With the "civilized" person contentment is a myth. From the cradle to the grave they are forever longing and striving after something better, an indefinable something, some new object yet unattained.

The difficulties, hardships and trials of life, the obstacles... are positive blessings. They knit the muscles more firmly, and teach self-reliance.

The same disappointments in life will chasten and refine one man's spirit, embitter another's.

Be methodical if you would succeed in business, or in anything. Have a work for every moment, and mind the moment's work.

The smallest thing, well done, becomes artistic.

One well-cultivated talent, deepened and enlarged, is worth one hundred shallow faculties.

Unless a man has trained himself for his chance, the chance will only make him ridiculous.

As frost, raised to its utmost intensity, produces the sensation of fire, so any good quality, overwrought and pushed to excess, turns into its own contrary.

The petty cares, the minute anxieties, the infinite littles which go to make up the sum of human experience, like the invisible granules of powder, give the last and highest polish to a character.

Criminals are opportunists. If you've got a booming market, they're going to get away with more fraud.

The power of music that poetry lacks is the ability to persuade without argument.

One part of wisdom is knowing what you don't need anymore and letting it go.

You don't love perfectly without first loving imperfectly.

The myth does not point to a fact; the myth points beyond facts to something that informs the fact

If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin.

Companies fail for lack of brains and effort.

If you win a National Championship, or you win two, people think you have not only seen the Holy Grail, but you've embraced it. Basically, I do what a lot of people do, but I've been able to win.

I look for roles that show women as independent, informed, and free to make their own decisions.

I want to reach absolute perfection. And I think I can reach it.

I can do anything I want to do really, I might as well.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all the people some of the time, which is just long enough to be president of the United States.