The movies today are too rich to have any room for genuine artists. They produce a few passable craftsmen, but no artists. Can you imagine a Beethoven making $100, 000 a year?

Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.

Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses.

A brilliant mind was first a listener that observed the actions of the people that loved and hated them, then found a way to express their feelings, when real communication was lost.

Thus bound together, they sheltered the child from the cold, dark night, enveloping him in warmth.

Don’t just raise the bar… Raise the roof.

...when you look at the stars, you should tremble - only dullards have become callous to this frisson ...

Really, I do not know whether my paintings are surrealist or not, but I do know that they are the frankest expression of myself.

If he says jump, she doesn't even ask "How high?" She goes out and buys a pogo stick.

I think you know that I classify science as British science, American science, and everybody else.

You can't regulate child labor. You can't regulate slavery. Some things are just wrong.

I never changed anything, except my socks and my underwear. And I never did anything to glorify myself or improve my lot. I took what came and did the best I could with it.

I believe some people in this business suffer from fame because they behave in a famous fashion.