1. "A man who strains himself on the stage is bound, if he is any good, to strain all the people sitting in the stalls." ‘
2. “ANDREA: Unhappy the land that has no heroes! . . . GALILEO: No, unhappy the land that needs heroes.”
3. "Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it."
4. “Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.”
5. “Food comes first, then morals.”
6. "From the cradle to the coffin underwear comes first."
7. "In the dark time will there also be singing?" / Yes, there will be singing about the dark time."
8. "People remain what they are even if their faces fall apart."
9. “She's not so pretty anyone would want to ruin her.”
10. ”Sometimes it's more important to be human, than to have good taste.”
11. “Take note of what men of old concluded: / That what there is shall go to those who are good for it, / Children to the motherly, that they prosper, / Carts to good drivers, that they be driven well, / The valley to the waterers, that it yield fruit.”
12. “The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error.”
13. “The defeats and victories of the fellows at the top aren't always defeats and victories for the fellows at the bottom.”
14. ”The finest plans have always been spoiled by the littleness of them that should carry them out. Even emperors can't do it all by themselves.”
15. ”The wickedness of the world is so great you have to run your legs off to avoid having them stolen from under you.”
16. "Today every invention is received with a cry of triumph which soon turns into a cry of fear."
17. "Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes."
18. ”War is like love, it always finds a way.”
19. “What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?”
20. “What's a joy to the one is a nightmare to the other.
That's how it is today, that's how it'll be forever.”
21. ”What is robbing a bank compared to founding one?”
22. ”Whenever there are great virtues, it's a sure sign something's wrong.”
23. “Who built the seven gates of Thebes?
The books are filled with names of kings.
Was it the kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?
And Babylon, so many times destroyed.
Who built the city up each time? In which of Lima's houses,
That city glittering with gold, lived those who built it?
In the evening when the Chinese wall was finished
Where did the masons go? Imperial Rome
Is full of arcs of triumph. Who reared them up? Over whom
Did the Caesars triumph? Byzantium lives in song.
Were all her dwellings palaces? And even in Atlantis of the legend
The night the seas rushed in,
The drowning men still bellowed for their slaves.
Young Alexander conquered India.
He alone?
Caesar beat the Gauls.
Was there not even a cook in his army?
Phillip of Spain wept as his fleet
was sunk and destroyed. Were there no other tears?
Frederick the Greek triumphed in the Seven Years War.
Who triumphed with him?
Each page a victory
At whose expense the victory ball?
Every ten years a great man,
Who paid the piper?
So many particulars.
So many questions.”
