you don't need free will to determine that twice two is four. that's not what i call free will

The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison.

Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.

If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man ... just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he's a good man.

Learning to love is hard and we pay dearly for it. It takes hard work and a long apprenticeship, for it is not just for a moment that we must learn to love, but forever.

People speak sometimes about the "bestial" cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.

It is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be happy in a fool's paradise.

Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him.

I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness.

Don’t be overwise; fling yourself straight into life, without deliberation; don’t be afraid - the flood will bear you to the bank and set you safe on your feet again.

The most offensive is not their lying - one can always forgive lying - lying is a delightful thing, for it leads to truth - what is offensive is that they lie and worship their own lying.

Even having saved the world doesn't make me feel good about myself. Perhaps it's something you get habituated to

The people's right to change what does not work is one of the greatest principles of our system of government.

What I cannot love, I overlook. Is that real friendship?

I should have known the power-hungry slave drivers at River's Edge would see my five days of freedom only as a challenge to be filled.

You do not require an invitation to make profits.

Drama can feel like therapy whereas comedy feels like there's been a pressure and a weight lifted off of you.

The main thing that God asks for is our attention.

Writing is primarily a sensuous and creative expression of life.

The most important ingredient we put into any relationship is not what we say or what we do, but what we are.

Let gentleness my strong enforcement be.