The fate of the country... does not depend on what kind of paper you drop into the ballot-box once a year, but on what kind of man you drop from your chamber into the street every morning.

If there is any hell more unprincipled than our rulers, and we, the ruled, I feel curious to see it.

I would remind my countrymen that they are to be men first, and Americans only at a late and convenient hour.

A distinguished clergyman told me that he chose the profession of a clergyman because it afforded the most leisure for literary pursuits. I would recommend to him the profession of a governor.

There is no such thing as accomplishing a righteous reform by the use of 'expediency.' There is no such thing as sliding up hill. In morals, the only sliders are backsliders.

A government which deliberately enacts injustice, and persists in it, will at length ever become the laughing-stock of the world.

Now-a-days, men wear a fool's cap, and call it a liberty cap.

I believe that, in this country, the press exerts a greater and a more pernicious influence than the church did in its worst period. We are not a religious people, but we are a nation of politicians.

Those who have been bred in the school of politics fail now and always to face the facts.

There are some who deploy casual wisdom for the purpose of engaging.

We are the children of gods and angels.

You just can't stop smiling when you get unconditional love.

In some way, people believe that if you are permeable, if you are a good listener, you don't have the quality of somebody with a firm attitude. This is what, fundamentally, I got from my mother.

You can never maintain just pure happiness. In my life, I want full emotion. I want equal parts happiness and sadness.

I have learned to like myself for the first time and to have some serenity.

I know not every mom is a secret KGB spy, but every mom has this whole other life. Every dad and every person has this whole other life.

The less I pray, the harder it gets; the more I pray, the better it goes.

I wondered if people might not have had enough of Simon Armitage and wondered whether I hadn't had enough of Simon Armitage.

Creativity comes from spontaneous meetings, from random discussions.