“Certain books are apparently written not so that we may learn from them but to demonstrate the fact that the author knew something.”— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, amazon.com
“The greatest respect an author can have for his public is never to produce what is expected but what he himself considers right and useful for whatever stage of intellectual development have been reached by himself and others.”— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, amazon.com
“If they believe the critics when they say they are great then they must believe them when they say they are rotten and they lose confidence. At present we have two good writers who cannot write because they have lost confidence through reading critics. If they wrote, sometimes it would be good and s…”— Ernest Hemingway, amazon.com
“I actually think an artist should read their negative reviews. To counter balance their own self-serving opinion.”— Ernest Hemingway, amazon.com
“[Aesop to Solon] 'I suppose when we talk to kings we should tell them either as little as possible or else what they most want to be told.' 'Not at all, either as little as possible or else what they most need told.”— Plutarch, amazon.com
“[Eurybiades] 'You know, Themistocles, at the games they trash anybody who starts before the signal.' [Themistocles] 'Yes, but they do not crown anybody who gets left at the post.'”— Plutarch, amazon.com
“Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older, they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.”— Oscar Wilde, amazon.com
“Surely the world is quite full enough of riddles for us not to need to turn the simplest phenomena into riddles too?”— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, amazon.com
“Let us work without argue, it is the only way to make life endurable.”— Voltaire, Candide, amazon.com
“'Do you think,' said Candide, 'that men have always massacred each other, as they do today?' 'Do you think,' said Martin, 'that sparrow-hawks have always eaten the pigeons they came across?' 'Yes of course.' 'Well, if sparrow-hawks have always possessed the same nature, why should you expect men to…”— Voltaire, amazon.com
“There is nothing so disturbing to one's well being and judgment as see a friend get rich.”— Charles Kindleberger, businessinsider.com
“[Money may be the husk of many things but not the kernel...good but not appetite; medicine but not health, acquaintance but not friends; servants but not loyalty; days of joy but not peace or happiness.”— Henrik Ibsen, forbes.com
“In remembering your ancient achievement, do not forget the calm and cautious demeanor which secured them.”— Belisarus, Lord Mahon, amazon.com