A disposition to preserve and an ability to improve taken together would be my standard of a statesman.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.

Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.

The hottest fires in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.

Silence is golden but when it threatens your freedom it's yellow.

In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.

It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.

When you fear something, learn as much about it as you can. Knowledge conquers fear.

Mere parsimony is not economy. Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in true economy.

The Fate of good men who refuse to become involved in politics is to be ruled by evil men.

Working with heart, then enjoy our time.

You may have a guardian angel, but I have a uzzi.You work out who's gunna come out on top!

And above all things, never think that you're not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you at your own reckoning.

A Persian's heaven is eas'ly made: 'T is but black eyes and lemonade.

We endeavor to make a virtue of the faults we are unwilling to correct.

Man… ninjas are kind of cool… I just don’t know any personally.

Most poets' revisions are disastrous. They buckle and dent what was originally forged at a red-hot heat.

Up through and including Lincoln, American politicians nursed a fantasy of repatriating blacks to Africa.

Yes, actually ever since I saw his films and tried to write about them, Sirk's been in everything I've done. Not Sirk himself, but what I've learned from his work.

My parents discussed singing every night over the dinner table; I had a tremendous music education.