When one told Plistarchus that a notorious railer spoke well of him, "I'll lay my life," said he, "somebody hath told him I am dead, for he can speak well of no man living.'

I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.

An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.

When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of Oratory, he answered, "Action," and which was the second, he replied, "action," and which was the third, he still answered "Action.

Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.

The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.

Barba non facit philosophum

To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future.

Time is the wisest of all counselors.

No beast is more savage than man when possessed with power answerable to his rage.

Style is the hallmark of a temperament stamped upon the material at hand.

Everybody has friends they dislike; people who they have slipped into relationships with, people they would not have chosen had they been more cautious, more circumspect.

Bad music disturbs me, but wonderful music disturbs me even more.

Being best is a false goal, you have to measure success on your own terms.

Every child is a thought in the mind of God, and our task is to recognize this thought and help it toward completion.

... it's always determined characters who make the greatest fools.

For other nations, utopia is a blessed past never to be recovered; for Americans it is just beyond the horizon.

My 'Sam Gamgee' is indeed a reflexion of the English soldier, of the privates and batmen I knew in the 1914 war, and recognised as so far superior to myself.

My own philosophy is that one should share what wisdom he has, one should help others to help themselves and one should keep going despite heavy weather, for there is always a calm ahead.

Drop all your botheration to me and be free of worry