I am, I flatter myself, completely a citizen of the world. In my travels through Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Corsica, France, I never felt myself from home.

No, Sir, claret is the liquor for boys; port for men: but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy. In the first place brandy will do soonest for a man what drinking can do for him.

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.

I have discovered that we may be in some degree whatever character we choose. Besides, practice forms a man to anything.

My father had declared a predilection for heirs general, that is, males and females indiscriminately.... I, on the other hand, had a zealous partiality for heirs male, however remote.

I, who have no sisters or brothers, look with some degree of innocent envy on those who may be said to be born to friends.

When a man is familiar with many people he must expect many disagreeable familiarizations.

Quotation is more universal and more ancient than one would perhaps believe.

The pleasure of gratifying whim is very great. It is known only by those who are whimsical.

Melancholy cannot be clearly proved to others, so it is better to be silent about it.

It is not every man who can be exquisitely miserable, any more than exquisitely happy.

Drugs are a bet with your mind.

I felt the most intense pleasure in piercing the stone in order to make an abstract form and space quite a different sensation from that of doing it for the purpose of realism.

Today the main, over-riding purpose of the European Union is different: not to win peace, but to secure prosperity.

A writer falls in love with an idea and gets carried away.

Mother, are you there? I love you. I never meant to hit you over the head with that shovel.

Each genre has something to teach me about the others. Not all the lessons are transferable, but many of the most important ones are.

Think only on the climb. Think on what you control

History doesn't repeat itself; it rhymes.

Confidence begets confidence. Courage, an independent spark from heaven's bright throne, By which the soul stands raised, triumphant, high, alone. Courage in danger is half the battle.

The world is crammed with delightful things