Happiness can be built only on virtue, and must of necessity have truth for its foundation.

Exclusively of the abstract sciences, the largest and worthiest portion of our knowledge consists of aphorisms: and the greatest and best of men is but an aphorism.

Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.

There is one art of which people should be masters - the art of reflection.

Humor is consistent with pathos, whilst wit is not.

A great mind must be androgynous.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea.

That gracious thing, made up of tears and light.

The love of a mother is the veil of a softer light between the heart and the heavenly Father.

Religion is the most gentlemanly thing in the world. It alone will gentilize, if unmixed with cant.

Poor little Foal of an oppressed race! I love the languid patience of thy face.

Horizontal (human-centered) grief is much less concerned with being broken and more concerned with being busted.

Let the child's first lesson be obedience, and the second will be what thou wilt.

You have a dark heart in you, Valentine's daughter.

At this point, I feel like I have roots in a lot of places. I have friends who have put down roots, in Seattle and San Francisco and Portland, and I feel very close to them.

Welcome to the program. My name is Dave Letterman, and tonight I'm giving my two-week notice.

Art is a luxury but also a necessity.

Don't sell yourself to fall in love, With those things you do.

Let Toronto become Milan. Montreal will always be Rome.

Words fashioned with somewhat over precise diction are like shapes turned out by a cookie cutter.