Pleasure, when it is a man's chief purpose, disappoints itself; and the constant application to it palls the faculty of enjoying it.

Whenever you commend, add your reasons for doing so; it is this which distinguishes the approbation of a man of sense from the flattery of sycophants and admiration of fools.

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

Fire and swords are slow engines of destruction, compared to the tongue of a Gossip.

People spend their lives in the service of their passions instead of employing their passions in the service of their lives.

Among all the diseases of the mind there is not one more epidemical or more pernicious than the love of flattery.

Vanity makes people ridiculous, pride odious, and ambition terrible.

There is no Pleasure like that of receiving Praise from the Praiseworthy

A lie is troublesome, and sets a man's invention upon the rack, and one trick needs a great many more to make it good.

A fool is in himself the object of pity, until he is flattered.

Zeal for the public good is the characteristic of a man of honor and a gentleman, and must take the place of pleasures, profits and all other private gratifications.

Life is not judged just by the heart beats, but by the way you accept and overcome the challenges of life.

I am married to work.

I never wanted to be a model. I never wanted to be a serious actress. I started off doing comedy. I did a stand-up comedy camp at the Laugh Factory, and I started out on Nickelodeon.

If this work seems so threatening, this is because it isn't simply eccentric or strange, but competent, rigorously argued, and carrying conviction.

Fly and you will catch the swallow.

Jesus Christ. If he can play, I got to play, too.

A warrior never gives in to fear when he is searching for what he needs. Without love, he is nothing.

Our circumstances are the means God uses to exhibit just how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure His Son is.

Dept. of Speculation is gorgeous, funny, a profound and profoundly moving work of art. Jenny Offill is a master of form and feeling, and she gets life on the page in new, startling ways.

I hope somebody hits .400 soon. Then people can start pestering that guy with questions about the last guy to hit .400.