If dictatorship is the concentration of power, freedom consists in its diffusion.

The introduction of religious passion into politics is the end of honest politics, and the introduction of politics into religion is the prostitution of true religion.

I regard freedom of expression as the primary right without which one can not have a proper functioning democracy.

The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the right.

The moment politics becomes dull, democracy is in danger.

Mercy is not what every criminal is entitled to. What he is entitled to is justice.

Abuse is the very hallmark of liberty.

Political liberty is nothing else but the diffusion of power.

You ought not to be ashamed of being bored. What you ought to be ashamed of is being boring.

A reasonable doubt is nothing more than a doubt for which reasons can be given. The fact that 1 or 2 men out of 12 differ from the others does not establish that their doubts are reasonable.

A politician who enters public life may as well face the fact that the best way of not being found out is not to do anything which, if found out, will cause his ruin.

Nevertheless, in this sea of human wretchedness and malice there bloomed at times compassion, as a pale flower blooms in a putrid marsh.

In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are capable of it.

When you look in the mirror what do you see? Do you see the real you, or what you have been conditioned to believe is you?

Teachers and administrators sleepwalk through their responsibilities, dulled and discouraged by the endless pressures and problems.

I always tell people that to be the funny person in a Steve Martin movie is like getting a call that Keith Moon wants you to play drums on his record. He should be playing drums on his record.

I used to write as an escape. There's no escape. There's just me sending my voice into the dark, waiting for an echo.

A charming woman is a busy woman.

it just breaks / a man's heart, watching / a girl so involved with her life, / without him like that.

Enough words, little wisdom. [Lat., Satis eloquentiae sapientiae parum.]

Meat eaten without either mirth or music is ill of digestion.