Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.

I never liked Hans Christian Andersen because I knew he was always getting at me.

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

If I’m the people’s poet, then I ought to be in people’s hands – and, I hope, in their heart.

People ask me if there are going to be stories of Harry Potter as an adult. Frankly, if I wanted to, I could keep writing stories until Harry is a senior citizen, but I don’t know how many people would actually want to read about a 65 year old Harry still at Hogwarts playing bingo with Ron and Hermione.

If we had more hell in the pulpit, we would have less hell in the pew.

Shakespeare didn’t work at all for me.

Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

Dickens is one of those authors who are well worth stealing.

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.

The answers you get from literature depend on the questions you pose.

There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what’s right.

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.

Leadership is a choice, not a position.

In books lies the soul of the whole past time.

Whatever came to mind, whatever came to hand, I would read.

To summarize, draft resistance can make use of the inegalitarian nature of American society as a technique for increasing the cost of American aggression, and it threatens values that are important to those in a decision-making position.

Forgiveness is not a feeling – it’s a decision we make because we want to do what’s right before God. It’s a quality decision that won’t be easy and it may take time to get through the process, depending on the severity of the offense.

Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.

It’s so hard to know what to do when one wishes earnestly to do right.

The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader.

Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.

I say there is no darkness but ignorance.

Mediocrity can talk, but it is for genius to observe.

We should not fret for what is past, nor should we be anxious about the future; men of discernment deal only with the present moment.

If you want to have sustained joy, you have to not only make sure that you think right, but you also have to make decisions now that are going to guarantee some joy in the future.

A clever man commits no minor blunders.

Decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees.

Of all that is written, I love only what a person has written with his own blood.

It is our choices… that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.

I think one of the basic reasons men make good friends is that they can make up their minds quickly.

Indeed, I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.

The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.

I’m not going to get into the ring with Tolstoy.

It is not well to make great changes in old age.

Founding a company is hard. Most of it isn’t smooth. You’ll have to make very hard decisions. You have to fire a few people. Therefore, if you don’t believe in your mission, giving up is easy. The majority of founders give up. But the best founders don’t give up.

Pride deafens us to the advice or warnings of those around us.

We should work with the principle that a work that can be done at a lower level should never be escalated to a higher level.

Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong – these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.

He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.

Speculative fiction encompasses that which we could actually do. Sci-fi is that which we’re probably not going to see.

I think women want to take care of themselves, and I think having a voice in how that is done is very important.

The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation.

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

Old age: the crown of life, our play’s last act.

If we don’t plant the right things, we will reap the wrong things. It goes without saying. And you don’t have to be, you know, a brilliant biochemist and you don’t have to have an IQ of 150. Just common sense tells you to be kind, ninny, fool. Be kind.

My biographers… would like to have my time at the court almost complete before they finish the book. We decided… to flip the order.

It is in life as it is in ways, the shortest way is commonly the foulest, and surely the fairer way is not much about.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

When making your choice in life, do not neglect to live.

He that speaks much, is much mistaken.

Education is the period during which you are being instructed by somebody you do not know, about something you do not want to know.

The person who doesn’t scatter the morning dew will not comb gray hairs.

In my line of work, the enemy gets a vote.

Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don’t have brains enough to be honest.

My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.