John > John's Quotes

“. . . le propre de Dieu est d’être aimé, adoré; l’homme, autant que sa faiblsse le permet, ambitionne la même chose . . .
--Mémoires de l’abbé de Choisy habillé en femme”
― François-Timoléon de Choisy

“Though winter is represented in the almanac as an old man, facing the wind and sleet, and drawing his cloak about him, we rather think of him as a merry woodchopper, and warm-blooded youth, as blithe as summer.”
― Henry David Thoreau

“These little rulers who may rule a year,
Who see their pow’r will be for such short time,
Seek to abort the fruit of well made plans,
Lest it belong to those who follow them.
As they have little share of public goods,
They try to harvest much for their own selves,
Each man, they know, will gladly pardon them,
In hopes of one day profiting the same:
The people’s state of all states is the worst.”
― Pierre Corneille, Cinna, or The Clemency of Augustus

“Ces petits souverains qu'il fait pour une année,
Voyant d'un temps si court leur puissance bornée,
Des plus heureux desseins font avorter le fruit,
De peur de le laisser à celui qui les suit;
Comme ils ont peu de part au bien dont ils ordonnent,
Dans le champ du public largement ils moissonnent,
Assurés que chacun leur pardonne aisément,
Espérant à son tour un pareil traitement :
Le pire des États, c'est l'État populaire.”
― Pierre Corneille, Cinna

“Les grands, pour s'affermir achetant les suffrages,
Tiennent pompeusement leurs maîtres à leurs gages,
Qui, par des fers dorés se laissant enchaîner,
Reçoivent d'eux les lois qu'ils pensent leur donner.”
― Pierre Corneille, Cinna

“In wildness is the preservation of the world.”
― Henry David Thoreau

“I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walking

“These little rulers who may rule a year,
Who see their pow’r will be for such short time,
Seek to abort the fruit of well made plans,
Lest it belong to those who follow them.
As they have little share of public goods,
They try to harvest much for their own selves,
Each man, they know, will gladly pardon them,
In hopes of one day profiting the same:
The people’s state of all states is the worst.
--Cinna”
― Pierre Corneille, Cinna, or The Clemency of Augustus