Arbitrary

Famous quotes containing the word arbitrary:

    Languages exist by arbitrary institutions and conventions among peoples; words, as the dialecticians tell us, do not signify naturally, but at our pleasure.
    François Rabelais (1494–1553)

    Any appellative at all savouring of arbitrary rank is unsuitable to a man of liberal and catholic mind.
    Herman Melville (1819–1891)

    The arbitrary division of one’s life into weeks and days and hours seemed, on the whole, useless. There was but one day for the men, and that was pay day, and one for the women, and that was rent day. As for the children, every day was theirs, just as it should be in every corner of the world.
    Alice Caldwell Rice (1870–1942)