Leaders of men are later remembered less for the usefulness of what they have achieved than for the sweep of their endeavors.

Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.

How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?

Always choose the hardest way, on it you will not find opponents

I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.

Silence is the ultimate weapon of power.

In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate.

The graveyards are full of indispensable men.

Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone.

You have to be fast on your feet and adaptive or else a strategy is useless.

He who laughs last didn't get the joke.

Its not the type of pencil but the artist's skill that matters.

Half is better than none unless it be of a wit.

time spent in being interrupted is not time lost. ... How do we know but that the interruption we snarl at is the most blessed thing that has come to us in long days?

The inward journey is about finding your own fullness, something that no one else can take away.

I don't think it's the job of theatre at the moment to provide political propaganda; that would be simplistic. We have to explore our situation further before we will understand it.

In the ages since Adam's marriage, it has been good for some men to be alone, and for some women also.

I want to be the most durable person on the planet.

God protects those he loves from worthless reading.

I'll never get used to living without Mo, but the painful things that surround what happened to him aren't so painful any more - not so raw or so new.

I'm interested in human vulnerability. We are alone, and my portraits reflect this quality. I don't want anything to get in the way of this feeling.