In a sense the whole American comic tradition had been that of social criticism.

An emotional man may possess no humor, but a humorous man usually has deep pockets of emotion, sometimes tucked away or forgotten.

There is scarcely an aspect of the American character to which humor is not related, few which in some sense it has not governed. ... It is a lawless element, full of surprises.

In comedy, reconcilement with life comes at the point when to the tragic sense only an inalienable difference or dissension with life appears.

humor bears the closest relation to emotion, either bubbling up as from a deep and happy wellspring, or in an opposite fashion rising like a re-birth of feeling from dead levels after turmoil.

Whole phases of comedy have become empty; the comic rejoinder has become every man's tool.

Silence the angry man with love. Silence the ill-natured man with kindness. Silence the miser with generosity. Silence the liar with truth.

Calm skies don't make skillful eagles.

Time is like the Mississippi River. It only flows in one direction. You can never go back.

You must nurture a close walk with God through prayer, because humility’s strength is grounded in God.

I have found that as your wisdom and maturity develop, the number of other people you blame for your own circumstances shrinks.

Life is not about giving up or giving in. Life is about giving.

If you're going to do something, make it right and make it as good as you can. Don't waste anybody's time, especially your own.

For years we practice meditation, like any art, and we get better at it each day. In the beginning it's just enough for us to sit down and focus our attention.

To live every day as if it had been stolen from death, that is how I would like to live.

You have no idea, sir, how difficult it is to be the victim of benevolence.