Man is so muddled, so dependent on the things immediately before his eyes, that every day even the most submissive believer can be seen to risk the torments of the afterlife for the smallest pleasure.

If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Into his nest again, I shall not live in vain.

"Live like yourself," was soon my lady's word, And lo! two puddings smok'd upon the board.

Freedom is just chaos with better lighting.

The charm dissolves apace; And as the morning steals upon the night, Melting the darkness, so their rising senses Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle Their clearer reason.

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.

Nothing is so swift as calumny, nothing is more easily propagated, nothing more readily credited, nothing more widely circulated.

Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once.

People generally quarrel because they can't argue.

Acquaintance: a person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to.

The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.

Learn all you can from the mistakes of others. You won't have time to make them all yourself.

A father may turn his back on his child, brothers and sisters may become inveterate enemies, husbands may desert their wives, wives their husbands. But a mother's love endures through all.

As much as we thirst for approval we dread condemnation.

Democracy is not an easy form of government, because it is never final; it is a living, changing organism, with a continuous shifting and adjusting of balance between individual freedom and general order.

Heaven, no. I was shy for several years in my early days in Hollywood until I figured out that no one really gave a damn if I was shy or not, and I got over my shyness.

Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

Humor has justly been regarded as the finest perfection of poetic genius.

The careful insect 'midst his works I view, Now from the flowers exhaust the fragrant dew, With golden treasures load his little thighs, And steer his distant journey through the skies.

You must have long term goals to keep you from being frustrated by short term failures.