Man is said to be a rational creature; but should it not rather be said, that man is a creature capable of being rational, as we say a parrot is a creature capable of speech?

Taste may be compared to that exquisite sense of the bee, which instantly discovers and extracts the quintessence of every flower, and disregards all the rest of it.

Man is the only creature endowed with the power of laughter; is he not also the only one that deserves to be laughed at?

Habit is the cement of society, the comfort of life, and, alas! The root of error.

O wearisome condition of humanity! Born under one law, to another bound; Vainly begot and yet forbidden vanity; Created sick, commanded to be sound.

The mind's eye is perhaps no better fitted for the full radiance of truth, than is the body's for that of the sun.

The criterion of true beauty is that it increases on examination; if false, that it lessens.

There are sometimes beauties in a character which would never have appeared but for a defect, and defects which would never have appeared but for a beauty.

Love will sacrifice more to others than friendship, but then it exacts more from them.

How happy is it for us, that the admiration of others should depend so much more on their ignorance than our perfection!

Pleasure is the business of the young, business the pleasure of the old.

But inside us there is a word we cannot pronounce and that is who we are.

Cats are a mysterious kind of folk.

People always fear change. People feared electricity when it was invented, didn't they?

I only want to hit my targets if the aiming and the hitting both feel good.

It was not until I got my first job, at the University of Washington in Seattle, and began playing chess with Don Gordon, a brilliant young theorist, that I learned economic theory.

Passion is not well bred.

I almost envy people who say whatever they want.

Christ is the sacrament of the invisible God - a sacrament that indicates presence. God is with us.

I think that even someone who got into an institution through affirmative action could prove they were qualified by what they accomplished there.

Your cellphone has 10 sensors, and your car has 400. But your body has none - that's going to change.