Crime is the price society pays for abandoning character.

Four innate sentiments dispose people to a universal moral sense. These are sympathy, fairness, self-control and duty.

One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing.

Public order is a fragile thing, and if you don't fix the first broken window, soon all the windows will be broken.

I believe that the high rates of property crime (and some of the increase in violent crime) are part of the price you pay for freedom.

In terms of other functions, we are making a mistake about insisting on a public school monopoly.

A government without the power of defense! It is a solecism.

But no one has yet succeeded in reducing the size or scope of the federal government

What most needs explanation is not why some people are criminals, but why most people are not.

There are no more liberals Theyve all been mugged.

In the long run, the public interest depends on private virtue.

Mounting tensions in Eastern Europe send shivers down the spine. Barely a quarter of a century after the end of the Cold War we seem to be sliding inexorably towards another.

Real education should consist of drawing the goodness and the best out of our own students. What better books can there be than the book of humanity?

Paris is always a good idea.

If you never mention the Lord in conversation with each other,isn't that proof that you aren't so concerned about Him?

I say if you're not obsessing about something, you might not be into it quite enough.

When I started to write, it was the '70s, and throughout that decade, we didn't have any problems with book challenges or censorship.

I really am thankful that I got to do The Proposal movie the right way with people who taught me how to do comedy better.

We are dependent on each other. Therefore, replenishing the soil, replenishing society and being part of one continuum - that's the new story.

Defects are not free. Somebody makes them, and gets paid for making them.

We took special pride in the fact that climbing rocks and icefalls had no economic value in society...We were like a wild species living in the edges of an ecosystem - adaptable, resilient and tough.