The roots of knowledge are bitter, but its fruit are sweet.

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.

Your deepest valleys lead you to your highest mountaintops.

With vision only, you get no follow-through. With enforcers only, the vision is realized but leaves a lot of wreckage.

The nights were blinding cold and casket black and the long reach of the morning had a terrible silence to it.

Love is the spirit of life, and makes all things live.

Life is more about losing than winning.

I think the fact that I created something and had an enormous influence is indisputable.

I dance because I have to, because I'm so passionate about it.

Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system software free, just like air.

True generosity must benefit both parties. No woman can control her destiny if she doesn't give to herself as much as she gives of herself.