Mediocrity requires aloofness to preserve its dignity.

American diplomacy is easy on the brain but hell on the feet.

How majestic is naturalness. I have never met a man whom I really considered a great man who was not always natural and simple. Affectation is inevitably the mark of one not sure of himself.

Hope is a willing slave; despair is free.

Tis not the fairest form that holds The mildest, purest soul within; 'Tis not the richest plant that holds The sweetest fragrance in.

I should hate to think that the Senate was as tired of me at the beginning of my service as I am of the Senate at the end.

For me--I hold no commerce with despair!

The greatest thing we can do is love another.

He that is purified by love is pure

Charity . . . is the opium of the privileged.

The press is the enemy.

You cannot set art off in a corner and hope for it to have vitality, reality, and substance.

When God closes a door, he opens a window. Sounds to me like he's on the toilet.

If a lunatic scribbles a jumble of mathematical symbols it does not follow that the writing means anything merely because to the inexpert eye it is indistinguishable from higher mathematics.

It is far easier to debate about realistic painting than to paint one.

What's the point of living if you don't belong anywhere?

A work of art doesn't have to be explained.