It has been well observed that we should treat futurity as an aged friend from whom we expect a rich legacy.

True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost.

Nothing more completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity himself, than straight forward and simple integrity in another.

The soundest argument will produce no more conviction in an empty head than the most superficial declamation; as a feather and a guinea fall with equal velocity in a vacuum.

The art of declamation has been sinking in value from the moment that speakers were foolish enough to publish, and hearers wise enough to read.

None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them; such persons covet secrets as a spendthrift covets money, for the purpose of circulation.

Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away.

Let those who would affect singularity with success first determine to be very virtuous, and they will be sure to be very singular.

Atheism is a system which can communicate neither warmth nor illumination, except from those fagots which your mistaken zeal has lighted up for its destruction.

Deliberate with caution, but act with decision and yield with graciousness, or oppose with firmness.

The study of mathematics, like the Nile, begins in minuteness but ends in magnificence.

It would be wisest not to worry too much about the sterile periods. They ventilate the subject and instill into it the reality of daily life.

I always say that intuition is the number one tool for an artist.

Terrorist', noun: 1. Someone my government tells me is a terrorist; 2. Someone my President decides to kill.

The intensity of being in front of all these incredible musicians and tremendous conductors in these elaborate halls can be overwhelming.

We must care to think about the unthinkable things, because when things become unthinkable, thinking stops and action becomes mindless.

As a pirate, she once undressed a fencing instructor using only her sword!

Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope... Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition.

The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better." -- The Alchemist

People in Iceland are complete chickens in the cold. You think, "Oh, you must not be cold because you're from Iceland," but we're never in the cold.

The large gray spiked form rising from the bottom of the picture is to me the symbol of death and ruin. And finally the black ovoid form is the symbol of fire, lava and destruction.