The causes of events are ever more interesting than the events themselves.

Politicians are not born; they are excreted.

Poor is the nation that has no heroes, but poorer still is the nation that having heroes, fails to remember and honor them.

It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own.

Read at every wait; read at all hours; read within leisure; read in times of labor; read as one goes in; read as one goest out. The task of the educated mind is simply put: read to lead.

We learn nothing from history except that we learn nothing from history.

It is not enough to acquire wisdom, it is necessary to employ it.

Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.

Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system.

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

May you find the beauty in every moment.

Violin playing is a physical art with great traditions behind it.

I have no one to leave the money to. I'm a single man. I like spending my money.

The difference between us and other people is that their money looks bigger and their troubles smaller.

These old ballparks are like cathedrals in America. We don't have big old Gothic cathedrals like they do in Europe. But we got baseball parks.

George Clooney is great. He's incredibly prepared and he attracts a tremendously talented crew, which says a lot for him personally and professionally.

So not enough people in this world, I think, carry a cosmic perspective with them. It could be life-changing.

There aren't enough secrets to go round anymore. Some spies are having to invent secrets in order to earn a living.

Musically, I always allow myself to jump off of cliffs. At least that's what it feels like to me. Whether that's what it actually sounds like might depend on what the listener brings to the songs.

I do not have a single white note on my piano; my elephant smoked too much.