Generalization is necessary to the advancement of knowledge; but particularity is indispensable to the creations of the imagination.

The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

To sum up the whole, we should say that the aim of the Platonic philosophy was to exalt man into a god.

It is possible to be below flattery as well as above it. One who trusts nobody will not trust sycophants. One who does not value real glory will not value its counterfeit.

Finesse is the best adaptation of means to circumstances.

People crushed by law have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws.

I would rather be poor in a cottage full of books than a king without the desire to read.

The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

Ye diners out from whom we guard our spoons.

Nothing is so galling to a people not broken in from birth as a paternal, or, in other words, a meddling government, a government which tells them what to read, and say, and eat, and drink and wear.

Your Constitution is all sail and no anchor.

One can't do anything without a man. Men know so much, and are able to get information in so many ways that are simply impossible to women.

The best move you can make in negotiation is to think of an incentive the other person hasn't even thought of - and then meet it.

The passions refuse to be organized on a basis of their own; hostile to personal freedom and one another, they rush precipitately into anarchy and mob rule.

we make our world significant by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers

So I've been pushed farther and farther out into the mountains, but at the same time realizing that that experience is really nice and I'm glad I'm getting pushed out there farther.

I think a lot of people compare their insides to other people’s outsides.

Writing offers fairly large rewards to a few successful people, but the rewards come late, and most writers are failures.

I know I haven't done it. I've done a couple of films, which were intended to go straight up. Thankfully they didn't. So now, I think that's what I need to do. I just need to grow as an actor.

We must not stand upon trifles.

You've got to be taught to hate and fear.