Richard Francis Burton Quotations

Indeed he knows not how to know who knows not also how to un-know.

One death to a man is a serious thing: a dozen neutralize one another.

I was surrounded at the time by about a dozen of the enemy, whose clubs rattled upon me without mercy, and the strokes of my sabre were rendered uncertain by the energetic pushes of an attendant who thus hoped to save me.

Wherever we halted we were surrounded by wandering troops of Bedouins.

Between 2 and 3 in the morning of the 19th inst. I was aroused by the cry that the enemy was upon us.

Support a compatriot against a native, however the former may blunder or plunder.

The Now, that indivisible point which studs the length of infinite line Whose ends are nowhere, is thine all , the puny all thou callest thine.

Travellers, like poets, are mostly an angry race: by falling into a daily fit of passion, I proved to the governor and his son, who were profuse in their attentions, that I was in earnest.

Friends of my youth, a last adieu! Haply some day we meet again: Ye ne'er the self-same men shall meet; the years shall make us other men.

I'd like to be born the son of a duke with 90,000 pounds a year, on an enormous estate.... And I'd like to have the most enormous library, and I'd like to think that I could read those books forever and forever, and die unlamented, unknown, unsung, unhonored - and packed with information.

[Shahrazad] had perused the books, annals and legends of preceding Kings, and the stories, examples and instances of by gone men and things; indeed it was said that she had collected a thousand books of histories relating to antique races and departed rulers. She had perused the works of the poets and knew them by heart; she had studied philosophy and the sciences, arts and accomplishments; and she was pleasant and polite, wise and witty, well read and well bred.

Reason is Life's sole arbiter, themagic Laby'rinth's single clue...

Home is where the books are

The men were wild as ourang-outans, and the women fit only to flog cattle.

For each believes his glimm'ering lamp to be the gorgeous light of day.

When doctors differ who decides amid the milliard-headed throng?

Do what thy manhood bids thee do.

All so-called revealed religions consist mainly of three portions, a cosmogony more or less mythical, a history more or less falsified, and a moral code more or less pure.

Conquer thyself, till thou has done this, thou art but a slave; for it is almost as well to be subjected to another's appetite as to thine own.

Cease, man, to mourn, to weep, to wail; Enjoy thy shining hour of sun; We dance along Death's icy brink, But is the dance less full of fun?

The dearest ambition of a slave is not liberty, but to have a slave of his own.

All faith is false, all faith is true. Truth is the shattered mirror strown in myriad bits, while each believes his little bit the whole to own.

How melancholy a thing is success. Whilst failure inspirits a man, attainment reads the sad prosy lesson that all our glories "Are shadows, not substantial things." Truly said the sayer, "disappointment is the salt of life" a salutary bitter which strengthens the mind for fresh exertion, and gives a double value to the prize.

One cannot look at the sea without wishing for the wings of a swallow.

If you can’t laugh together in bed, the chances are you are incompatible, anyway. I’d rather hear a girl laugh well than try to turn me on with long, silent, soulful, secret looks. If you can laugh with a woman, everything else falls into place.

Of the gladdest moments in human life...is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands.

Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause. He noblest lives and noblest dies who makes and keeps his self-made laws.

Of the gladdest moments in human life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of Habit, the leaden weight of Routine, the cloak of many Cares and the slavery of Civilization, man feels once more happy.

Broke is a temporary condition, poor is a state of mind.