Violent men have not been known in history to die to a man. They die up to a point.

Whether happiness may come or not, one should try and prepare one’s self to do without it.

If I think more about death than some other people, it is probably because I love life more than they do.

I grew up in the South under segregation. So, I know what terrorism feels like – when your father could be taken out in the middle of the night and lynched just because he didn’t look like he was in an obeying frame of mind when a white person said something he must do. I mean, that’s terrorism, too.

In order to speak about all and to all, one has to speak of what all know and of the reality common to us all. The sea, rains, necessity, desire, the struggle against death… these are things that unite us all.

World War II broke out in 1939, and many people credit that war with saving the economy.

Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.

The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment.

The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation’s history. I mean in this century’s history. But we all lived in this century. I didn’t live in this century.

When we look back on all the perils through which we have passed and at the mighty foes that we have laid low and all the dark and deadly designs that we have frustrated, why should we fear for our future? We have come safely through the worst.

I’m on record that it didn’t really traumatize me to do away with some people.

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.

There’s always a bittersweet kind of thing, but I feel like everything had to work out the way it is. Everything that had to happen, happened.

Racism and injustice and violence sweep our world, bringing a tragic harvest of heartache and death.

The former colonies, in Latin America in particular, have a better chance than ever before to overcome centuries of subjugation, violence and foreign intervention, which they have so far survived as dependencies with islands of luxury in a sea of misery.

In a universe that’s an intelligent system with a divine creative force supporting it, there simply can be no accidents. As tough as it is to acknowledge, you had to go through what you went through in order to get to where you are today, and the evidence is that you did.

Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.

It constitutes a superhuman effort to lead any people in times of crisis. Without them, the changes would be impossible.

You can’t have it all, all at once. Who – man or woman – has it all, all at once? Over my lifespan, I think I have had it all. But in different periods of time, things were rough. And if you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it.

Must is a hard nut to crack, but it has a sweet kernel.

I perhaps ought to say that individually I never was much interested in the Texas question. I never could see much good to come of annexation, inasmuch as they were already a free republican people on our own model.

Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me.

Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.

Grounded in the natural philosophy of the Middle Ages, alchemy formed a bridge: on the one hand into the past, to Gnosticism, and on the other into the future, to the modern psychology of the unconscious.

Judge Afiuni has suffered enough. She has been subject to acts of violence and humiliations to undermine her human dignity. I am convinced that she must be set free.

Maturity is the ability to reap without apology and not complain when things don’t go well.

The devil ain’t got no power over me. The devil come, and me shake hands with the devil. Devil have his part to play. Devil’s a good friend, too… because when you don’t know him, that’s the time he can mosh you down.

I’d go to, like, six different schools in one year. We were on welfare, and my mom never ever worked.

A cat is only itself, representative of the strong forces of life that won’t let go.

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.

If a whole bunch of people want to make your life a living hell, they’re gonna do it.

Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.

The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to an uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.

Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true.

America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America.

People will try to bring you down, but you gotta go up.

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.

History is present in all my novels. And whether I am directly talking about the sociological moment or just immersing my character in the environment, I am very aware of it.

The man who has no problems is out of the game.

It always seems to me so odd that when a man dies, he takes out with him all the knowledge that he has got in his lifetime whilst sowing his wild oats or winning successes. And he leaves his sons or younger brothers to go through all the work of learning it over again from their own experience.

Germany has reduced savagery to a science, and this great war for the victorious peace of justice must go on until the German cancer is cut clean out of the world body.

With patient and firm determination, I am going to press on for jobs. I’m going to press on for equality. I’m going to press on for the sake of our children. I’m going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I am going to press on.

I’m just hoping that people understand that Islam is peace and not violence.

It is generally recognised that women are better than men at languages, personal relations and multi-tasking, but less good at map-reading and spatial awareness. It is therefore not unreasonable to suppose that women might be less good at mathematics and physics.

Oceania was at war with Eurasia; therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia.

Treachery has existed as long as there’s been warfare, and there’s always been a few people that you couldn’t trust.

Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him.

There’s people that tried to celebrate when I lost that got nothing to do with it. That’s not the sign of a champion.

Kitchens are hard environments and they form incredibly strong characters.

As men are not able to fight against death, misery, ignorance, they have taken it into their heads, in order to be happy, not to think of them at all.

Men don’t care what’s on TV. They only care what else is on TV.

If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America.

I came up from a difficult background.

All that mankind has done, thought or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books.

Opera happens because a large number of things amazingly fail to go wrong.

Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried, or childless men.

When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.

Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill one another if it is not done.

You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die.

Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There’s nothing to do but to stand there and take it.

All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.