How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

Whether we’re happy with our circumstances or not, giving God praise is so important.

Thought is the wind and knowledge the sail.

Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.

I guess any movie actor can become a role model for audiences out there who enjoy him.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use?

Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another.

Successful people will always tell you you can do something. It’s the people who have never accomplished anything who will always discourage you from trying to achieve excellent things.

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, ‚We did it ourselves.‘

Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move. Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love.

If I waited for perfection… I would never write a word.

If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.

The first book I ever really read was Plato’s ‚Republic,‘ and then I had to go over that five times or something.

Excessive literary production is a social offense.

If you want to see the true measure of a man, watch how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.

The mere brute pleasure of reading the sort of pleasure a cow must have in grazing.

Almost any biographer, if he respects facts, can give us much more than another fact to add to our collection. He can give us the creative fact; the fertile fact; the fact that suggests and engenders.

A laugh, to be joyous, must flow from a joyous heart, for without kindness, there can be no true joy.

Water is the driving force of all nature.

Well, I wouldn’t say that I was in the great class, but I had a great time while I was trying to be great.

I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil.

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

I am not young but I feel young. The day I feel old, I will go to bed and stay there. J’aime la vie! I feel that to live is a wonderful thing.

Fun is good.

Each morning when I awake, I experience again a supreme pleasure – that of being Salvador Dali.

When you go on your Twitter or look down your Timeline and it’s all great positivity – I love that. But at the same time, it can really divert you from what your purpose is or what you’re trying to do. And I’ve seen artists get caught up in that.

‚For Whom the Bell Tolls‘ was a problem which I carried on each day. I knew what was going to happen in principle. But I invented what happened each day I wrote.

I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.

It is more agreeable to have the power to give than to receive.

Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity.

Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.

To add value to others, one must first value others.

I was born with a happy heart, and I try to keep a good attitude. It’s not true that I’m happy all the time because nobody is, and we all go through our things.

It is not God’s will merely that we should be happy, but that we should make ourselves happy.

What we think, we become.

One of the wonderful things about Oprah: She teaches you to keep on stepping.

If I could write directly on a typewriter or a computer, I would do it. But keyboards have always intimidated me. I’ve never been able to think clearly with my fingers in that position. A pen is a much more primitive instrument. You feel that the words are coming out of your body and then you dig the words into the page.

The stroke of death is as a lover’s pinch, which hurts and is desired.

Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.

‚Tis not enough to help the feeble up, but to support them after.

The future will be better tomorrow.

Malcolm X was the first political person in this country that I really identified with. If he had lived and not been purged, I probably would have joined the Muslims.

Oh, you weak, beautiful people who give up with such grace. What you need is someone to take hold of you – gently, with love, and hand your life back to you.

Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.

It is plain indeed that in spite of later estrangement Hobbits are relatives of ours: far nearer to us than Elves, or even than Dwarves. Of old they spoke the languages of Men, after their own fashion, and liked and disliked much the same things as Men did. But what exactly our relationship is can no longer be discovered.

No one can resist the idea of a crippled genius.

Why should we think upon things that are lovely? Because thinking determines life. It is a common habit to blame life upon the environment. Environment modifies life but does not govern life. The soul is stronger than its surroundings.

When someone does a small task beautifully, their whole environment is affected by it.

I don’t believe in pessimism. If something doesn’t come up the way you want, forge ahead. If you think it’s going to rain, it will.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.

When I wake up, I expect things to be good. If they’re not, then I try to set about trying to make them as good as I can ‚cause I know I’m gonna have to live that day anyway. So why not try to make the most of it if you can? Some days, they pan out a little better than others, but you still gotta always just try.

Compassion is the basis of morality.

I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.

The wretched have no compassion, they can do good only from strong principles of duty.

There is nothing so stable as change.

I don’t think I’ve ever read poetry, ever. I’m not really book-smart.

It sometimes makes people feel better about themselves, you know, to put other people down, or make fun of them, or maybe make mockery of their work and that doesn’t make me feel good at all.