“That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy.”

There are few wild beasts more to be dreaded than a talking man having nothing to say.

Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.

The various opinions of philosophers have scattered through the world as many plagues of the mind as Pandora’s box did those of the body; only with this difference, that they have not left hope at the bottom.

We have enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.

The common fluency of speech in many men, and most women, is owing to a scarcity of matter and a scarcity of words; for whosoever is a master of language, and hath a mind full of ideas, will be apt, in speaking, to hesitate upon the choice of both.

There is no vice which mankind carries to such wild extremes as that of avarice.

Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.

For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.

Although men are accused of not knowing their own weakness, yet perhaps few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not of.

I love good creditable acquaintance; I love to be the worst of the company.

We are so fond on one another because our ailments are the same.

There were many times my pants were so thin I could sit on a dime and tell if it was heads or tails.

Everyone desires long life, not one old age.

Don’t set your wit against a child.

Many a truth is told in jest.

For to enter the palace of learning at the great gate requires an expense of time and forms, therefore men of much haste and little ceremony are content to get in by the back-door.

We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.

You are not here accidentally – you are here meaningfully. There is a purpose behind you. The whole intends to do something through you.

We don’t make mistakes. We just have happy accidents.

The accident was a horrible thing – but that horrible thing made Chris, at the end of his life, Superman. It’s a happy irony if there is such a thing. I’m proud to have known him.

The principle of self-government cannot be violated with impunity. The individual’s right to it is sacred – regardless of class, caste, race, color, sex or any other accident or incident of birth.

We do not suffer by accident.

There is nothing that is an accident.

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