Other offences, even the greatest, are the violation of one law: despotism is the violation of all.

The spirit of Greece, passing through and ascending above the world, hath so animated universal nature, that the very rocks and woods, the very torrents and wilds burst forth with it.

No ashes are lighter than those of incense, and few things burn out sooner.

There is nothing on earth divine except humanity.

Truth, like the juice of the poppy, in small quantities, calms men; in larger, heats and irritates them, and is attended by fatal consequences in excess.

We are no longer happy so soon as we wish to be happier.

A man's vanity tells him what is honor, a man's conscience what is justice.

My thoughts are my company; I can bring them together, select them, detain them, dismiss them.

Friendship is a vase, which, when it is flawed by heat, or violence, or accident, may as well be broken at once; it can never be trusted after.

The Siren waits thee, singing song for song.

A good cook is the peculiar gift of the gods. He must be a perfect creature from the brain to the palate, from the palate to the finger's end.

I find I always have to write something on a steamed mirror.

The American people are not just being taxed to death; they're being taxed after death. But, no one should have to sell the life's work of a parent or a loved one just to pay the federal government.

How can the child learn to be a free and responsible citizen when the teacher is bound?

A lot of people have strong beliefs, but they don't have the confidence to really stick to them. I really respect Kanye [West] for that.

The world is a very puzzling place. If you're not willing to be puzzled, you just become a replica of someone else's mind.

In a world where we can all be our own filmmakers, the old elites are disappearing and there is no desire to look at somebody else's dream anymore because you can go off and make your own.

Because it is correct to make a priority of young people, taking care that they turn out as well as possible.

The the illuminated mind the whole world sparkles with light.

The magnificently humble. The enormously small. The meaningfully ridiculous. Robert Walser's work often reads like a dazzling answer to the question, How immense can modesty be?

[Oedipa Maas] awoke at last to find herself getting laid.