R.S. Thomas Quotes

[States and the Federal government are] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch of the same government.

No knowledge can be more satisfactory to a man than that of his own frame, its parts, their functions and actions.

Force cannot give right.

I do not agree that an age of pleasure is no compensation for a moment of pain.

Peace is our passion.

Sensibility of mind is indeed the parent of every virtue, but it is the parent of much misery, too.

Agreeable society is the first essential in constituting the happiness and of course the value of our existence.

Without society, and a society to our taste, men are never contented.

Everything is useful which contributes to fix the principles and practices of virtue.

The best commentary on the principles of government which has ever been written.

Blest is that nation whose silent course of happiness furnishes nothing for history to say.

Big banks are more dangerous than standing armies, and the practice of borrowing and spending money to be paid back by the next generation is stealing from their future.

No country and no people can be free and ignorant at the same time.

Never use one word when two will do.

There is no King, who, with sufficient force, is not always ready to make himself absolute.

An hereditary aristocracy... will change the form of our governments from the best to the worst in the world.

The States should be urged to concede to the General Government, with a saving of chartered rights, the exclusive power of establishing banks of discount for paper.

The same facts impress us differently.

No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.

Our wish is that...[there be] maintained that state of property, equal or unequal, which results to every man from his own industry or that of his fathers.

Private enterprise manages so much better all the concerns to which it is equal.

The merchants will manage [commerce] the better, the more they are left free to manage for themselves.

The art of printing secures us against the retrogradation of reason and information.

To be really useful, we must keep pace with the state of society, and not dishearten it by attempts at what its population, means, or occupations will fail in attempting.

No one, I hope, can doubt my wish to see... all mankind exercising self-government, and capable of exercising it. But the question is not what we wish, but what is practicable.

Doubts and jealousies often beget the facts they fear.

For themselves they fought, for themselves they conquered, and for themselves alone they have they have right to hold.

I feel like there's no such thing as failure. When something doesn't go the way I want it to, I learn from it, and I accomplish more than I initially expected to.

You're whatever you think you are. People like to compartmentalize other people. I don't worry about what other people think. I'm not living for them.

I feel like there's no such thing as failure.

While I was in the NFL, I would eat five times a day. I only eat twice a day now, and I box and play basketball every day. I'm extremely happy with my body and mind...

Acting has helped me detox in football. Getting lost in a character and a scene, it's awesome.

When I'm 75 years old, I want to say that I chased my dream. I didn't let other people's opinions dictate what I have in my book of my life.

I had a great family. My father was in the Air Force, so we were always disciplined, goal oriented.

Football was everything to me. There was the physical aspect, sure. I did pushups and sit-ups every night, even as a kid. But I also just studied the game constantly. It was my life.

I took care of my body. Your body is your business in the NFL.

The common perception is it only happens to people who aren't paying attention.

When my father ran for the state Assembly, the headline said, 'Kean's Son to Run for Assembly.' When my grandfather first ran for Congress, it was 'Kean's son to run for Congress.'

For us to remain in this world, our animal brain has to be there to support us.

The word "emptiness" for example, is a very important word both in Christianity and in Buddhism. It has shades of meaning however, that are different in the respective traditions.

As the years go by, I find myself experiencing God's extraordinary concern, consideration, healing, and what I call in my books, the divine therapy.

I think if you can take one or two things from a cookbook, it's successful.

When I go out to eat, it's usually something moderate in style.

My favorite wines are Zinfandels.

Hell trembles at a heaven-directed eye.

Generosity is only benevolence in practice.

Thomas was my true name but everyone knew me as Mick, except my mother, who knew me as definitely Michael.

Coitus is random, children are definite.

And I liked pluralist Australia. I got a taste for pluralist Australia. I like, I like Australians and I can't believe that they're going to go to hell because they tell a good dirty joke, you know.

And I definitely wanted to be a writer, but I felt a duty now, having used up those educational resources, I felt a duty to the church and my parents to become a priest.