Fame confers a rank above that of gentleman and of kings. As soon as she issues her patent of nobility, it matters not a straw whether the recipient be the son of a Bourbon or of a tallow-chandler.

How many of us have been attracted to reason; first learned to think, to draw conclusions, to extract a moral from the follies of life, by some dazzling aphorism.

The conscience is the most flexible material in the world. Today you cannot stretch it over a mole hill; while tomorrow it can hide a mountain.

He who writes prose builds his temple to Fame in rubble; he who writes verses builds it in granite.

Genius is but fine observation strengthened by fixity of purpose.

Men are valued, not for what they are, but for what they seem to be.

A fresh mind keeps the body fresh. Take in the ideas of the day, drain off those of yesterday.

A good cigar is as great a comfort to a man as a good cry to a woman.

Punctuality is the stern virtue of men of business, and the graceful courtesy of princes.

Love has no thought of self! Love buys not with the ruthless usurer's gold The loathsome prostitution of a hand Without a heart! Love sacrifices all things To bless the thing it loves!

A fresh mind keeps the body fresh.

I lost myself in finding you, nothing has made me feel so wasted ever.

It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.

We ignore slow environmental changes unless they are crisis-driven, such as hurricanes in Florida.

Ethical axioms are found and tested not very differently from the axioms of science. Truth is what stands the test of experience.

When I was at college - that was the first time I tried singing. I played in a band, and people seemed to like it.

I think an education is beneficial, but whether it takes an education to be successful in the arts is a whole other question.

Human communities depend upon a diversity of talent not a singular conception of ability. and at the heart of the challenge is to reconstitute our sense of ability and intelligence

I heard Pete Seeger records when I was a kid. I saw Bob Dylan when I was about 12. The first song I ever learned to play was a song by Phil Ochs.

Everything is an illusion.

Politics is when you say you are going to do one thing while intending to do another. Then you do neither what you said nor what you intended.