If an angel were to tell us about his philosophy, I believe many of his statements might well sound like '2 x 2= 13'.

The Greeks possessed a knowledge of human nature we seem hardly able to attain to without passing through the strengthening hibernation of a new barbarism.

One might call habit a moral friction: something that prevents the mind from gliding over things but connects it with them and makes it hard for it to free itself from them.

Erudition can produce foliage without bearing fruit.

There exists a species of transcendental ventriloquism by means of which men can be made to believe that something said on earth comes from Heaven.

Just as the performance of the vilest and most wicked deeds requires spirit and talent, so even the greatest demand a certain insensitivity which under other circumstances we would call stupidity.

If there were only turnips and potatoes in the world, someone would complain that plants grow the wrong way.

Many things about our bodies would not seem to us so filthy and obscene if we did not have the idea of nobility in our heads.

To read means to borrow; to create out of one s readings is paying off one's debts.

Once we know our weaknesses they cease to do us any harm.

He who understands the wise is wise already.

Love that causes you pain is better than hate that brings you pleasure.

Winning is a science, educate yourself to win .

The only real failure is the failure to try, and the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment.

I love practical jokes and humor. That there's frankly no joke that I don't think is funny. I love practical jokes, but I don't like being scared.

You couldn't always control life, just your response to it.

A businessman is the only man who is forever apologizing for his occupation.

I call myself out on my mistakes, but in telling the truth, sometimes it stings a little.

Sense of self, and the way one shares it, is perhaps the most valuable and poetic gift in the arsenal of one's life and craft.

We conducted talks on border issues with our friends in the People's Republic of China for 40 years. There were also issues related to specific territories.