The reason for having diplomatic relations is not to confer a compliment, but to secure a convenience. [On diplomatic recognition of the People's Republic of China]

The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.

Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.

There is nothing government can give you that it hasn't taken from you in the first place.

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.

You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.

A nation that forgets its past has no future.

Grace means suddenly you’re in a different universe from the one where you were stuck, and there was absolutely no way for you to get there on your own.

Night poured itself down my throat. Night was my wine and my meat. Night wed me and bedded me, widowed me and murdered me and resurrected me whole a thousand times over with each hour.

I don't plan to take a formal, cold approach with my children, but I expect a lot. I don't want my children to view me as their best friend. I want to be their mom.

Sometimes we are too polite with our suffering and allow it to dominate our life.

Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil.

The one way to discover about aliens is to tune your radio telescope and listen to the signals.

The creation of a single world comes from a huge number of fragments and chaos.

I fell in love with the possibilities of telling the story in the future, and married that quickly.

It is a sin to persue pleasure as a good and to avoid pain as a evil.

A person of intellect without energy added to it, is a failure.