“It is an old saying, "A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword"; and many men are as much galled with a calumny, a scurrile and bitter jest, a libel, a pasquil, satire, apologue, epigram, stage-plays, or the like, as with any misfortune whatsoever.”
― The Anatomy of Melancholy
― The Anatomy of Melancholy
“The life that I could still live, I should live, and the thoughts that I could still think, I should think.”
― The Red Book: Liber Novus
― The Red Book: Liber Novus
“Now go and brag of thy present happiness, whosoever thou art, brag of thy temperature, of thy good parts, insult, triumph, and boast; thou seest in what a brittle state thou art, how soon thou mayst be dejected, how many several ways, by bad diet, bad air, a small loss, a little sorrow or discontent, an ague, &c.; how many sudden accidents may procure thy ruin, what a small tenure of happiness thou hast in this life, how weak and silly a creature thou art.”
― The Anatomy of Melancholy
― The Anatomy of Melancholy
“As a fat body is more subject to diseases, so are rich men to absurdities and fooleries, to many casualties and cross inconveniences.”
― The Anatomy of Melancholy
― The Anatomy of Melancholy
John-Alan’s 2025 Year in Books
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