Fame is nothing but an empty name.

Who often, but without success, have prayed for apt Alliteration's artful aid.

England a fortune-telling host, As num'rous as the stars, could boast; Matrons, who toss the cup, and see The grounds of Fate in grounds of tea.

Genius is of no country.

Nature listening stood, whilst Shakespeare play'd And wonder'd at the work herself had made.

When satire flies abroad on falsehood's wing, Short is her life, and impotent her sting; But when to truth allied, the wound she gives Sinks deep, and to remotest ages lives.

The surest way to health, say what they will, Is never to suppose we shall be ill; Most of the ills which we poor mortals know From doctors and imagination flow.

Weak is that throne, and in itself unsound, Which takes not solid virtue for its ground.

A joke's a very serious thing.

No tribute is laid on castles in the air.

The rigid saint, by whom no mercy's shown To saints whose lives are better than his own.

A thought to ponder: If I couldn't use words to speak, what would my life be saying?

But herein lies the rub: Christianity has been on a long-term trend of decline in every Western cultural context that we can identify.

I am able to hang with the hardest, the baddest, the worst, and I'm able to hang with the most proper and be at ease. I'm able to hang with any skin colour, any belief. I just fit in everywhere.

Sometimes the mere connection we make with each other can change people's lives. It doesn't have to be something big. The mere fact that you're interested in them makes them happy.

Cuban public is special - they participate, generate a lot of energy, both in a positive and negative sense. It's always an expressive audience.

Poetry is only born after painful journeys into the vast regions of thought.

Can you imagine a demon auction? Serial killer going once...twice...sold to the drama queen at the corner.

[Before each of numerous portrait sittings:] Now then, with teeth or without?

Now, Mr. President, we don't intend to trouble you during the campaign but after you are elected, then look out for us!

When I'm attached, I find that I don't see the other person as clearly because I'm more caught up in what I'm wanting.