You philosophers are lucky men. You write on paper and paper is patient. Unfortunate Empress that I am, I write on the susceptible skins of living beings.

Happiness and unhappiness are in the heart and spirit of each one of us: If you feel unhappy, then place yourself above that and act so that your happiness does not get to be dependent on anything.

In politics a capable ruler must be guided by circumstances, conjectures and conjunctions.

The more a man knows, the more he forgives.

Nothing is more difficult, in my opinion, than to avoid something that fundamentally attracts you.

A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.

I sincerely want peace, not because I lack resources for war, but because I hate bloodshed.

One does not always do the best there is. One does the best one can.

it is better to inspire a reform than to enforce it.

Power without a nation's confidence is nothing.

I am one of the people who love the why of things.

Often you don't know whether a woman is friend, enemy or lover until it is too late. Sometimes, she is all three.

If you would know who controls you see who you may not criticise.

A sense of humor is a major defense against minor troubles.

If a woman is comfortable with herself, I think that's what radiates. I think the moment you start questioning your body and looks is when you get into trouble.

Lettuce is like conversation; it must be fresh and crisp, so sparkling that you scarcely notice the bitter in it.

Woman has been the great unpaid laborer of the world.

Look, architecture has a lot of places to hide behind, a lot of excuses. "The client made me do this." "The city made me do this." "Oh, the budget." I don't believe that anymore.

Knowledge is the only elegance.

I used to have a gun made every month; I would get another pistol made that I would design. I'm very into the military and police stuff like that.

When we spoke, Gene Wilder had just written a memoir called "Kiss Me Like A Stranger." The title was suggested by his late wife Gilda Radner three weeks before she died in 1989.