"In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace - and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Culture, History, Art, War, Peace

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"In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace - and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

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"It is proof of high culture to say the greatest matters in the simplest way."

Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Poet

Culture, Matter, Simplicity

"The music we listen to may not define who we are. But it's a damn good start."

Jodi Picoult, American Novelist

Culture, Music, Identity, Happiness, Expression

"....And above all, it is your civilization, it is you. However much you hate it or laugh at it, you will never be happy away from it for any length of time."

George Orwell, British Author

Culture, Civilization, Hate, Happiness, Belonging

"A people that doesn't live at the center of the world, as defined and described by its poets and storytellers, is in a bad way. The center of the world is where you live fully, where you know how things are done, how things are done rightly, done well."

Ursula K. Le Guin, American Writer

Culture, Life, Knowledge, Poetry

"In Russia you learn patience," said Ivan. "In America you learn action."

Orson Scott Card, American Writer

Culture, Patience, Action, Contrast

"The problem with our culture is we cling to so many different truths. Yet, the truths that we cling to also depend on our point of view. Maybe, the journey to a truth that can be free of hatred, bias and injustice requires a journey of the soul to see all view points."

Shannon L. Alder, American Author

Culture, Truth, Wisdom, Life, Power

"Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure.Ours is an entertainment seeking-nation, but not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one....This is the cause of that great sad American stereotype- the overstressed executive who goes on vacation, but who cannot relax."

Elizabeth Gilbert, American Novelist

Culture, Pleasure, Relaxation, Stress

"Off this fucking predictable soap opera, this will happen now, then that, then that and you say that you are christian and you start watching series of Turkey people which believe in a very different god so far god of hell - Allah..."

Deyth Banger, American Blogger

Culture, Truth, Wisdom, Power, Today

"From imperial, economic and ideological causes, many cultures are the inheritors, and hence the prisoners, of attitudes of scorn and disdain for other faiths " outlooks which are not ennobling to anyone."

Idries Shah, Indian Author

Culture, Faith, Ideology, Tolerance

"I figured this guy was a fair dinkum Australian. The type of guy that worked the land all day, cracked open a beer or two at night and called girls 'sheilas'."

S. A. Tawks, British Author

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Explore more quotes by Graham Greene

"The great advantage of being a writer is that you can spy on people. You're there, listening to every word, but part of you is observing. Everything is useful to a writer, you see - every scrap, even the longest and most boring of luncheon parties."

People

"Success is more dangerous than failure, the ripples break over a wider coastline."

Success

"A movie is not a book. If the source material is a book, you cannot be too respectful of the book. All you owe to the book is the spirit."

Spirit

"Heresy is another word for freedom of thought."

Thought

"A petty reason perhaps why novelists more and more try to keep a distance from journalists is that novelists are trying to write the truth and journalists are trying to write fiction."

Truth

"It is impossible to go through life without trust: that is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself."

Life

"Unhappiness in a child accumulates because he sees no end to the dark tunnel. The thirteen weeks of a term might just as well be thirteen years."

End

"The truth has never been of any real value to any human being - it is a symbol for mathematicians and philosophers to pursue. In human relations kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths."

Truth

"Morality comes with the sad wisdom of age, when the sense of curiosity has withered."

Wisdom

"The economy of a novelist is a little like that of a careful housewife who is unwilling to throw away anything that might perhaps serve its turn."

Economy