The past is dead; let it bury its dead, its hopes and its aspirations; before you lies the future-a future full of golden promise.

African slavery, as it exists in the United States, is a moral, a social, and a political blessing.

The principle for which we contend is bound to reassert itself, though it may be at another time and in another form.

Truthfulness is a cornerstone in character, and if it be not firmly laid in youth, there will ever after be a weak spot in the foundation.

Truth crushed to earth is truth still and like a seed will rise again.

The time for compromise has now passed, and the South is determined to maintain her position, and make all who oppose her smell Southern powder and feel Southern steel.

Governments rest on the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish them at will whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established.

Neither current events nor history show that the majority rule, or ever did rule.

All we ask is to be let alone.

Nothing fills me with deeper sadness than to see a Southerner apologizing for the defense we made of our inheritance.

A question settled by violence, or in disregard of law, must remain unsettled forever.

I stood in the isle thinking about my future, while the man next to me complained, but when I asked him what his dream was he never answered.

It is almost impossible to not triumph to bigger and better things, if you aren't afraid to make mistakes, learn from them, and try again with a better approach.

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me, there's a truth in your heart that says you'll never leave me, and the touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall.

No touching... Cashmere is highly sensitive to the oil in poor people's fingers.

Advice to young writers? Always the same advice: learn to trust our own judgment.

[T]he history of science has proved that fundamental research is the lifeblood of individual progress and that the ideas that lead to spectacular advances spring from it.

The mile has a classic symmetry....It's a play in four acts.

In truth, how much time do any of us really have?

Acting is not my language at all.

A little slower, sweetheart. Cape Cod is freezing over.