A reproach can only hurt if it hits the mark. Whoever knows that he does not deserve a reproach can treat it with contempt.

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.

The majority of men... are not capable of thinking, but only of believing, and... are not accessible to reason, but only to authority.

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to do so.

Genius and madness have something in common: both live in a world that is different from that which exists for everyone else.

A pessimist is an optimist in full possession of the facts.

Religions are like fireflies. They require darkness in order to shine.

Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point.

It is ourselves we encounter whenever we invent fictions.

If you stop focusing on all the reasons why you can’t do it, you just may surprise yourself to see what you can do.

There can be no peace without justice, no justice without law and no meaningful law without a Court to decide what is just and lawful under any given circumstance.

Mature people never make difference of opinion a means of conflict.

My constituents don't want more refugees. I'm not ashamed to represent these voters. I'm proud of it.

If you're going to make an emotional connection with somebody, whether it's in the story or in the world, there's a certain amount of self-acceptance that is required.

I feel great. I had a triple bypass in 1976 and a quadruple bypass in 1984.

What I lack in energy, I have in wisdom.

There's no hidden agenda, no political agenda [in Patriots Day]. The only politics we were really talking about was the politics of community, the politics of social love.

Self-righteousness is the devil's masterpiece to make us think well of ourselves.