We say that someone occupies an official position, whereas it is the official position that occupies him.

The Greeks possessed a knowledge of human nature we seem hardly able to attain to without passing through the strengthening hibernation of a new barbarism.

One might call habit a moral friction: something that prevents the mind from gliding over things but connects it with them and makes it hard for it to free itself from them.

Erudition can produce foliage without bearing fruit.

There exists a species of transcendental ventriloquism by means of which men can be made to believe that something said on earth comes from Heaven.

Just as the performance of the vilest and most wicked deeds requires spirit and talent, so even the greatest demand a certain insensitivity which under other circumstances we would call stupidity.

If there were only turnips and potatoes in the world, someone would complain that plants grow the wrong way.

Many things about our bodies would not seem to us so filthy and obscene if we did not have the idea of nobility in our heads.

To read means to borrow; to create out of one s readings is paying off one's debts.

Once we know our weaknesses they cease to do us any harm.

He who understands the wise is wise already.

That's not how you're going to live, Bird Girl. Not on my account. Spread those strong wings of yours. Fly.

At least Romney and McCain, they respect the rule of law. At least Romney and McCain, they understand their limitations.

It was a typically British birth... I was three at the time. They had a strike in the maternity ward... I came out in sympathy.

Motives are better than actions. Men drift into crime. Of evil they do more than they contemplate, and of good they contemplate more than they do.

You get a concussion. It could take 30, 40 days until that starts to come to life where you're in agony. Ask any doctor.

I have taken advantage of other people's weaknesses in order to cover my own.

Decent responsible parents are a royal pain- that's how you know when you have them [such parents].

The endgame is an arena in which miraculous escapes are not uncommon.

If you want to get attacked, have an opinion.

I favour passive investing for most investors, because markets are amazingly successful devices for incorporating information into stock prices.