Consistency in opinion is the slow poison of intellectual life, the destroyer of its vividness and energy.

Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness, and small obligations given habitually, are what preserve the heart and secure comfort.

The most important of my discoveries have been suggested to me by failures.

I have learned more from my mistakes than from my successes.

Experimental science hardly ever affords us more than approximations to the truth; and whenever many agents are concerned we are in great danger of being mistaken.

Nothing tends so much to the advancement of knowledge as the application of a new instrument.

We must reason in natural philosophy not from what we hope, or even expect, but from what we perceive.

Language is not only the vehicle of thought, it is a great and efficient instrument in thinking.

By science calmed, over the peaceful soul, Bright with eternal Wisdom's lucid ray, Peace, meek of eye, extends her soft control, And drives the puny Passions far away.

When two elements combine and form more than one compound, the masses of one element that react with a fixed mass of the other are in the ratio of small whole numbers.

Profound minds are the most likely to think lightly of the resources of human reason, and it is the superficial thinker who is generally strongest in every kind of unbelief.

Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.

I don't know what I'm doing as a parent at all.

The Republicans have a positive talent for self-destruction.

Success is a relative quotient, and fame can be ephemeral. An Oscar is something that becomes a part of your record, a tangible acknowledgement that your efforts have made a difference.

In a sluggish economy, never, ever f*** with another man's livelihood.

The black people's struggle has vanquished racism. It was God who created colour. Today Obama, a son of Kenya, a son of Africa, has made it in the United States of America.

I was totally absorbed. I was in another world, or another dimension; all sense of time evaporated.

We don't admit it to ourselves, not until the very moment of death, but in that moment, we see all life before us and we understand how we chose, every day of our lives, the manner of our death.

For here, I hope, begins our lasting joy.