The secret to a successful career in virtually any field is good public relations. Forget results. Forget the facts. Perception is all that matters.

It is not faith per se that creates the problem; it is conviction, the notion that one cannot be wrong, that opposing views are necessarily invalid and may even be intolerable.

The uplifters are forever running around telling blockheads they would do better if they would believe in themselves. But they already do. That is why they are blockheads.

The measure of a civilization is in the courage, not of its soldiers, but of its bystanders.

... the truth is that when your people don't tell you what you need to know, it's a failure of leadership.

We could never know who we truly were until we heard the whispers of the stars.

Boundaries have no existence save on charts or in small minds. Nature does not draw lines.

Man has always seen himself the peak of creation. The part of the universe that thinks. The purpose for it all. It's no doubt a gratifying view, but the universe may have a different opinion.

Show me what a people admire, and I will tell you everything about them that matters.

Universal deities ... never seem to smile. Not in any culture. What's the point of having omnipotence if you don't enjoy it?

The problem is that too often the only people who can act don't want change. Power doesn't so much corrupt as it breeds conservatism.

Oh, miraculous chameleon, science, who can reverse your doctrine hourly and never shake our faith! What cult ever battered by this world of doubt can help but envy you?

To be successful, you need to do two things:1. Condition your hair, 2. Do the same with your mind.

Frankly, I love my independence too much to give it up.

True humility is contentment.

I am not an atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds.

Therefore the great mediator of any community is human morality.

When we take care of ourselves like we would take care of someone we love, the quality of our living and our giving goes up.

Yeah, I know, some people are against drunk driving, and I call those people 'the cops.' But you know, sometimes, you've just got no choice; those kids gotta get to school!

In wretched outcomes, the devil is in the details.

If you present good government, then elections look after themselves.