A tree that can fill the span of a man's arms grows from a downy tip; A terrace nine stories high rises from hodfuls of earth; A journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath one's feet.

Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304 Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784 Why should men love the Church? Why should they love her laws? She tells them of Life and Death, and of all they would forget. She is tender where they would be hard, and hard where they like to be soft. She tells them of Evil and Sin, and other unpleasant facts. They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within By dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good.

A pessimist is a man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself.

An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.

Rob the average man of his life-illusion, and you rob him of his happiness at the same stroke.

Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent.

That's not a lie, it's a terminological inexactitude. Also, a tactical misrepresentation.

All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"--a strange complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come, And let my liver rather heat with wine Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.

A secret is like a dove: when it leaves my hand it takes wing.

The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.

The swallow follows not summer more willing than we your lordship.

The fire of glory is the torch of the mind.

The pen is the tongue of the mind.

From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.

Great men are they who see that the spiritual is stronger than any material force.

O, let her brother live: Thieves for the robbery have authority When judges steal themselves.

I may be crazy but it keeps me from going insane.

Nothing common can seem worthy of you.

Not all those who know their minds know their hearts as well. -Francois.