Quotables

Quotes, lines from books, lines from television and film.

"Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping, waiting, and though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir. Open it's jaws, and howl. It speaks to us, guides us. Passion rules us all, and we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love, the clarity of hatred, and the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we can live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion, we'd be truly dead." Angel, the Series

"When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?" -Eleanor Roosevelt

Trigonometry, she thought, is tangible evidence of evil.

There is no freedom either in civil or ecclesiastical [affairs], but where the liberty of the press is maintained. -- Matthew Tindal

One idea can only be opposed by another idea. -- Naquib Mahfouz

The reason why all mortals are so gripped by fear is that they see all sorts of things happening on the earth and in the sky with no discernible cause, and these they attribute to the will of a god. -- Lucretius, "on the nature of the universe"

A book cannot be killed. It lives and dies on its own. Once the 'vases' are 'broken' the fragments of life spread throughout the world; voices escape, going their adventurous ways; and there are always encounters, mutations, and festivals of the spirit. -- Nadia Tazi

To forbid us anything is to make us have a mind for it. -- Montaigne

I would have made the book more amusing had it not been for the Holy Office. --Miguel de Cervates Saavedra

If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. --John Stuart Mill

Dare to think for yourself. --Voltaire

The battle rages on for nearly twenty minutes. Madeleine and I cursed at each other, and very nearly spat at each other. But after that twenty minutes, Madeleine was in the cage, staring out with the haunted expression of a political prisoner being filmed by Amnesty International. Charlaine Harris – Three Bedrooms, One Corpse, p. 175.

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