But the desire of obtaining the advantages, and of escaping the burdens, of political society, is a perpetual and inexhaustible source of discord.

And the winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.

Imam Hussain's sacrifice is for all groups and communities, an example of the path of rightousness.

I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.

The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful.

And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord. The superstition of the people was not embittered theological rancor.

Let us read with method, and propose to ourselves an end to which our studies may point. The use of reading is to aid us in thinking.

In the end, they wanted security more than they wanted freedom.

Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.

Vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave.

We improve ourselves by victories over ourselves. There must be contest, and we must win.

Till the chit is in blissful state, the world does not come in one's remembrance (one forgets the world till that time).

Art gropes it stalks like a hunter lost in the woods listening to itself and to everything around it unsure of itself waiting to pounce.

Writing is a solitary activity, it requires isolation and silence.

If you get divorced in New York, you go into therapy and will talk to anybody you meet on the sidewalk about it.

There are no words, there's only the possibility of a moment even more incredible a little bit further down the road.

We prefer synthetic rather than natural materials. Natural products are almost too valuable. Wood is much harder to produce than metal. And metal is recyclable, while wood isn't.

There is a medium in all things. There are certain limits beyond, or within which, that which is right cannot exist.

I was an unusually private person - in a way, kind of insufferably so. I think I thought the celebrity thing when it happened was a temporary phenomenon, and I was above it.

People may wish to say that the thing that is in conflict with my creativity is not Buddhism - that's fine.