Patience, piety, and salutary knowledge spring up and ripen under the harrow of affliction; before there is wine or oil, the grape must be trodden and the oil pressed.

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.

If the Almighty directs our steps, we've no need to look back over our shoulders.

I care as much as I can, but I don’t spend energy caring about things I cannot resolve.

There is not a better time to start being the unique contribution that you are.

The law change during the Bush administration gave the Department of Health and Human Services a central role in relocating Central American minors in the United States.

What can you say about a twenty-five year old girl who died? That she was beautiful and brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach. The Beatles. And me.

Traditions are lovely thingsto create traditions, that is, not to live off them.

All great writers are schizophrenics, you know what I'm saying? 'Cause they switch up. They become the person when they write.

A lot of people think I'm difficult to work with. It's not like I really want to do that much stuff, so it doesn't really matter. I guess I'm somewhat difficult when it comes to comedy.

I have been keeping track of the boy with the bread.

The worst lesson that can be taught to a man is to rely upon others and to whine over his sufferings