Custom is the great leveller. It corrects the inequality of fortune by lessening equally the pleasures of the prince and the pains of the peasant.

The truly generous is the truly wise, and he who loves not others lives unblest!

Such is the power of imagination, that even a chimerical pleasure in expectation affects us more than a solid pleasure in possession.

Logic is the art of thinking well: the mind, like the body, requires to be trained before it can use its powers in the most advantageous way.

Luxury possibly may contribute to give bread to the poor; but if there were no luxury, there would be no poor.

Were wisdom to be sold, she would give no price; every man is satisfied with the share he has from nature.

Parsimony is enough to make the master of the golden mines as poor as he that has nothing; for a man may be brought to a morsel of bread by parsimony as well as profusion.

Men are guided less by conscience than by glory; and yet the shortest way to glory is to be guided by conscience.

To a zealot every one of his own sect is a saint, while the most upright of a different sect are to him children of perdition.

Ridicule, which chiefly arises from pride, a selfish passion, is but at best a gross pleasure, too rough an entertainment for those who are highly polished and refined.

No man ever did a designed injury to another, but at the same time he did a greater to himself.

Our choices define who we are when we make them. Therefore,  we always have the power to change and choose who we are.

Oh how wrong we were to think immortality meant never dying

Painting is a faith and it imposes the duty to disregard public opinion.

If I'd been a housemaid I'd have been the best in Australia-I couldn't help it. It's got to be perfection for me.

You might be a legend one day if you just keep your head to the ground and never get overzealous and start thinking you've outdone yourself. That's the space I try to stay in.

We choose to forget aspects of ourselves and then we forget that we've forgotten.

You control the terms of the conflict. Make them play your game. Don't try to play theirs.

The value of an ambitious goal is not measured by what it will bring to you. The worth of a goal is measured by what it will make of you in the process of following and attaining it.

Dolly Parton's done 'Stairway to Heaven.' Anything's possible.

A piece of writing is a dangerous thing," he said. "It can change your life.