Thinking ahead, what really happens to us will depend on how many people we have who are of the great and sober and dynamic middle-class - the strivers, the planners, the ambitious ones.

It is a simple but sometimes forgotten truth that the greatest enemy to present joy and high hopes is the cultivation of retrospective bitterness.

More good things in life are lost by indifference than ever were lost by active hostility.

A man may be a tough, concentrated, successful money-maker and never contribute to his country anything more than a horrible example.

I did but see her passing by and yet I love her till I die.

When people meet my wife they think better of me. They say: "With a wife like that, he can't be as bad as we thought".

What Great Britain calls the Far East is to us the near north.

Never forget posterity when devising a policy. Never think of posterity when making a speech.

"I pay my taxes," says somebody, as if that were an act of virtue instead of one of compulsion.

One thing about bureaucrats is that they never swallow their young. Leave them alone and you'll find them increasing every year.

One speaks with great respect of economists, if only because they represent such a variety of opinions.

...Nature has its unexpected and unappreciated mercies.

Thunder and blood and night must usurp our parts, to complete and make up the catastrophe of this great piece.

Apathy is the opposite of caring. If you’re apathetic towards something, then it isn’t something you want.

Your own creations are your own children; you gave life to them, so you'll always have, if not more passion to them, more connections to them.

I've always believed in my talent. And I've always had more guts than talent.

Music is a strange thing. I would almost say it is a miracle. For it stands halfway between thought and phenomenon, between spirit and matter.

I'm very involved with PETA - People for Ethical Treatment of Animals - and Greenpeace and a lot of women's shelter and clothing giveaways.

No teacher, preacher, parent, friend, or wise man can decide what's right for you.

Even if I don't release it myself, somebody else might hear it and want to record it. When you write a song, it gives it that potential.

Emotions are the interaction of thoughts and of sensations in the body.