Truth, beaten down, may well rise again. But there's a reason it gets beaten down. Usually, we don't like it very much.

It is not faith per se that creates the problem; it is conviction, the notion that one cannot be wrong, that opposing views are necessarily invalid and may even be intolerable.

The uplifters are forever running around telling blockheads they would do better if they would believe in themselves. But they already do. That is why they are blockheads.

The measure of a civilization is in the courage, not of its soldiers, but of its bystanders.

... the truth is that when your people don't tell you what you need to know, it's a failure of leadership.

We could never know who we truly were until we heard the whispers of the stars.

Boundaries have no existence save on charts or in small minds. Nature does not draw lines.

Man has always seen himself the peak of creation. The part of the universe that thinks. The purpose for it all. It's no doubt a gratifying view, but the universe may have a different opinion.

Show me what a people admire, and I will tell you everything about them that matters.

Universal deities ... never seem to smile. Not in any culture. What's the point of having omnipotence if you don't enjoy it?

The problem is that too often the only people who can act don't want change. Power doesn't so much corrupt as it breeds conservatism.

The most striking feature of contemporary culture is the unslaked craving for transcendence.

Always remember who you are. Know that you are never required to apologize to anyone for being yourself.

I don't know if people know this but I am pretty good at chess. I was always on the chess team at school when I was younger.

There is no safer place for your hopes and dreams than in the loving hands of your faithful Father.

I'm a mother, I'm a journalist, I'm an American; I'm all of those things, and it really complicates your job when you have all these things come into play.

A wedding invitation is a gift subpoena.

Not everyone has a sob story, Charlie, and even if they do, it's no excuse.

Ryan finally came to my rescue. He'd thought working together in Paper Moon would help us bond.

Of course, it is well to go abroad and see the works of the old masters, but Americans... must strike out for themselves, and only by doing this will we create a great and distinctly American art.

Always thank your nurse. Sometimes they're the only one between you and a hearse.