Leo Tolstoy

Instead of going to Paris to attend lectures, go to the public library, and you won’t come out for twenty years, if you really wish to learn.

Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

I sit on a man’s back choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that i am sorry for him and wish to lighten his load by all means possible….except by getting off his back.

Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story.

Love those you hate you.

We have finished the job, what shall we do with the tools?

This is the only reason Greenfield Village exists-to give us a sense of unity with our people through the generations, and to convey the inspiration of American genius to our young men. As a nation we have not depended so much on rare or occasional genius as on the general resourcefulness of our people. That is our true genius, and I am hoping that Greenfield Village will serve that.

Little difficulties are made to swell until they fill our horizon while the real big blessings of life are dwindled down to nothing.

As I get older, I just prefer to knit.

Everything is relative in this world, where change alone endures.

There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.

My experience is that the teachers we need most are the people we’re living with right now.

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; In practice, there is.

We’ll love you just the way you are if you’re perfect.

Blood banks are all closed; you can’t use others to keep you warm.

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.

I’m not a survivor. Survivor comes from saying you barely made it and you’re a victim. I am triumphant. I’m not a survivor.

If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.