Beauty rests on necessities.
What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.
Each man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day comes when he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well — he has changed his market-cart into a chariot of the sun.
Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.
Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it. Many will read the book before one thinks of quoting a passage. As soon as he has done this, that line will be quoted east and west.
Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience.
Every artist was first an amateur.
Shame arises from the fear of men, conscience from the fear of God.
The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it cannot be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.
Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.
Next to religion, let your care be to promote justice.
And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life. That your word is your bond; that you do what you say you’re going to do. That you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them and even if you don’t agree with them.
The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in.
We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.
A man cannot speak but he judges himself. With his will or against his will he draws his portrait to the eye of his companions by every word. Every opinion reacts on him who utters it. It is a threadball thrown at a mark, but the other end remains on the thrower.
The Country is both the Philosopher’s Garden and his Library, in which he Reads and Contemplates the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God.
I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.
Short words are the best and old words when short are best of all.
She is but half a wife that is not, nor is capable of being, a friend.
I have had to learn that my voice has value. And if I don’t use it, what’s the point of being in the room?
The perception of the comic is a tie of sympathy with other men, a pledge of sanity, and a protection from those perverse tendencies and gloomy insanities in which fine intellects sometimes lose themselves. A rogue alive to the ludicrous is still convertible. If that sense is lost, his fellow-men can do little for him.
He hates chess. He says it is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something clever when they are only wasting their time.
