The impulse which directs to right conduct, and deters from crime, is not only older than the ages of nations and cities, but coeval with that Divine Being who sees and rules both heaven and earth.

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.

The day Cami nearly succeeded at her suicide attempt was the worst day of Kaci’s life. Cami was the only sister that she had, and she couldn’t imagine spending the rest of her life without her.

In writing biography, fact and fiction shouldn't be mixed. And if they are, the fictional points should be printed in red ink, the facts printed in black ink.

God actually delights in exalting our inability. He intentionally puts his people in situations where they come face to face with their need for him.

A human being does not cease to exist at death. It is change, not destruction, which takes place.

You are lucky if you have one or two epiphanies in your life, particularly a creative one.

Nobody likes to be accused of a virtue.

Only truthful hands write true poems. I cannot see any basic difference between a handshake and a poem.

I try to make sense of things. Which is why, I guess, I believe in destiny. There must be a reason that I am as I am. There must be.

Our age is essentially one of understanding and reflection, without passion, momentarily bursting into enthusiasm and shrewdly relapsing into repose.

Just because you can't see or imagine a good reason why God might allow something to happen doesn't mean there can't be one.