The brain may be regarded as a kind of parasite of the organism, a pensioner, as it were, who dwells with the body.

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.

The majority of men... are not capable of thinking, but only of believing, and... are not accessible to reason, but only to authority.

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to do so.

Genius and madness have something in common: both live in a world that is different from that which exists for everyone else.

A pessimist is an optimist in full possession of the facts.

Religions are like fireflies. They require darkness in order to shine.

Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point.

The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread.

Beware of the flight of Blessings, For nothing that runs away is returned.

When people give advice, they're really just talking to themselves in the past.

We were always dead against the war.

We (women) take it for granted that we can do what we want. Not so very long ago, that was not the case.

State government has too often been used to look out for the insiders and not the citizens. This has insulated poverty from progress, and need from remedy.

Farts and poop are still funny and will always be funny.

Amidst sorrows, the only thing that enlivens us is optimistic faith. Never lose that faith.

The positive thing about writing is that you connect with yourself in the deepest way. You get a chance to know who you are, to know what you think. You begin to have a relationship with your mind.

As soon as you put an actor to a person who is real, that person comes to life through another person.