Men shut their doors against a setting sun.
(Shakespeare: Timon of Athens.)
Samuel Butler, «Fools invent fashions…»
Fools invent fashions,
and wise men are fain to follow them.
(Samuel Butler (l): Prose Observations.)
Stendhal, «The more one pleases…»
The more one pleases generally,
the less one pleases profoundly.
(Stendhal: Love.)
Ben Johnson, «Contempt…»
Contempt of fame begets contempt of virtue.
(Ben Jonson: Sejanus.)
Pascal, «Fame is so sweet…»
Fame is so sweet that we love anything
with which we connect it, even death.
(Pascal: Pensées.)
Μarcus Αurelius, «You may break your heart…»
You may break your heart,
but men will still go on as before.
(Μarcus Αurelius: Meditations.)
Kafka, «How can one…»
How can one be glad of the world,
unless one is flying to it for refuge?
(Kafka: The Great Wall of China.)
Auguste Préault, «What the crowd…»
What the crowd requires
is mediocrity of the highest order.
(Auguste Préault.)
D. H. Lawrence, «Every man…»
Every man has a mob self
and an individual self,
in varying proportions.
(D. H. Lawrence: Pornography and Obscenity.)
Amiel, «We become charlatans…»
We become charlatans without realizing it,
and actors without wanting to.
(Αmiel: Journal intime.)