Debates, I hate.

Woe to the makers of literal translations, who by rendering every word weaken the meaning! It is indeed by so doing that we can say the letter kills and the spirit gives life.

I maintain that, if everyone knew what others said about him, there would not be four friends in the world.

Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.

Language is the dress of thought.

Humor is the first of the gifts to perish in a foreign tongue.

I’m actually a very honest person, and sometimes I end up like, ‚Man, I said too much.‘ It’s hard for me not to tell the truth when you ask me.

Everybody, to some extent, manipulates. Even children learn to cry when they want something. There are all kinds of subtle things we do to get others to follow our lead, not bother us, and so on.

Saying nothing… sometimes says the most.

Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.

If you do not understand a man you cannot crush him. And if you do understand him, very probably you will not.

If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour?

I just think you ought to talk straight with your people.

You can disagree without being disagreeable.

The only way I hear gossip is if it’s big enough and loud enough for my friends to bring it up to me. Or if it’s, like, a big untrue ordeal from my publicist – and she hates making that phone call!

People often think I’m a faker, but I’m usually honest, in a certain way – in such a way that often nobody believes me!

I never went to school more than six months in my life, but I can say this: that among my earliest recollections, I remember how, when a mere child, I used to get irritated when anybody talked to me in a way I could not understand.

I’m grateful for the opportunities God gave me to minister to people in high places; people in power have spiritual and personal needs like everyone else, and often they have no one to talk to.

Who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying.

You must show the world that you abhor fighting.

Stage actors are usually much more conscious of speaking up and making sure that everyone can hear in the back of the theatre; a film actor probably thinks of that a little less.

We make war that we may live in peace.

He who talks more is sooner exhausted.

No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it… You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing would fall flat in a week.

No one ever doubts that I mean what I say. The problem is I sometimes say all that I mean.

I have known war as few men now living know it. It’s very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes.

If you must speak ill of another, do not speak it, write it in the sand near the water’s edge.

People like to talk about war.

The kids never listen to you, especially the youngest ones.

The secret to the movie business, or any business, is to get a good education in a subject besides film – whether it’s history, psychology, economics, or architecture – so you have something to make a movie about. All the skill in the world isn’t going to help you unless you have something to say.

We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another – until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.

I didn’t just invent saying offensive things.

I have made the mistaken assumption – and I will attempt to be better at this – of thinking that because somebody is on Twitter and is attacking me that it is open season. And that is my mistake.

I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.

Nowhere is it written that there must be conflict between the United States and China.

Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud.

I like it when someone tells me ‚I don’t agree.‘ This is a true collaborator. When they say ‚Oh, how great, how great, how great,‘ that’s not useful.

War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.

Music helps me tell my story. That’s where I can really be heard. But there’s so much focus on the things that aren’t music.

Being a child at home alone in the summer is a high-risk occupation. If you call your mother at work thirteen times an hour, she can hurt you.

The American public’s a lot more sophisticated than we all give them credit for. And on complicated issues, I’m going to give them straight answers. And if it takes more than three minutes, I’m going to do it.

I don’t want to tell President Obama how to make a speech. He’s a much better speech maker than I am. But I think always to tell the truth in a sometimes blatant way, even though it might be temporarily unpopular, is the best approach.

Tell the audience what you’re going to say, say it; then tell them what you’ve said.

We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.

Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.

When I got somethin‘ to say, I’ll say it.

It is far more important to be able to hit the target than it is to haggle over who makes a weapon or who pulls a trigger.

The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish your feelings – words shrink things that seem timeless when they are in your head to no more than living size when they are brought out.

My daughter doesn’t even get my humor. She’s like, ‚Um, no. I don’t get it, Dad. Mmm, no, not that one, Dad.‘

The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs.

And all who told it added something new, and all who heard it, made enlargements too.

We are eager to tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the Old World some weeks nearer to the New, but perchance the first news that will leak through into the broad, flapping American ear will be that the Princess Adelaide has the whooping cough.

When we turn to one another for counsel we reduce the number of our enemies.

Religion is not going to come up with any new arguments.

I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn’t wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.

I grew up cursing a lot. It felt natural. My parents told me to stop.

I meet people overseas that know five languages – that the only language I’m comfortable in is English.

War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support.

My friend has a baby. I’m recording all the noises he makes so later I can ask him what he meant.

A remark generally hurts in proportion to its truth.