All talk of winning the people by appealing to their intelligence, of conquering them by impeccable syllogism, is so much moonshine.

Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.

Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses.

I do not know what it was about that boy but just looking at him, even I wanted to clout him on the head. It was a head that invited violence.

No one's an angel - especially if he's a man

It takes far less courage to kill yourself than it takes to make yourself wake up one more time. It's harder to stay where you are than to get out. For everyone but you, that is.

In this age of video games and cell phones, there must still be a place for knots, tree houses, and stories of incredible courage.

If youth be a defect, it is one that we outgrow only too soon.

The one key line used by a very rich Hudson salesman: Would you like to buy a car now, without waiting?

No idea is isolated, but is only what it is among all ideas.

Practice non-action. Work without doing.

Ruthless concern with story is what I learned in television.

My mom actually took me to get my first tattoo when I was 15. She highly regrets that choice now, as I have a lot more.