being president and with whom practically every …"

— Boris Yeltsin

Politics1931–2007

#time

"To take away to-day from England her steam-engines would be to take away at the same time her coal and iron. It would be to dry up all her sources of wealth, to ruin all on which her prosperity depend…"

— Nicolas_Léonard_Sadi_Carnot

Military1796–1832

#time