To be safe at the expense of the liberty of other people is a difficult equation.

One of the great attractions of patriotism – it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what’s more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous.

If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.

The coward only threatens when he is safe.

Modesty forbids what the law does not.

Polygamy: An endeavour to get more out of life than there is in it.

Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.

The excessive increase of anything causes a reaction in the opposite direction.

Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals.

We are all ready to be savage in some cause. The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of the cause.

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.

My education was the liberty I had to read indiscriminately and all the time, with my eyes hanging out.

The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.

To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage, or of principle.

Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.

The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.

I do not recognize the right of the public to break in the front door of a man’s private life in order to satisfy the gaze of the curious… I do not think it right to dissect living men even for the advancement of science. So far as I am concerned, I prefer a post mortem examination to vivisection without anaesthetics.

How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense, and love the offender, yet detest the offence?

Conscience is a man’s compass.

All that seems indispensible in stating the account between the dead and the living, is to see that the debts against the latter do not exceed the advances made by the former.

I don’t believe in killing whatever the reason!

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

I just usually go with my own taste. If I like something, and it happens to be against the law, well, then I might have a problem.

The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life.

The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.

The world has today 546 nuclear plants generating electricity. Their experience is being continuously researched, and feedback should be provided to all. Nuclear scientists have to interact with the people of the nation, and academic institutions continuously update nuclear power generation technology and safety.

You can’t take care of charity unless you take care of yourself first.

I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.

Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.

It is often safer to be in chains than to be free.

I want to make something that is breathtaking. Of course, you can’t make something that is always breathtaking, or you would never be able to breathe. You would collapse.

The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.

A sincere and steadfast co-operation in promoting such a reconstruction of our political system as would provide for the permanent liberty and happiness of the United States.

The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the goverment.

Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and choice, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.

The superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves to it. In seasons of danger, he cleaves to it.

Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.

Peace is more important than all justice; and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace.

Do I wear a helmet? Ugh. I do when I’m riding through a precarious part of town, meaning Midtown traffic. But when I’m riding on secure protected lanes or on the paths that run along the Hudson or through Central Park – no, I don’t wear the dreaded helmet then.

Henry Kissinger should have the door shut in his face by every decent person and should be shamed, ostracized and excluded.

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.

Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks.

Some people carry their heart in their head and some carry their head in their heart. The trick is to keep them apart yet working together.

Everything in excess is opposed to nature.

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.

Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.

The general idea of the rich helping the poor, I think, is important.

I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

As a lifestyle you always being the focal point is innately unhealthy.

Lightning is something which, again, we would rather avoid.

Mortals are easily tempted to pinch the life out of their neighbour’s buzzing glory, and think that such killing is no murder.

You can wipe out your opponents. But if you do it unjustly you become eligible for being wiped out yourself.

Of all virtues and dignities of the mind, goodness is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing.

If social stability goes pear-shaped, you have a choice between anarchy and dictatorship. Most people will opt for more security, even if they have to give up some personal freedom.

Man’s true nature being lost, everything becomes his nature; as, his true good being lost, everything becomes his good.

Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.

It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake.

I don’t think anybody in America ought to be scared.

Don’t lie about anything, ever. Lying leads to Hell.

Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.