The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.
The only true test of values, either of men or of things, is that of their ability to make the world a better place in which to live.
It is better to take what does not belong to you than to let it lie around neglected.
A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.
He who is not busy being born is busy dying.
Forgiveness of those who have transgressed against you, or those you love, is not about them; it is about you. It is a gift to yourself.
The most closely organized groups and movements in the world are those which have been the least friendly to the people’s progress and liberty.
Life is a marathon, it’s not a sprint.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; In practice, there is.
Life is not an easy matter… You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness.
The best way is always the simplest. The attics of the world are cluttered up with complicated failures.
Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.
All heiresses are beautiful.
Without doubt, Thomas Edison is my greatest contemporary.
Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you is determinism; the way you play it is free will.
Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.
Do not fear your enemies. The worst they can do is kill you. Do not fear friends. At worst, they may betray you. Fear those who do not care; they neither kill nor betray, but betrayal and murder exists because of their silent consent.
A human being has a natural desire to have more of a good thing than he needs.
I no longer feel the need of seeking out conscious Americanism. Because we live here and work here, we can be certain that when our music is mature it will also be American in quality.
In ceremonies of the horsemen, even the pawn must hold a grudge.
