Michel De Montaigne book Essays
Book III, Ch. 10
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Rules for the Preservation of Health, 18
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Michel De Montaigne book Essays
Book III, Ch. 10
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright
Act II; sometimes paraphrased as: The customs of your tribe are not laws of nature.
1890s, Caesar and Cleopatra (1898)
Variant: Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
Context: THEODOTUS: Caesar: you are a stranger here, and not conversant with our laws. The kings and queens of Egypt may not marry except with their own royal blood. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are born king and consort just as they are born brother and sister.
BRITANNUS (shocked): Caesar: this is not proper.
THEODOTUS (outraged): How!
CAESAR (recovering his self-possession): Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
“We are more sensible of what is done against custom than against Nature.”
Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher
Of Eating of Flesh, Tract 1
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
W. Edwards Deming (1900–1993) American professor, author, and consultant
Source: Out Of The Crisis (1982), p. 175
“The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from custom.”
Michel De Montaigne book Essays
Book I, Ch. 22. Of Custom
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Leon MacLaren (1910–1994) British philosopher
Leon MacLaren, Nature of Society and Other Essays
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author
The Essays Or Counsels, Civil And Moral, Of Francis Ld. Verulam Viscount St. Albans (1625), Of Nature in Men
“Almost every reality you "know" at any given second is a mere ghost held in memory.”
Howard Bloom (1943) American publicist and author
Source: Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century (2000), Ch.8 Reality is a Shared Hallucination
“Nature inclines to ill, through all her range,
And use is second nature, hard to change.”
Ludovico Ariosto book Orlando Furioso
Natura inchina al male, e viene a farsi
L'abito poi difficile a mutarsi.
Canto XXXVI, stanza 1 (tr. W. S. Rose)
Orlando Furioso (1532)
“We almost made it to thirty seconds without an insult. I think we set a new record.”
Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist
Source: Acheron