I can be almost terminally grief-stricken because things are so dire, but at the same time, there’s a real lightheartedness about just the recoverability of life, of how things change, how they’re not the same, ever again.

It’s a lot easier to stay idealistic if you don’t sign two to five next-of-kin letters every day.

In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.

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

Man only likes to count his troubles, but he does not count his joys.

You know when you’re young and you see a play in high school, and the guys all have gray in their hair and they’re trying to be old men and they have no idea what that’s like? It’s just that stupid the other way around.

My father had died, and very swiftly, too, of cancer of the esophagus. He was 79. I am 61. In whatever kind of a ‚race‘ life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist.

North Americans don’t understand… that our country is not just Cuba; our country is also humanity.

I’d rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right.

See how many are better off than you are, but consider how many are worse.

Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.

The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.

I’m too busy acting like I’m not Naive. I’ve seen it all, I was here first.

No matter how prepared you think you are for the death of a loved one, it still comes as a shock, and it still hurts very deeply.

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.

Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain.

We have one planet in our solar system that’s habitable, and that’s the Earth, and space travel can transform things back here for the better. First of all, by just having people go to space and look back on this fragile planet we live on. People have come back transformed and have done fantastic things.

The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell.

I walk every day, and I look at the mountains and the fields and the small city, and I say: ‚Oh my God, what a blessing.‘ Then you realise it’s important to put it in a context beyond this woman, this man, this city, this country, this universe.

Happiness is within the reach of everyone, rich or poor. Yet comparatively few people are happy. I believe the reason for this is that the majority don’t recognize happiness even when it is within their grasp.

Like every parent, when you start your family, your life completely changes. And you completely live for someone else. I find that the most extraordinary thing. Your life is handed over to someone else. From that moment on, they come first in every choice you make. It’s the most wonderful thing.

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.

Frankly, I mean, sometimes the interpretations I’ve seen on some of the songs that I’ve written are a lot more interesting than the input that I put in.

There is so much that people take for granted.

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

People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.

The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world in which it is overestimated.

Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.

Life is grim, and we don’t have to be grim all the time.

Choosing to be positive and having a grateful attitude is going to determine how you’re going to live your life.

When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.

Falsehood has an infinity of combinations, but truth has only one mode of being.

People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.

There is danger that we lose sight of what our friend is absolutely, while considering what she is to us alone.

I like being able to be on the inside of music, rather than on the outside listening to it.

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

History is written by the victors.

Contrary to the claims of some of my critics and some of the editorial pages, I am an ardent believer in the free market.

Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.

Things ain’t what they used to be and never were.

Oh, yes; you Virginians shed barrels of perspiration while standing off at a distance and superintending the work your slaves do for you. It is different with us. Here it is every fellow for himself, or he doesn’t get there.

I think the word rich is all relative.

Those parts of history that would undermine the vision of the Left – which prevails in our education system from elementary school to postgraduate study – are not likely to get much attention.

For me, there are two types of people: the young and the experienced.

Each part of my life provided respite from the other and gave me a sense of proportion that classmates trained only on law studies lacked.

Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.

Truth has rough flavours if we bite it through.

I see the world in black and white, and I don’t like compromising.

Changing is not just changing the things outside of us. First of all we need the right view that transcends all notions including of being and non-being, creator and creature, mind and spirit. That kind of insight is crucial for transformation and healing.

We pity in others only the those evils which we ourselves have experienced.

You might not have the things you want, but if you check carefully, you got all you need.

There’s no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were.

You can’t have a rigid view that all new taxes are evil.

Why should anybody be interested in some old man who was a failure?

Some people seem to fade away but then when they are truly gone, it’s like they didn’t fade away at all.

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.

I don’t have people following me around, like bodyguards. I don’t know how people live like that. Maybe the young movie stars have to live like that, I don’t know. But it seems a little crazy to me. I don’t think you need all that stuff.

I’m an idealist without illusions.

I hope that tomorrow we can all, wherever we are, join in expressing our grief at Diana’s loss, and gratitude for her all-too-short life. It is a chance to show to the whole world the British nation united in grief and respect.

When you go to war as a boy, you have a great illusion of immortality. Other people get killed, not you… Then, when you are badly wounded the first time, you lose that illusion, and you know it can happen to you.

To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution.