If I had read as much as other men I should have known no more than they.

A democracy is no more than an aristocracy of orators. The people are so readily moved by demagogues that control must be exercised by the government over speech and press.

The condition of man... is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.

Government is necessary, not because man is naturally bad... but because man is by nature more individualistic than social.

Hell is truth seen too late.

Humans are driven by a perpetual and restless desire of power.

The right of nature... is the liberty each man hath to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of his own life.

How could a state be governed, or protected in its foreign relations if every individual remained free to obey or not to obey the law according to his private opinion.

Life in the state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law

Curiosity is the lust of the mind.

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.

The vow that binds too strictly snaps itself.

I couldn't tell if I was perspicacious or paranoid.

Not even a collapsing world looks dark to a man who is about to make his fortune.

Express yourself, don't repress yourself.

I've only played gangsters and cops, and I always have to be serious.

Make a firm decision: 'Whatever happens, I will be happy. I will be strong. God is always with me.'

Hold an image of the life you want, and that image will become fact.

The thing about stories is you have to pick the ones that last.

I put more pressure on myself to do well. I know how good I can be and I don't want to fall short of that.