Make him laugh and he will think you a trivial fellow, but bore him in the right way and your reputation is assured.

Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.

We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.

To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.

It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.

If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too.

The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself.

The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you.

It is dangerous to let the public behind the scenes. They are easily disillusioned and then they are angry with you, for it was the illusion they loved.

The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic and self-complacent is erroneous; on the contrary it makes them, for the most part, humble, tolerant and kind.

Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young.

In the absence of love, we began slowly but surely to fall apart.

Communication creates collaboration. Big ears are better than big egos. When you’re not listening, ask good questions.

A genius does what he masters. An ordinary man tries to master what he does.

Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil.

However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts.

The aim of talk should be like the aim of a flying arrow -- to hit the mark; but to this end there must be a mark to hit, that is, there must be a listener.

There were mysterious questions, but a mysterious answer was a contradiction in terms.

He was one of those guys who'd pronounce I'm a hugger as he came at you, neglecting to ask if the feeling was mutual.

I have never found any who prayed so well as those who had never been taught how. They who have no master in man, have one in the Holy Spirit.

Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming.