The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness.

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.

The majority of men... are not capable of thinking, but only of believing, and... are not accessible to reason, but only to authority.

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to do so.

Genius and madness have something in common: both live in a world that is different from that which exists for everyone else.

A pessimist is an optimist in full possession of the facts.

Religions are like fireflies. They require darkness in order to shine.

Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point.

Changing is what people do when they have no options left.

He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.

My main regret in life is that there is no MacArthur Fellowship awarded in the field of Panda Satire.

It's good to be able to be a leading lady, to be a romantic lead, to play opposite people who are talented, and charismatic and stuff.

Good kids are like sunsets. We take them for granted.

No system in the world is so well-designed that it can't grow stale, rigid, or corrupted by those who benefit most from it.

Music is the most physically inspiring of all the arts.

The Garden Was My Delight. I grew up with gardeners and I just love gardens. I was always very much aware that gardens were important and they were for sharing.

The only thing history teaches us, a wise man once said, is that history doesn’t teach us anything.

You know what the crummiest feeling you can have is? To hate the person you love the best in the world.