The despotism of custom is on the wane. We are not content to know that things are; we ask whether they ought to be.

If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.

Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.

A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.

To tax the larger incomes at a higher percentage than the smaller, is to lay a tax on industry and economy; to impose a penalty on people for having worked harder and saved more than their neighbors.

One person with a belief is equal to ninety-nine who have only interests.

The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good, in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.

Originality is the one thing which unoriginal minds cannot feel the use of.

I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them.

Liberty lies in the rights of that person whose views you find most odious.

Feeling lost, crazy and desperate belongs to a good life as much as optimism, certainty and reason.

The truth of life is that almost all that we achieve through pain is the best medicine for us, as most drugs are bitter

Brotherhood is the very price and condition of man's survival.

Look twice before you leap.

I prefer silence. Then you can hear thoughts and see into the past. In silence you can’t hide anything … as you can in words.

It's incredible to see labor unions and environmentalists getting together to stop the corporate mentality that destroys both jobs and the environment.

We are too ready (women especially) not to stand by what we have said or done.

A man whose yesterdays rest on his horizon travels forward into his past. The result is that he goes a very long way to nowhere.

All history is defined by shifting modes of reality and time and how things change. That’s what I love about cinema. It changes in the moment.

Everyone is a self-made man. Only the successful admit it.