The people resemble a wild beast, which, naturally fierce and accustomed to live in the woods, has been brought up, as it were, in a prison and in servitude, and having by accident got its liberty, not being accustomed to search for its food, and not knowing where to conceal itself, easily becomes the prey of the first who seeks to incarcerate it again.
--
Book 1, Ch. 16Niccolo Machiavelli
» Niccolo Machiavelli - all quotes »
Custom is our nature. He who is accustomed to the faith believes in it, can no longer fear hell, and believes in nothing else. He who is accustomed to believe that the king is terrible ... etc. Who doubts then that our soul, being accustomed to see number, space, motion, believes that and nothing else? 89
Blaise Pascal
When will we realize that the fact that we can become accustomed to anything, however disgusting at first, makes it necessary to examine carefully everything we have become accustomed to.
George Bernard Shaw
I am as free as Nature first made man,
Ere the base laws of servitude began,
When wild in woods the noble savage ran.John Dryden
As the eye naturally seeks the light and vision, and our body naturally desires food and drink, so our mind is possessed with a becoming and natural desire to become acquainted with the truth of God and the causes of things.
Origen
Liberty itself has appeared intolerable to those nations who have not been accustomed to enjoy it.
Charles de Montesquieu
Machiavelli, Niccolo
Mailer, Norman
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z