Nothing so uncertain as general reputation. A man injures me from humor, passion, or interest; hates me because he has injured me; and speaks ill of me because he hates me.

The truly generous is the truly wise, and he who loves not others lives unblest!

Such is the power of imagination, that even a chimerical pleasure in expectation affects us more than a solid pleasure in possession.

Logic is the art of thinking well: the mind, like the body, requires to be trained before it can use its powers in the most advantageous way.

Luxury possibly may contribute to give bread to the poor; but if there were no luxury, there would be no poor.

Were wisdom to be sold, she would give no price; every man is satisfied with the share he has from nature.

Parsimony is enough to make the master of the golden mines as poor as he that has nothing; for a man may be brought to a morsel of bread by parsimony as well as profusion.

Men are guided less by conscience than by glory; and yet the shortest way to glory is to be guided by conscience.

To a zealot every one of his own sect is a saint, while the most upright of a different sect are to him children of perdition.

Ridicule, which chiefly arises from pride, a selfish passion, is but at best a gross pleasure, too rough an entertainment for those who are highly polished and refined.

No man ever did a designed injury to another, but at the same time he did a greater to himself.

Evil is something you need to fight until it ceases trying to control you.

She was a perfectly clean slate--a total enigma.

Tell the story you want to tell, and let it be as long as it needs to be. Worry about marketing it later.

Ghosts are some of the loneliest people you will ever meet.

People respond better to kindness than cruelty. Why, it's even caught on in the workplace, that bastion of self-hatred and disrespect.

The detailed geometry of the coenzyme molecule as a whole is fascinating in its complexity.

The history of American women is all about leaving home - crossing oceans and continents, or getting jobs and living on their own.

Like building a house, travel always costs more than you estimate.

I am tempted to keep the car in drive, And leave it all behind...

I had a cancer scare in the early 90s, and for a few months, I wondered if I would make it.