Muse, time has taught me that all metaphysical systems, even historical facts given as truths, are hardly that, so I amuse myself with more agreeable lies; I no longer read anything but novels.

Civility costs nothing, and buys everything.

There is nothing can pay one for that invaluable ignorance which is the companion of youth, those sanguine groundless hopes, and that lively vanity which makes all the happiness of life.

People wish their enemies dead - but I do not; I say give them the gout, give them the stone!

No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting.

Nobody can deny but religion is a comfort to the distressed, a cordial to the sick, and sometimes a restraint on the wicked.

There is no remedy so easy as books, which if they do not give cheerfulness, at least restore quiet to the most troubled mind.

The ultimate end of your education was to make you a good wife.

There can be no situation in life in which the conversation of my dear sister will not administer some comfort to me.

I prefer liberty to chains of diamonds.

Solitude begets whimsies.

If there are occasions when my grape turned into a raisin and my joy bell lost its resonance, please forgive me. Charge it to my head and not to my heart.

Putin has reversed all the liberalizing reforms carried out by his predecessor.

The family unit is the institution for the systematic production of mental illness.

Any true champion can bounce back. That's what being a champion is: being able to deal with adversity and being able to bounce back.

You allow yourself to discover the things that are already there when you play.

The marriage between the fantasy and the Westerns is that thing of, if people think you're the best gunslinger around, they're going to come looking for you.

I take the no-doughnut pledge, and then I break it.

The most satisfying thing in my life and my career is to work with my children.

For real self esteem is not derived from the great things you've done, the things you won. The mark you've made - but an appreciation of yourself for what you are.

The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best.