All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.

It is not length of life, but depth of life.

The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great.

If a work of art is rich and vital and complete, those who have artistic instincts will see its beauty, and those to whom ethics appeal more strongly than aesthetics will see its moral lesson. It will fill the cowardly with terror, and the unclean will see in it their own shame.

Men freely believe that which they desire.

The common question that gets asked in business is, ‚why?‘ That’s a good question, but an equally valid question is, ‚why not?‘

Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth. By simply not mentioning certain subjects… totalitarian propagandists have influenced opinion much more effectively than they could have by the most eloquent denunciations.

What I’d really like to control is not machines, but people.

Everybody believes in something and everybody, by virtue of the fact that they believe in something, uses that something to support their own existence.

To bear means to support the weight of that which is held. It is a sacred trust to bear the priesthood, which is the mighty power and authority of God.

If people think nature is their friend, then they sure don’t need an enemy.

Falsehood is cowardice, the truth courage.

The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.

Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.

A lot of people have it a lot worse than you do.

On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.

I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.

I was kind of secretly hoping one of my kids would go out and make a million bucks. So when they put me in a home, at least I’ll have a window with a view.

Being ‚contented‘ ought to mean in English, as it does in French, being pleased. Being content with an attic ought not to mean being unable to move from it and resigned to living in it; it ought to mean appreciating all there is in such a position.

Writers write to influence their readers, their preachers, their auditors, but always, at bottom, to be more themselves.

When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.

The truth is something that burns. It burns off dead wood. And people don’t like having the dead wood burnt off, often because they’re 95 percent dead wood.

Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.

While victimhood in America is exalted, I don’t think our veterans should join those ranks.

It seems a fantastic paradox, but it is nevertheless a most important truth, that no architecture can be truly noble which is not imperfect.

Words differently arranged have a different meaning, and meanings differently arranged have different effects.

Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.

Reality has a way of intruding. Reality eventually intrudes on everything.

So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.

I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.

In the course of history, men come to see that iron necessity is neither iron nor necessary.

The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.

People are terrified of me, and I want them to be.

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.

I have been ever of opinion that revolutions are not to be evaded.

No such thing as a man willing to be honest – that would be like a blind man willing to see.

The Christian’s Bible is a drug store. Its contents remain the same, but the medical practice changes.

Without stirring abroad, One can know the whole world; Without looking out of the window One can see the way of heaven. The further one goes The less one knows.

What one fool can understand, another can.

I’ve found men are less likely to let petty things annoy them.

Nothing can be beautiful which is not true.

The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years but the one with the richest experiences.

Nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth.

At first when I heard about climate change, I was a climate denier. I didn’t think it was happening. Because if there really was an existential crisis like that, that would threaten our civilisation, we wouldn’t be focusing on anything else. That would be our first priority. So I didn’t understand how that added up.

International affairs is very much run like the mafia. The godfather does not accept disobedience, even from a small storekeeper who doesn’t pay his protection money. You have to have obedience; otherwise, the idea can spread that you don’t have to listen to the orders, and it can spread to important places.

A man may imagine things that are false, but he can only understand things that are true, for if the things be false, the apprehension of them is not understanding.

Time is compressed like the fist I close on my knee… I hold inside it the clues and solutions and the power for what I must do now.

Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.

I wouldn’t say that anyone in fashion is on my side. I don’t think there’s anyone on my side.

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin‘ away.

I think fish is nice, but then I think that rain is wet, so who am I to judge?

See, when you drive home today, you’ve got a big windshield on the front of your car. And you’ve got a little bitty rearview mirror. And the reason the windshield is so large and the rearview mirror is so small is because what’s happened in your past is not near as important as what’s in your future.

Everything isn’t political.

There are no such things as Flowers there are only gladdened Leaves.

Applause is a receipt, not a bill.

I’m an idealist without illusions.

When I write, it’s like choosing which shoes I’m going to put on. More often than not, my lyrics are personal – but I sometimes have to put myself in other people’s shoes.

Part of the reason there’s an injunction to the truth, for example, is that if you’re in a circumstance of extreme uncertainty, your best weapon, let’s say, or your best tool or your best defense is the truth, because it keeps things simpler.