No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others.

We never fully grasp the import of any true statement until we have a clear notion of what the opposite untrue statement would be.

It is hardly an exaggeration to say that oral teachers and sign teachers found it difficult to sit down in the same room without quarreling, and there was intolerance upon both sides. To say ‚oral method‘ to a sign teacher was like waving a red flag in the face of a bull, and to say ‚sign language‘ to an oralist aroused the deepest resentment.

An unexciting truth may be eclipsed by a thrilling lie.

It’s pretty hard to be efficient without being obnoxious.

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.

Society does not consist of individuals but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand.

We’ve arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology.

Governments don’t control people like they used to.

When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.

The nice thing about being a celebrity is that, if you bore people, they think it’s their fault.

A state of society where men may not speak their minds cannot long endure.

I exaggerate when I’m angry, but I’ve never gone around telling people things that aren’t true about me.

I’m a people pleaser. I hold a lot of things in. I’m always making sure everybody is okay. I usually don’t rage; I usually don’t curse.

Being politically correct means saying what’s polite rather than what’s accurate. I like to be accurate.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

I hold a lot of things in. I’m always making sure everybody is okay. I usually don’t rage; I usually don’t curse. So for me, it’s a great thing to be able to scream and say whatever I want.

No good is ever done to society by the pictorial representation of its diseases.

Rational discussion is useful only when there is a significant base of shared assumptions.

I grew up cursing a lot. It felt natural. My parents told me to stop.

I particularly like Twitter, because it’s short and can be very funny and informative. It’s a little bit like having your own radio program.

Memory is the way we keep telling ourselves our stories – and telling other people a somewhat different version of our stories.

Peace comes when you talk to the guy you most hate. And that’s where the courage of a leader comes, because when you sit down with your enemy, you as a leader must already have very considerable confidence from your own constituency.

The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.

A remark generally hurts in proportion to its truth.

In the end, people are persuaded not by what we say, but by what they understand.

The more unintelligent a man is, the less mysterious existence seems to him.

The Internet has compromised the quality of debate.

I think big business is a terrible thing for the spirit of the country, as our spirit is the best thing about us.

Every person takes the limits of their own field of vision for the limits of the world.

I don’t know about you, but most of my exchanges with cashiers are not that meaningful.

It’s funny because I’ve made a living off of words, but words get in the way of what you really want to say.

No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.

The difference between a stranger sending you a message that you might be interested in at a very low volume level, no repetition, just sending it to very few people, and that being done as spam – those things get close enough that you want to be careful never to filter out something that’s legitimate.

Never say no when a client asks for something, even if it is the moon. You can always try, and anyhow there is plenty of time afterwards to explain that it was not possible.

Measures must always in a progressive society be held superior to men, who are after all imperfect instruments, working for their fulfilment.

There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.

The number, the industry, and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the church from the state.

I don’t mind making jokes, but I don’t want to look like one.

When you make as many speeches and you talk as much as I do and you get away from the text, it’s always a possibility to get a few words tangled here and there.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

It was really hard for them to intimidate me. They felt I was intimidating. One of the growers had a name for me: I think it was ‚dragon lady‘ or something like it.

No one has done a study on this, as far as I can tell, but I think Facebook might be the first place where a large number of people have come out. We didn’t create that – society was generally ready for that. I think this is just part of the general trend that we talked about, about society being more open, and I think that’s good.

We don’t have to let extremists define us.

Better understated than overstated. Let people be surprised that it was more than you promised and easier than you said.

While victimhood in America is exalted, I don’t think our veterans should join those ranks.

We live in a day that nobody’s lived in before: where you can touch more people. The message I’ll speak tonight and the message that I speak at home, people in India will hear. It’s just an amazing day.

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.

We think when God speaks to us, there’s going to be a boom out of Heaven or we’re going to get some chill bumps, but I really believe God’s talking to us all the time. He’s talking to us right in here. I call it our heart, our conscience, but it’s the Holy Spirit talking to us.

You aren’t learning anything when you’re talking.

They say somebody’s ‚street smart.‘ I feel like, if I got intelligence, it’s just a country smart.

There are a lot of self-imposed restrictions by people who somehow believe they have to fall in with a certain military cant. There was always a sense that we had to put things into words that would touch our troops‘ hearts, not just their heads.

No one can lie, no one can hide anything, when he looks directly into someone’s eyes.

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.

It’s amazing how confused and distracted and misdirected so many people are.

A particularly beautiful woman is a source of terror. As a rule, a beautiful woman is a terrible disappointment.

When I am talking to people who I feel don’t like me or are mean, I get really shy, and I kind of curl up personality wise.

It’s very difficult for the American people to believe that our government, one of the richest on Earth, is also one of the stingiest on Earth.

I don’t need therapy. I’m not going to see a therapist; comedy acts as my therapy. I put my problems out there. I talk about them. I talk about everything before anybody has a chance.

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.