To be too conscious is an illness. A real thorough going illness.

The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison.

Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.

If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man ... just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he's a good man.

Learning to love is hard and we pay dearly for it. It takes hard work and a long apprenticeship, for it is not just for a moment that we must learn to love, but forever.

People speak sometimes about the "bestial" cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.

It is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be happy in a fool's paradise.

Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him.

I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness.

Don’t be overwise; fling yourself straight into life, without deliberation; don’t be afraid - the flood will bear you to the bank and set you safe on your feet again.

The most offensive is not their lying - one can always forgive lying - lying is a delightful thing, for it leads to truth - what is offensive is that they lie and worship their own lying.

Love is a flower that should never cease to grow. Nurture it, and it will outlive you. Neglect it, and it will wilt away and die.

always schedule your comeback.

It means something, but it doesn't change anything.

The person who asks a lot of questions has room for their faith to grow.

Write what you want to write. That's the only advice a writer will ever need.

The result always mattered more than the rhetoric.

I've always been vertically challenged. I never grew at all until my junior year of high school-if you call that growing.

People like to be able to identify a brand, and I don't really have one.

We shall never prevent the abuse of power if we are not prepared to limit power in a way which occasionally may prevent its use for desirable purposes.

He's my friend that speaks well of me behind my back.