Pride is less ashamed of being ignorant, than of being instructed, and she looks too high to find that, which very often lies beneath her.

True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost.

Nothing more completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity himself, than straight forward and simple integrity in another.

The soundest argument will produce no more conviction in an empty head than the most superficial declamation; as a feather and a guinea fall with equal velocity in a vacuum.

The art of declamation has been sinking in value from the moment that speakers were foolish enough to publish, and hearers wise enough to read.

None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them; such persons covet secrets as a spendthrift covets money, for the purpose of circulation.

Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away.

Let those who would affect singularity with success first determine to be very virtuous, and they will be sure to be very singular.

Atheism is a system which can communicate neither warmth nor illumination, except from those fagots which your mistaken zeal has lighted up for its destruction.

Deliberate with caution, but act with decision and yield with graciousness, or oppose with firmness.

The study of mathematics, like the Nile, begins in minuteness but ends in magnificence.

In the big scheme of things, it’s the little things that matter

Your problem, Kendra, is that you can easily imagine using magic. What you have to do now is imagine the magic itself.

We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.

There are two theories on hitting the knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither of them work.

I can't really attribute my success onscreen to any formula and suggest you "do this or that" to make it as an actor.

We wrongly but persistently expect to make different decisions tomorrow than we do today

For success, the author must make the reader care about the destiny of the principals, and sustain this anxiety, or suspense, for about 100,000 words.

How terrible is wisdom, when it brings no profit to the man that's wise

American Muse, whose strong and diverse heart So many men have tried to understand But only made it smaller with their art, Because you are as various as your land.

It's the old case against symbols: if you get them, they seem obvious and artificial, and if you don't, you miss the whole point.