To do something is in every man's power.

Cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.

A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.

There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.

There is no defense against adverse fortune which is so effectual as an habitual sense of humor.

The public has a taste for supping with the great.

We are programmed; we are literally programmed genetically and then we are programmed environmentally and most people never break out of that programming.

Once a gunner, always a gunner

The very best of all Merwin: I have been reading William since 1952, and always with joy.

Grace... expresses two complementary thoughts: God's unmerited favor to us through Christ, and God's divine assistance to us through the Holy Spirit.

I am infinitely strange to myself.

I grew up in a socialist country. And I have seen what that does to people. There is no hope, no freedom. No pride in achievement.

Democrats never agree on anything, that's why they're Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans.