The effusions of genius are entitled to admiration rather than applause, as they are chiefly the effect of natural endowment, and sometimes appear to be almost involuntary.

Man often acquires just so much knowledge as to discover his ignorance, and attains so much experience as to regret his follies, and then dies.

There is such a delusion as evinces itself in cool vehemence; and it is the most dangerous of all expressions of fanaticism.

Time sheds a softness on remote objects or events, as local distance imparts to the landscape a smoothness and mellowness which disappear on a nearer approach.

Scandal is the sport of its authors, the dread of fools, and the contempt of the wise.

The fame which bids fair to live the longest resembles that which Horace attributes to Marcellus, whose progress he compares to the silent, imperceptible growth of a tree.

Great books, like large skulls, have often the least brains.

Philosophy abounds more than philosophers, and learning more than learned men.

The Chinese, whom it might be well to disparage less and imitate more, seem almost the only people among whom learning and merit have the ascendency, and wealth is not the standard of estimation.

Error is sometimes so nearly allied to truth that it blends with it as imperceptibly as the colors of the rainbow fade into each other.

Topics of conversation among the multitude are generally persons, sometimes things, scarcely ever principles.

Know this much:regret nothing.Each part of your journey is essential to the whole.The moment you are experiencing is as important as your destination.Ninetah, the Daskiny Healer in The Traveler

He said he loved more than any other women he's ever loved and I had a black eye to prove it.

You shall discuss dreams, not deny!

Our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world as in being able to remake ourselves.

Mason knew what it was like to say things you didn’t mean, to just have them vomit out, and then feel that crushing ache when you realized you could never pull them back.

By the time I came down from Yale, I was already more radicalized and had begun to read New Masses.

There's always a germ of truth in just about everything.

The saddest people I've met in my life are the ones who don't care deeply about anything at all .

The Pakistanis are straightforward and sometimes extremely stupid. The Indians are more devious, sometimes so smart that we fall for their line.

We enjoy this illusion of continuity and we call it memory. Which explains, perhaps, why our worst fear isn't the end of life, but the end of memories