A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.

Education is the transmission of civilization.

It is good a philosopher should remind himself, now and then, that he is a particle pontificating on infinity.

Today's rebel is tomorrow's tyrant.

No man who is in a hurry is quite civilised.

Man, not the earth, makes civilization.

The conservative who resists change is as valuable as the radical who proposes it.

If you have character, endeavor, personality, courage and the capacity for concentrated labor, you will do what is your destiny – and, perhaps, even do it well.

Only a fool would try to compress a hundred centuries into a hundred pages of hazardous conclusions. We proceed.

The laws of biology are the fundamental lessons of history.

When his apprenticeship was finished (the candidate for Knighthood) was received into the Knightly Order by a ritual of sacramental awe.

I have been here before as a spirit - this is just my physical body, it is just an overcoat. And at death, you will take the overcoat off.

Nine-tenths of the activities of a modern Government are harmful; therefore the worse they are performed, the better.

If your screen is wrong, your correctives are wrong

I won't live to see the death-with-dignity movement reach critical mass, but I call on you to carry it forward.

I was in Moscow and I will tell you - you can get along with those people and get along with them well. You can make deals with those people. Obama can't.

I don't think I will write anything that could be even remotely considered a genre novel from this point on. I think I've graduated.

Free is not the same as free and easy.

Life isn’t about the final destination or the accomplishments and accolades; it’s about the journey and the opportunities for learning—and how we grow as a result.

A fool is he that comes to preach or prate, When men with swords their right and wrong debate. [It., Chi conta i colpi e la dovuta offesa, Mentr' arde la tenzon, misura e pesa?]

I have the utmost respect for people who are asexual. I didn't believe that they existed at first. But they do exist, and their numbers are growing.