What I always hated and detested and cursed above all things was this contentment, this healthiness and comfort, this carefully preserved optimism of the middle classes, this fat and prosperous brood of mediocrity. – Hermann Hesse
The hope of a new politics does not lie in formulating a left-wing reply to the right-it lies in rejecting conventional political categories. – Christopher Lasch
The dust and odour of ancient libraries, the gloom of those crypts of literature, have… all the charm of freshest images and freshest poetry. – Alexandre Vinet (1797–1847)
If the education and studies of children were suited to their inclinations and capacities, many would be made useful members of society that otherwise would make no figure in it. – Samuel Richardson