In spite of Jean-Jacques and his school, men are not everywhere born free, any more than they are everywhere in chains, unless these be of their own individual making.

To expect defeat is nine-tenths of defeat itself.

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.

They fell, but o'er their glorious grave Floats free the banner of the cause they died to save.

No one person can possibly combine all the elements supposed to make up what everyone means by friendship.

Jealousy is the forerunner of love, and often its awakener.

Every man carries with him the world in which he must live.

Death is only a translation of life into another language.

What has life given me? The beginning is fire, the end is a heap of ashes, and between the end and the beginning lies all the pain in the world.

The first gift is Strength. May you remember to call upon it whenever you need it.

Engineering stimulates the mind.

When we constantly ask for miracles, we're unraveling the fabric of the world. A world of continuous miracles would not be a world, it would be a cartoon.

Though I have usually posed as a Catholic, I have not done my duty for 15 years, and have not the slightest tincture of faith left.

the attempt to control poetry, to subordinate it to extra-poetic ends, constitutes misuse.

If the infinite had not desired man to be wise, he would not have bestowed upon him the faculty of knowing.

If you don't like the hand that fate's dealt you, fight for a new one.

I wasn't in a position to defend myself. Sometimes it's a brutal profession. The first thing I thought of at the time was revenge. I have a more levelheaded take on the issue today.

What you and I think about Jesus and how we respond to Him will determine our destiny for all eternity.

And no book gives a deeper insight into the inner life of the Negro, his struggles and his aspirations, than, The Souls of Black Folk.