'Tis no sin to cheat the devil.

It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep, than a sheep at the head of an army of lions.

It is never too late to be wise.

Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.

The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the luster of it will never appear.

All our discontents about what we want appeared to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.

Justice is always Violence to the Party offending, for every Man is Innocent in his own Eyes.

Expect nothing and you'll always be surprised

Necessity makes an honest man a knave.

The best of men cannot suspend their fate; The good die early, and the bad die late.

The height of human wisdom is to bring our tempers down to our circumstances, and to make a calm within, under the weight of the greatest storm without.

Come, my men! never say die while there's a shot in the locker.

The single most important thing in a child's performance is the quality of the teacher. Making sure a child spends the maximum amount of time with inspirational teachers is the most important thing.

The Gullikson twins here. An interesting pair, both from Wisconsin.

The idea of a poem as a message in a bottle means that it's sent out towards some future reader and the reader who opens that bottle becomes the addressee of the literary text.

Do you think you can be righteous and holy with impunity?

I tried water polo and my horse drowned... that was a nightmare.

I look at him [son Eric] and I think of my dad all the time.... I was born to be a dad.

But even in my darkest days I had faith it would turn around.

Writing every day is a way of keeping the engine running, and then something good may come out of it.

Like a lady who has lost weight and she's just getting to that point where she can fit into that favourite dress, you get the film down to just about the right cut. You can feel it when it happens.