Faction is to party what the superlative is to the positive. Party is a political evil, and faction is the worst of all parties.

Our liberty cannot be taken away unless the people are themselves accomplices.

History is philosophy teaching by example and also by warning.

A long novitiate of acquaintance should precede the vows of friendship.

The fire of my adversity has purged the mass of my acquaintance.

God himself, with reverence be it spoken, is not an absolute but a limited monarch, limited by the rule which infinite wisdom prescribes to infinite power.

To converse with historians is to keep good company; many of them were excellent men, and those who were not, have taken care to appear such in their writings.

Cunning pays no regard to virtue, and is but the low mimic of reason.

What a world is this, and how does fortune banter us!

Indifference must be a crime in us, to be ranked but one degree below treachery; for deserting the commonwealth is next to betraying it.

I think it indisputable that the distance between the intellectual faculties of different men is greater than that between the same faculties in some men and some other animals.

If you really want to grow great, you need to avoid costly pleasures and preserve your future treasures.

A PHD is not the end of education. Education exists even among the bees who feed their queen only with the purest

Certainly the details of our life are unique. Spending time thinking of how I am different from someone else, however, does not tend to be very productive.

I think certainly directing is a visual medium, but it's also about communication, and a lot of times great directors are lacking in communication skills, which is rather shocking to discover that.

one should discuss one's difficulties only when they are over.

America is a country that has been skating for ages on its unparalleled ability to look marvelous on the outside.

[...] even in the cruelest human being there can exist a flower of good. Maybe just the tiniest blossom, in need of water and sunlight, but a flower just the same.

Life is the train and not the station.

You must accept that you can change and that a pattern of principles adhered to and used repeatedly will not only direct your life, but change it permanently.

Story isn't a flight from reality but a vehicle that carries us on our search for reality.