War is what happens when language fails.

Sometimes when you take strong stands, if you’re not called to do it, you’re dividing the audience you’re trying to reach.

Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both.

I’m not always going to say things the perfect way, the right way. But I’m going to say how I feel.

I like it when someone tells me ‚I don’t agree.‘ This is a true collaborator. When they say ‚Oh, how great, how great, how great,‘ that’s not useful.

I guess the toughest things in translations are word play, which can never be reproduced exactly.

The language of all the interpretations, the translations, of the Judaic Bible and the Christian Bible, is musical, just wonderful. I read the Bible to myself; I’ll take any translation, any edition, and read it aloud, just to hear the language, hear the rhythm, and remind myself how beautiful English is.

Israel is a pretty crazy state.

One of my direct subordinates, one of my guys that worked for me, he would call me up or pull me aside with some major problem, some issue that was going on. And he’d say, ‚Boss, we’ve got this, and that, and the other thing.‘ And I’d look at him and I’d say, ‚Good.‘

The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.

Words are loaded pistols.

Letters are something from you. It’s a different kind of intention than writing an e-mail.

You could imagine a language exactly like English except it doesn’t have connectives like ‚and‘ that allow you to make longer expressions. An infant learning truncated English would have no idea about this: They would just pick it up as they would standard English.

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.

My own experience is use the tools that are out there. Use the digital world. But never lose sight of the need to reach out and talk to other people who don’t share your view. Listen to them and see if you can find a way to compromise.

An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.

Strike against war, for without you no battles can be fought!

The best weapon against an enemy is another enemy.

As soon as you have a language that has a past tense and a future tense you’re going to say, ‚Where did we come from, what happens next?‘ The ability to remember the past helps us plan the future.

Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted.

Money has a language of its own.

I don’t know why you use a fancy French word like detente when there’s a good English phrase for it – cold war.

I do think that we’re gonna move towards this world where eventually you’ll be able to capture a whole experience that you’re in and be able to send that to someone.

One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.

There must always remain something that is antagonistic to good.

Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous.

For diplomacy to be effective, words must be credible – and no one can now doubt the word of America.

He that would live in peace and at ease must not speak all he knows or all he sees.

As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.

War is the continuation of politics by other means.

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.

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.

Of course, there are those critics – New York critics as a rule – who say, ‚Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it’s good but then she’s a natural writer.‘ Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing. I work at the language.

Society is at odds with itself.

As this long and difficult war ends, I would like to address a few special words to the American people: Your steadfastness in supporting our insistence on peace with honor has made peace with honor possible.

Never explain – your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.

Prayer is such a basic foundation of a Christian’s relationship with God. It’s how we communicate and fellowship with Him. But a surprising number of people, young and old, new and even long-time Christians, say they’re not satisfied with their prayer life.

When we turn to one another for counsel we reduce the number of our enemies.

A saint is tolerant and is attentive to the pleadings of other human beings, not only to spoken messages but to unspoken messages as well.

‚Good English‘ is whatever educated people talk; so that what is good in one place or time would not be so in another.

I am confident my Hindutva face will be an asset when dealing with foreign affairs with other nations.

At one time, you could sit on the Rue de la Paix in Paris or at the Habima Theater in Tel Aviv or in Medina and you could see a person come in, black, white, it didn’t matter. You said, ‚That’s an American‘ because there’s a readiness to smile and to talk to people.

Forgive me my nonsense, as I also forgive the nonsense of those that think they talk sense.

If you want to know your true opinion of someone, watch the effect produced in you by the first sight of a letter from him.

Man is always looking for someone to boast to; woman is always looking for a shoulder to put her head on.

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.

Questions are never indiscreet, answers sometimes are.

When a man says he had pleasure with a woman he does not mean conversation.

Please don’t ask me to do that which I’ve just said I’m not going to do, because you’re burning up time. The meter is running through the sand on you, and I am now filibustering.

Let us recollect that peace or war will not always be left to our option; that however moderate or unambitious we may be, we cannot count upon the moderation, or hope to extinguish the ambition of others.

Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting.

A letter does not blush.

The first time you say something, it’s heard. The second time, it’s recognized, and the third time it’s learned.

The invasion of Iraq, particularly, gave a big shot in the arm to the jihadi extremists.

If I could explain it to the average person, it wouldn’t have been worth the Nobel Prize.

I don’t mind how much my Ministers talk, so long as they do what I say.

When will mankind be convinced and agree to settle their difficulties by arbitration?

The doctrine that everything is fine as long as the population is quiet, that applies in the Middle East, applies in Central America, it applies in the United States.

I once did a three-hour interview with Radio Oxford only to be told the microphone hadn’t picked me up.

We are symbols, and inhabit symbols.

When you have nothing important or interesting to say, don’t let anyone persuade you to say it.