Nature and human life are as various as our several constitutions. Who shall say what prospect life offers to another?

Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul. Strictly speaking, therefore, all that is separate from us, all which Philosophy distinguishes as the ‚Not Me,‘ that is, both nature and art, all other men and my own body, must be ranked under this name, ‚Nature.‘

However my parents – both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension.

Life is a series of commas, not periods.

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.

I think any life can be interesting, any surroundings can be interesting. I don’t think I could have been so brave if I had been living in a town, competing with people on what can be called a generally higher cultural level.

There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist.

He who looks the higher is the more highly distinguished, and turning over the great book of nature (which is the proper object of philosophy) is the way to elevate one’s gaze.

I think that we all know what evil is. We have a sense of what’s evil, and certainly killing innocent people is evil. We’re less sure about what is good. There’s sort of good, good enough, could be better – but absolute good is a little harder to define.

Always have something beautiful in sight, even if it’s just a daisy in a jelly glass.

Nature gives you the face you have at twenty; it is up to you to merit the face you have at fifty.

No one but a fool is always right.

I think I hate cynicism more than anything else. It’s the curse of our age, and I want to avoid it at all costs.

Call it Nature, Fate, Fortune; all these are names of the one and selfsame God.

There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating – people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.

The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.

Hong Kong is a wonderful, mixed-up town where you’ve got great food and adventure. First and foremost, it’s a great place to experience China in a relatively accessible way.

I think there is a sense of being forced at this time to look at America’s really large shadow and that’s not all that bad.

The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.

The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.

I’m half-black, half-white, so I basically put it like this: I can fit in anywhere. That’s why I write so many stories from so many different perspectives, because I’ve seen so many.

There will always be something to ruin our lives, it all depends on what or which finds us first. We are always ripe and ready to be taken.

You definitely want your kids to understand their heritage, but I don’t want my kids to just focus on being black. They are people. I don’t want them to judge other people or to be judged. I want them to be good people, so good people will treat them accordingly. I preach that to my kids and everything else falls into place.

Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed.

I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now.

In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.

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

My parents taught me never to judge others based on whom they love, what color their skin is, or their religion.

The fact is: It’s true what they say about the United States. It is a land of opportunity. It is too various to get bored with it.

Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.

I know now that there is no one thing that is true – it is all true.

Each man is always in the middle of the surface of the earth and under the zenith of his own hemisphere, and over the centre of the earth.

Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires.

Nature has planted in our minds an insatiable longing to see the truth.

I tried being reasonable, I didn’t like it.

My age is very insignificant to me. I don’t think about it, but the world does. The world likes young people in general.

The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.

If you would judge, understand.

What people call impartiality may simply mean indifference, and what people call partiality may simply mean mental activity.

The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that… it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.

Small minds are concerned with the extraordinary, great minds with the ordinary.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

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

Money doesn’t make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.

We inhabit a universe that is characterized by diversity.

I seem to be getting a lot of things pushed my way that are strong women. It’s like people see Hackers and they send me offers to play tough women with guns, the kind who wear no bra and a little tank top. I’d like to play strong women who are also very feminine.

The eyes of others our prisons; their thoughts our cages.

I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy.

Who is richer? The man who is seen, but cannot see? Or the man who is not being seen, but can see?

We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.

It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature.

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

The waving of a pine tree on the top of a mountain – a magic wand in Nature’s hand – every devout mountaineer knows its power; but the marvelous beauty value of what the Scotch call a breckan in a still dell, what poet has sung this?

All cartoon characters and fables must be exaggeration, caricatures. It is the very nature of fantasy and fable.

Right now, when we’re hearing so much disturbing and hateful rhetoric, it is so important to remember that our diversity has been – and will always be – our greatest source of strength and pride here in the United States.

Is the babe young? When I behold it, it seems more venerable than the oldest man.

What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.

In the course of history, men come to see that iron necessity is neither iron nor necessary.

Until blacks and whites see each other as brother and sister, we will not have parity. It’s very clear.

Reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot, you know.

We still have many neighborhoods that are racially identified. We still have many schools that even though the days of state-enforced segregation are gone, segregation because of geographical boundaries remains.