If a sense of duty tortures a man, it also enables him to achieve prodigies.

Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.

Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses.

A Maximus, the Gladiator lies in every human being. When the time comes, your Maximus within you will come out. It is not called destiny, it is an extended automatic self reflex

A cool breeze stirred my hair at that moment, as the night wind began to come down from the hills, but it felt like a breath from another world.

Life will teach you, but you have to live long enough to get those lessons.

It is not whether your words or actions are tough or gentle; it is the spirit behind your actions and words that announces your inner state.

I embraced a cloud but when I soared it rained.

I spent the first 18 years of my life in the pastoral town of Vernal, Utah, in the shadows of the Book Cliffs and the Uinta Mountains.

It is easy to condemn, it is better to pity.

I'm not looking for Miss Right, right now. I'm just sort of working on becoming Mr. Right.

Why is it that for many persons changing others is so exciting and so relevant, while changing oneself is so boring and irrelevant?

I think the executives at the studios today realize that it's easier and safer to go the - to some known territory which is a remake of a successful film. It's less chancy than taking a fresh idea.