Genius is to other gifts what the carbuncle is to the precious stones. It sends forth its own light, whereas other stones only reflect borrowed light.

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.

The majority of men... are not capable of thinking, but only of believing, and... are not accessible to reason, but only to authority.

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to do so.

Genius and madness have something in common: both live in a world that is different from that which exists for everyone else.

A pessimist is an optimist in full possession of the facts.

Religions are like fireflies. They require darkness in order to shine.

Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point.

I begin with writing the first sentence—and trusting to Almighty God for the second.

I'm a crumbled up piece of paper lying here, 'cause I remember it all too well

Literature is the opposite of a nuclear bomb.

We don’t attach to things; we attach to our stories about them.

Nowhere has the political power of coal been more obvious than in presidential campaigns.

One must choose in all things a mean just and good.

The Emrys! The Emrys is here!' Merlin shook his head in astonishment. 'Has it come to this?' he wondered. 'Even small children know me by sight.

I like to use my hands. When I was in theatre in college, that was one of my biggest notes: 'You use your hands too much.

Inject laughter into tense situations to save the day; laughter calms tempers and soothes jangled nerves.