If it is permissible to write plays that are not intended to be seen, I should like to see who can prevent me from writing a book no one can read.

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.

Don't you find it odd, " she continued, "that when you're a kid, everyone, all the world, encourages you to follow your dreams. But when you're older, somehow they act offended if you even try.

Prettiness fades after a few years, but elegance only increases with age.

Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.

Integrity reveals beauty.

I find that, rather than the cities, I'm very lucky because the audiences that come and see me are very, generally speaking, truly kind, so I have a great time playing everywhere.

Artists know that you can take an advertising sign and make something joyful with it. It's sometimes hard for people who don’t make things to understand labor and joy and attention and whimsy.

We will begin by learning how to tie our shoes.

All present life is but an interjection, An'Oh!'or 'Ah!'of joy or misery, Or a 'Ha! ha!'or 'Bah!'a yawn or 'Pooh!' Of which perhaps the latter is most true.

The luxury of television is that you get more than one shot at who you think the guy is that you're playing.

There is going to be a lot asked of me over the next few weeks but I am getting more experience now and learning all the time.