A profound conviction raises a man above the feeling of ridicule.

If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.

Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.

A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.

To tax the larger incomes at a higher percentage than the smaller, is to lay a tax on industry and economy; to impose a penalty on people for having worked harder and saved more than their neighbors.

One person with a belief is equal to ninety-nine who have only interests.

The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good, in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.

Originality is the one thing which unoriginal minds cannot feel the use of.

I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them.

Liberty lies in the rights of that person whose views you find most odious.

I don't write stories, I write characters.

Barnby always dismissed the idea of intelligence in a woman as no more than a characteristic to be endured.

Greed squeezes your dreams into a portable size, so that failure can easily carry them to dump somewhere.

If it [talent] isn’t strong enough to take the gaff of real training, then it’s not worth much.

Good deeds never go unpunished.

Women find it far more difficult to overcome their inclination to coquetry than to overcome their love.

This boxer is doing what is expected of him, bleeding from his nose.

I have an active imagination, and music opens the floodgates of that area of my brain.

I hope to goodness I would not still be working in the corporate world - the money is OK but it is no life at all.

There's a sense in all my novels that nothing is certain.