[Fairy tales] make rivers run with wine only to make us remember, for one wild moment, that they run with water.

Against a dark sky, all flowers look like fireworks.

God is like the sun; you cannot look at it, but without it you cannot look at anything else.

Tolerance is the virtue of people who do not believe in anything.

Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.

I don't need a church to tell me I'm wrong where I already know I'm wrong; I need a Church to tell me I'm wrong where I think I'm right

The more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.

A really great person is the person who makes every person feel great.

When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?

It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.

But the truth is that it is only by believing in God that we can ever criticise the Government. Once abolish the God, and the Government becomes the God.

Prison always has been a good place for writers, killing, as it does, the twin demons of mobility and diversion

You are the child of this universe

Maugham then offers the greatest advice anyone could give to a young author: "At the end of an interrogation sentence, place a question mark. You'd be surprised how effective it can be.

Of course, the kids who had never heard of a person called Ben E. King were then aware of the name associated with the song. That gave a tremendous lift to me as an artist.

Black lives, of course, matter. I spent 50 years of my life fighting for civil rights and for dignity, but if you don't want me to be here, that's OK. I don't want to out-scream people.

You have my soul and I have your money

You get to a certain point, especially if you're a comedian, where people think certain things. It's like, I don't take the time to explain it to people, it's just part of what I do.

Run my dear, from anything that may not strengthen your precious budding wings. Run like hell my dear, from anyone likely to put a sharp knife into the sacred, tender vision of your beautiful heart.

My life is a rather grim one. One day I shall perhaps describe it to you in great detail.

Law must be viewed as a formless mass of isolated decisions.