Everyman is thoroughly happy twice in his life, just after he has met his first love, and just after he has left his last one.

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.

Thomas loved words, particularly if he didn’t understand them.

The truth can do years of work in seconds.

The first step is the best step in a journey towards a destination.

Fear of the unknown is a terrible fear.

Similarity of opinion is not always—I think not often—needed for fullness and perfection of love.

Little children, from the moment in which they are weaned, are making their way toward independence.

I believe that free-market principles will solve our healthcare problems.

It's very easy to say that something is a shadow of itself, and it may be true in some senses.

No matter what grief or loss takes place, most of life flows on all around us, as though nothing's changed. At some point in our sorrow, we each make a choice to sink or swim. There's no alternative.

Remorse is virtue's root; its fair increase is fruits of innocence and blessedness.