When virtue is banished, ambition invades the minds of those who are disposed to receive it and avarice possesses the whole community.

It is necessary from the very nature of things that power should be a check to power.

The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.

We receive three educations, one from our parents, one from our school-masters, and one from the world. The third contradicts all that the first two teach us.

There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.

Every man who has power is impelled to abuse it.

In the state of nature... all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the law.

A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.

For a country, everything will be lost when the jobs of an economist and a banker become highly respected professions.

Liberty... is there only when there is no abuse of power.

Knowledge humanizes mankind, and reason inclines to mildness; but prejudices eradicate every tender disposition.

May the Lord give you grace to handle life’s challenges.

Your attitude toward Scripture can reveal your attitude toward the Savior. When your passion for God's Word runs high, your passion for God does as well.

When you see something wrong and fail to do anything about it, even in the smallest effort, you accept the wrong.

Poetry is probably the last gift economy. Part of the negotiation is to understand that you're going to do something you really want to do, so you're going to take whatever life comes with that.

Paradoxically, in the field being a woman actually helps you: people often feel more comfortable talking to women, which is key in documentaries.

Since my mother is an extremely devoted Christian Orthodox woman, she prayed a great deal and taught me how to pray.

I think I throw the ball as hard as anyone. The ball just doesn't get there as fast.

The mastermind, the man with the plan

I don’t love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as certain dark things are loved, secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

No patriotism is genuine that is merely partisan or provincial.