Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.

For 25 years countless people have come to the U.N. climate conferences begging our world leaders to stop emissions and clearly that has not worked as emissions are continuing to rise. So I will not beg the world leaders to care for our future. I will instead let them know change is coming whether they like it or not.

The truth is lived, not taught.

Every particular in nature, a leaf, a drop, a crystal, a moment of time is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.

That last day does not bring extinction to us, but change of place.

An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.

The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.

We often want one thing and pray for another, not telling the truth even to the gods.

I’ve always felt like there was a lot of hype around me even when there wasn’t. I felt like everyone was talking about me even when no one was talking about me.

I still make sure to go, at least once every year, to a country where things cannot be taken for granted, and where there is either too much law and order or too little.

Man is an exception, whatever else he is. If he is not the image of God, then he is a disease of the dust. If it is not true that a divine being fell, then we can only say that one of the animals went entirely off its head.

No obligation to do the impossible is binding.

You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.

A good thing to remember is somebody’s got it a lot worse than we do.

Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

Buddhism has in it no idea of there being a moral law laid down by somekind of cosmic lawgiver.

Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called ‚walking.‘

The best advice comes from people who don’t give advice.

An unexciting truth may be eclipsed by a thrilling lie.

They dream in courtship, but in wedlock wake.

I don’t notice anybody unless they look great, and every now and again they do, and they are usually 70.

If you think nobody cares about you, try missing a couple of payments.

Funny thing is that the poorer people are, the more generous they seem to be.

Crime when it succeeds is called virtue.

Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.

We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them.

The philosophical idea that there are no more distances, that we are all just one world, that we are all brothers, is such a drag! I like differences.

How is it possible that a being with such sensitive jewels as the eyes, such enchanted musical instruments as the ears, and such fabulous arabesque of nerves as the brain can experience itself anything less than a god.

Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.

Someday, the capitalist system will disappear in the United States, because no social class system has been eternal. One day, class societies will disappear.

The idea is to try to give all the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or another.

Are creeds such simple things like the clothes which a man can change at will and put on at will? Creeds are such for which people live for ages and ages.

If the people are happy, united, wealthy, and powerful, we presume the rest. We conclude that to be good from whence good is derived.

We want to answer this classical question, who am I? So I think that most of our works are for art, or whatever we do, including science or religion, tried to answer that question.

In too many communities, too many young men of color are left behind and seen only as objects of fear. Through initiatives like My Brother’s Keeper, I’m personally committed to changing both perception and reality.

It is impossible to experience one’s death objectively and still carry a tune.

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.

Suppose you could gain everything in the whole world, and lost your soul. Was it worth it?

I always wished for this, but it’s almost turning into more of a nightmare than a dream.

All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.

I know how fiction matters to me, because if I want to express myself, I have to make up a story. Some people call it imagination. To me, it’s not imagination. It’s just a way of watching.

Probably because I’m from a middle class family, I have that nature in me that I don’t get too excited with big things.

Physical comforts cannot subdue mental suffering, and if we look closely, we can see that those who have many possessions are not necessarily happy. In fact, being wealthy often brings even more anxiety.

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.

Sweet are the uses of adversity which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head.

Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things.

Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe, which stands continually open to our gaze. But the book cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and read the letters in which it is composed.

I like to change characters and then, slowly I believe the audience treat me as, like an actor who can fight. It’s not like an action star.

If one plays good music, people don’t listen and if one plays bad music people don’t talk.

The difficulty is to try and teach the multitude that something can be true and untrue at the same time.

The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.

The reason we want to go on and on is because we live in an impoverished present.

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.

I’m not confused. I’m just well mixed.

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

Comedians are sociologists. We’re pointing out stuff that the general public doesn’t even stop to think about, looking at life in slow-motion and questioning everything we see.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.

I try to look on all the great things God’s done, and not focus on the negative. It’s a perspective.

Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized.