Oil/basis

Famous quotes containing the words oil and/or basis:

    “Opinions are to the vast apparatus of social existence what oil is to machines: one does not go up to a turbine and pour machine oil over it; one applies a little to hidden spindles and joints that one has to know.”
    —Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)

    “The basis of optimism is sheer terror.”
    —Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)