Who so taketh in hand to frame any state or government ought to presuppose that all men are evil, and at occasions will show themselves so to be.

Talking much is a sign of vanity, for the one who is lavish with words is cheap in deeds.

But from this earth, this grave, this dust, My God shall raise me up, I trust.

If all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd's tongue, These pretty pleasures might me move To live with thee, and be thy love.

But true love is a durable fire, In the mind ever burning, Never sick, never old, never dead, From itself never turning.

The most divine light only shineth on those minds which are purged from all worldly dross and human uncleanliness.

But it is hard to know them from friends, they are so obsequious and full of protestations; for a wolf resembles a dog, so doth a flatterer a friend.

[It is a basic principle of a tyrant] to unarm his people of weapons, money and all means whereby they resist his power.

So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head lieth.

It is not truth, but opinion that can travel the world without a passport.

Whoever commands the sea, commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself.

The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.

Not what hatches out is the face to the world.

So may the New Year be a happy one to you, happy to many more whose happiness depends on you!

We are the leaders that we have been waiting for. We are the social innovators and entrepreneurs that we have been seeking.

Ordinary men commonly condemn what is beyond them.

Is France a northern European export powerhouse, or a Mediterranean indebted and dependent economy? Yes to both.

... I have always been a disappointment to my friends. I have no gift of talk, not much to say; and though I have always been an excellent listener, that only succeeds under auspicious circumstances.

I enjoy tasting [beer]. But I'm not a drinker, period. With my schedule, I don't really have time.

Writing is a divine art, and the more I write and read the more I love it.

Hess or no Hess, I'm going to watch the Marx Brothers.