Not to go to the theatre is like making one's toilet without a mirror.

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.

The majority of men... are not capable of thinking, but only of believing, and... are not accessible to reason, but only to authority.

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to do so.

Genius and madness have something in common: both live in a world that is different from that which exists for everyone else.

A pessimist is an optimist in full possession of the facts.

Religions are like fireflies. They require darkness in order to shine.

Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point.

Having something is not always better than not having it.

The best way to make your audience laugh is to start laughing yourself.

For so many people, television and movies may be the only way they understand people who aren't like them.

I just don't like to lose what's in the window.

Prayer is not a means by which I seek to control God; it is a means of putting myself in a position where God can control me.

I get no kick from champagne. Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all. So, tell me why should it be true, that I get a kick out of you?

When I'm not working, my family and I have a house in the San Juan Islands. We've been here since '94.

Never underestimate the power of compassionately recognizing what's going on.

I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.

Charlie Hebdo: Satire was the father of true political freedom, born in the 18th century; the scourge of bigots and tyrants. Sing its praises.