“No matter how noble the objectives of a government, if it blurs decency and kindness, cheapens human life, and breeds ill will and suspicion; it is an evil government.”

The capacity for getting along with our neighbor depends to a large extent on the capacity for getting along with ourselves. The self-respecting individual will try to be as tolerant of his neighbor’s shortcomings as he is of his own.

A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority.

The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future.

We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.

To change everything, simply change your attitude.

Jesus was not a Christian, nor was Marx a Marxist.

When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.

Take away hatred from some people, and you have men without faith.

There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless.

The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when left to themselves never felt at ease in America.

Children are the keys of paradise.

Add a few drops of venom to a half truth and you have an absolute truth.

Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.

The education explosion is producing a vast number of people who want to live significant, important lives but lack the ability to satisfy this craving for importance by individual achievement. The country is being swamped with nobodies who want to be somebodies.

It is the malady of our age that the young are so busy teaching us that they have no time left to learn.

The creative mind is the playful mind. Philosophy is the play and dance of ideas.

Between holding on and letting go october discerns october knows, that life lurks between the clouds of death and death breathes with every rebirth.

Even when the blood in my veins is the same as them, every cell in my body is against becoming like them. What a curse it is to hate the very thing that birth you.

When a writer is born into a family, the family is finished.

Not to be born surpasses all reckoning. The next best thing by far, when one has been born is to go back as swiftly as possible whence one came.

I have a relative who is also gay. We can’t help it if they were born that way.

Not to be born is, past all prizing, best.

America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of the Holy Scripture.

Everybody is worried about dying, but the cause of death is birth, so if you don’t want to die, you don’t get born!