Perhaps no person can be a poet, or can even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind.

The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

To sum up the whole, we should say that the aim of the Platonic philosophy was to exalt man into a god.

It is possible to be below flattery as well as above it. One who trusts nobody will not trust sycophants. One who does not value real glory will not value its counterfeit.

Finesse is the best adaptation of means to circumstances.

People crushed by law have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws.

I would rather be poor in a cottage full of books than a king without the desire to read.

The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

Ye diners out from whom we guard our spoons.

Nothing is so galling to a people not broken in from birth as a paternal, or, in other words, a meddling government, a government which tells them what to read, and say, and eat, and drink and wear.

Your Constitution is all sail and no anchor.

God will not punish you when you speak your mind, because he speaks through you if he truly lives in you.

Don’t be mad” was the first thing he said. He really was terrified, as if the most frightening reaper on the planet was no scarier than a mouse, and yet put him in a tux and it was the Apocalypse.

I made my own house be my gallows.

Then, on my way to California, I decided to stop in New York to do some research. I couldn't leave, because that's where the music was!

I am not a born writer, but I was born a writer.

It's important for me to work with a strong director because I know I can go to some really deep places, I just need direction on how to get there.

The Crows are very handsome and gentlemanly Indians in their personal appearance: and have been always reputed, since the first acquaintance made with them, very civil and friendly.

Science and education, when devoid of a social conscience or environmental and human concern, are meaningless.

In my day, the president ruled with authority before the law, but now all that is lost.

If you could really guarantee that the money would be spent on something more worthwhile, I'd say, absolutely, scrap the space program, but it never works that way.