We are not a nation, so much as a world; for unless we claim all the world for our sire, like Melchisedec, we are without father or mother.

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.

A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities.

I am, as I am; whether hideous, or handsome, depends upon who is made judge.

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well- warmed, and well-fed.

Dream tonight of peacock tails, Diamond fields and spouter whales. Ills are many, blessing few, But dreams tonight will shelter you.

Toil is man's allotment; toil of brain, or toil of hands, or a grief that's more than either, the grief and sin of idleness.

Meditation and water are wedded for ever.

I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.

Aye, aye! and I'll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give him up.

War should be carried on like a monsoon; one changeless determination of every particle towards the one unalterable aim.

Genuine polemics approach a book as lovingly as a cannibal spices a baby.

I love learning, and I think that curiosity is a wonderful gift.

I was taught over and over again that the accumulation of random mutations led to evolutionary change - led to new species. I believed it until I looked for evidence.

It does get strange when you realize people will hang around for hours to get a glimpse of you doing scenes outside.

I feel it is time that I also pay tribute to my four writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

They're kind of baby steps. We haven't made any measurable impact on the mortality rate or survival of this disease.

I've treated the waistcoat as if it were a corset, so that it becomes the first layer in the process of putting clothes on the body. There is constant motion between layering and revealing.

Success made me self-sufficient, but it also took away my anonymity. I'm just this quiet nobody, and all of a sudden people are nervous around me. That was kind of weird.

It wasn't until the late '70s that a lot of people knew me.

Glory, the casual gift of thoughtless crowds! Glory, the bribe of avaricious virtue!