Every man needs slaves like he needs clean air. To rule is to breathe, is it not? And even the most disenfranchised get to breathe. The lowest on the social scale have their spouses or their children.

I’ll think I have a few wonderful friends and all of a sudden, ooh, here it comes. They do a lot of things. They talk about you to the press, to their friends, tell stories, and you know, it’s disappointing.

We can improve our relationships with others by leaps and bounds if we become encouragers instead of critics.

Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.

Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.

The more extensive a man’s knowledge of what has been done, the greater will be his power of knowing what to do.

It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company.

I used to take my short stories to girls‘ homes and read them to them. Can you imagine the reaction reading a short story to a girl instead of pawing her?

That’s what a man wants in a wife, mostly; he wants to make sure one fool tells him he’s wise.

Life’s too short to hang out with people who aren’t resourceful.

And so our mothers and grandmothers have, more often than not anonymously, handed on the creative spark, the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see – or like a sealed letter they could not plainly read.

A man can be happy with any woman, as long as he does not love her.

A strong man doesn’t have to be dominant toward a woman. He doesn’t match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world.

I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant.

Few are drawn to the person whom others avoid and neglect; people gather around those who have already attracted interest.

As apostles and prophets, we are concerned not only for our children and grandchildren but for yours as well – and for each of God’s children.

It is in the thirties that we want friends. In the forties we know they won’t save us any more than love did.

People say that about me, that I apparently buy houses near every boy I like – that’s a thing that I apparently do. If I like you I will apparently buy up the real-estate market just to freak you out so you leave me.

Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.

It is better to be deceived by one’s friends than to deceive them.

If I walked into the kitchen without washing my hands as a kid, I’d hear a loud ‚A-hem!‘ from my mother or grandmother. Now I count on other people to do the same.

No matter what, I always make it home for Christmas. I love to go to my Tennessee Mountain Home and invite all of my nieces and nephews and their spouses and kids and do what we all like to do – eat, laugh, trade presents and just enjoy each other… and sometimes I even dress up like Santa Claus!

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.

The will is a beast of burden. If God mounts it, it wishes and goes as God wills; if Satan mounts it, it wishes and goes as Satan wills; Nor can it choose its rider… the riders contend for its possession.

Many Communist government officials have a rigid, dictatorial power, but they live in constant suspicion and fear of anything that might undermine the power they have.

My wife told me if there is any rumors about me, it better be about politics and not about my social life.

Neil Young is my hero, and such a great example. You know what that guy has been doing for the past 40 years? Making music. That’s what that guy does. Sometimes you pay attention, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes he hands it to you, sometimes he keeps it to himself. He’s a good man with a beautiful family and wonderful life.

The ‚Billionaire‘ song is what my kids tease me with. They sing it to me. It’s funny.

I don’t hate women – they just sometimes make me mad.

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

Those who know me know I’m passionate about lists, and top of my list of priorities is my family. My wife Joan and I do not consider our legacy to our children to be wealth or fame but the opportunity to pursue happiness by following their own path.

It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.

I don’t like being alone.

Think about what people are doing on Facebook today. They’re keeping up with their friends and family, but they’re also building an image and identity for themselves, which in a sense is their brand. They’re connecting with the audience that they want to connect to. It’s almost a disadvantage if you’re not on it now.

Distance does not decide who is your brother and who is not. The church is going to have to become the conscience of the free market if it’s to have any meaning in this world – and stop being its apologist.

Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.

Christmas is the perfect time to celebrate the love of God and family and to create memories that will last forever. Jesus is God’s perfect, indescribable gift. The amazing thing is that not only are we able to receive this gift, but we are able to share it with others on Christmas and every other day of the year.

What sweetness is left in life, if you take away friendship? Robbing life of friendship is like robbing the world of the sun. A true friend is more to be esteemed than kinsfolk.

I’ve never been a boyfriend kind of girl.

Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.

But the relationship of morality and power is a very subtle one. Because ultimately power without morality is no longer power.

Friendship, like love, is destroyed by long absence, though it may be increased by short intermissions.

Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.

My children love Maleficent’s voice, so they always make me do it at home.

Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can’t sleep with the window shut, and a woman who can’t sleep with the window open.

For years my wedding ring has done its job. It has led me not into temptation. It has reminded my husband numerous times at parties that it’s time to go home. It has been a source of relief to a dinner companion. It has been a status symbol in the maternity ward.

Life is made of ever so many partings welded together.

It no longer bothers me that I may be constantly searching for father figures; by this time, I have found several and dearly enjoyed knowing them all.

The course of true love never did run smooth.

The man who loves other countries as much as his own stands on a level with the man who loves other women as much as he loves his own wife.

I don’t eat with beautiful women alone.

Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.

I’ve been my mom’s kitchen helper since I was a little kid.

How do I know about a man’s needs for a sex symbol? I’m a girl.

Remember, it’s as easy to marry a rich woman as a poor woman.

Anger and jealousy can no more bear to lose sight of their objects than love.

It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.

My father wasn’t perfect. He had a temper. I took some of that. He would snap, but the older he got, he started calming down. He learned about life, but the thing that he taught my whole family was that family was the most important thing and, no matter what, if a family member needs you, you go and help them out; you get there.

When I’m writing, I don’t feel neurotic. So it’s better for the family if I’m working.

I don’t know what can be so dangerous about giving people hope. Causing people to have better relationships. I’m not leading them to some false God or something like that.