It has not yet become obvious to me that there’s no real problem. I cannot define the real problem; therefore, I suspect there’s no real problem, but I’m not sure there’s no real problem.

I shall never be a heretic; I may err in dispute, but I do not wish to decide anything finally; on the other hand, I am not bound by the opinions of men.

Comedy just pokes at problems, rarely confronts them squarely. Drama is like a plate of meat and potatoes, comedy is rather the dessert, a bit like meringue.

Although the big word on the left is ‚compassion,‘ the big agenda on the left is dependency.

If I had chosen the populist course, it would have been a breach of the trust placed in me by the people.

Once I get on a puzzle, I can’t get off.

As a Western, ‚The Magnificent Seven‘ was a pretty good film. I don’t think it was as interesting or as multi-faceted as ‚Seven Samurai.‘

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

There’s a tremendous gap between public opinion and public policy.

Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.

Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.

It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

If all the economists were laid end to end, they’d never reach a conclusion.

The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray.

If you are ever in doubt as to whether to kiss a pretty girl, always give her the benefit of the doubt.

People want to go out and travel around and meet cool people. I could just go live in Vermont, but is that what I really want?

If you only do things where you know the answer in advance, your company goes away.

There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means – either may do – the result is the same and it is for each man to decide for himself and to do that which happens to be easier.

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

People are usually more convinced by reasons they discovered themselves than by those found by others.

All of the people in my life whom I consider to be close friends or colleagues are good thinkers.

Thanks to my reading, I have never been caught flat-footed by any situation, never at a loss for how any problem has been addressed… It doesn’t give me all the answers, but it lights what is often a dark path ahead.

Fame is but the breath of people, and that often unwholesome.

Intellectuals are in a position to expose the lies of governments, to analyze actions according to their causes and motives and often hidden intentions.

Sometimes it seems as if there are more solutions than problems. On closer scrutiny, it turns out that many of today’s problems are a result of yesterday’s solutions.

Anything for the quick life, as the man said when he took the situation at the lighthouse.

To compromise simply means that you go a tiny bit below what you know is right.

The day-to-day making of policy is arguing all the time. You’re trying to get the right approach and the right answer, and there are moments that aren’t very pleasant. But in the end, you look at the overall product.

If two smart, intelligent, clever guys sit together on a table, and you both want the same, where can be the problem? We all want to be successful.

I just know what is right and I want to do what is right.

Being flooded with information doesn’t mean we have the right information or that we’re in touch with the right people.

Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.

The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, and wretches hang that jurymen may dine.

I suppose that’s one of the ironies of life doing the wrong thing at the right moment.

I used to worry about every little thing, trying to figure out every problem. Well, I realize now how foolish that was. I was no more in control of my life than the man on the moon.

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our education system.

Power when wielded by abnormal energy is the most serious of facts.

There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.

Love and doubt have never been on speaking terms.

There are goods so opposed that we cannot seize both, but, by too much prudence, may pass between them at too great a distance to reach either.

Ultimately this issue is on us. We’re the ones who make the decisions about what our kids eat.

We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay – and rise!

The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic.

Life is a gamble. You can get hurt, but people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents; people die every day. Same with fighters: some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just don’t let yourself believe it will happen to you.

There’s no point in making predictions. It’s not worth speculating because nothing is set in stone and things change all the time in football. Today there are opportunities that no one knows if they will come round again in the future.

Every time I try to retire, or even think of retiring from acting, my agent comes up with a script.

The cynics are right nine times out of ten.

From the time I was a kid, I always knew something was going to happen to me. Didn’t know exactly what.

A wet spot on the floor kind of put a scare in myself, so you never know inside those lines what might happen.

It is a clear gain to sacrifice pleasure in order to avoid pain.

I don’t care whether you’re driving a hybrid or an SUV. If you’re headed for a cliff, you have to change direction. That’s what the American people called for in November, and that’s what we intend to deliver.

Today, all physicists know from studying Einstein and Bohr that sometimes an idea which looks completely paradoxical at first, if analyzed to completion in all detail and in experimental situations, may, in fact, not be paradoxical.

A solution built by an artist serves the artist more than the solution the capitalist comes up with.

Vulnerability is basically uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.

The U.S. increasingly has taken on the characteristics of what we describe as ‚failed states.‘

The purpose of Compulsory Education is to deprive the common people of their commonsense.

When I was running training, we would fire a couple of leaders from every SEAL team because they couldn’t lead. And 99.9% of the time, it wasn’t a question of their ability – it was a question of their ability to listen.

When you begin to worry, go find something to do. Get busy being a blessing to someone; do something fruitful. Talking about your problem or sitting alone, thinking about it, does no good; it serves only to make you miserable. Above all else, remember that worrying is totally useless. Worrying will not solve your problem.

To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.