Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future.

The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.

When evil is allowed to compete with good, evil has an emotional populist appeal that wins out unless good men and women stand as a vanguard against abuse.

Politically, the weakness of the argument has always been that those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they chose evil.

This is the precept by which I have lived: Prepare for the worst; expect the best; and take what comes.

The greatest enemy of authority, therefore, is contempt, and the surest way to undermine it is laughter.

One of the greatest advantages of the totalitarian elites of the twenties and thirties was to turn any statement of fact into a question of motive.

There is a strange interdependence between thoughtlessness and evil.

Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.

There are no dangerous thoughts; thinking itself is dangerous.

Only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core.

If I choose to take the time and make you breakfast in bed, a simple thank you is all we need -- not all of this 'Why are you in my house?' nonsense.

There must be logical minds among all species if they hope to survive. Not everyone can be bridled with hope and optimism.

Light cannot enter a dark room without illumining it.

Traveling into the unfamiliar is quite an adventure for a blind person. It makes me feel like a real explorer.

I want to put my hand out and touch you. I want to do for you and care for you. I want to be there when you're sick and when you're lonesome.

No judge writes on a wholly clean slate.

When we feel happy and peaceful, our happiness and peace radiates around us, and others can enjoy it as well. This is called 'the enjoyment of others of our body of bliss'.

I was unnerved to learn in my twenties that the poems of Emily Dickinson that I had memorized as a girl were not the poems as she had written them.

For me, there are no my people and strangers, no bad people and good people. All people are equal for me.

Old music used to mean something. There is none of that today.