“From the midst of the very fountain of pleasure, something of bitterness arises to vex us in the flower of enjoyment.”

Fear holds dominion over mortality Only because, seeing in land and sky So much the cause whereof no wise they know, Men think Divinities are working there.

There is so much wrong with the world.

What once sprung from the earth sinks back into the earth.

We notice that the mind grows with the body, and with it decays.

No fact is so simple that it is not harder to believe than to doubt at the first presentation. Equally, there is nothing so mighty or so marvelous that the wonder it evokes does not tend to diminish in time.

Forbear to spew out reason from your mind, but rather ponder everything with keen judgment; and if it seems true, own yourself vanquished, but, if it is false, gird up your loins to fight.

Nothing comes from nothing.

Tears for the mourners who are left behind Peace everlasting for the quiet dead.

There is no place in nature for extinction.

In the midst of the fountain of wit there arises something bitter, which stings in the very flowers.

Religious questions have often led to wicked and impious actions.

For there is a VOID in things; a truth which it will be useful for you, in reference to many points, to know; and which will prevent you from wandering in doubt.

The sum of all sums is eternity.

Now come: that thou mayst able be to know That minds and the light souls of all that live Have mortal birth and death, I will go on Verses to build meet for thy rule of life, Sought after long, discovered with sweet toil.

The wailing of the newborn infant is mingled with the dirge for the dead.

The first-beginnings of things cannot be distinguished by the eye.

We hate some persons because we do not know them; and will not know them because we hate them.

Actually, I am loathe to admit, but I also remember freshman year of Emory – and I’m so sorry to have to admit this – but there was a Domino’s Pizza in Emory Village, where I went to college, and I was ordering a pizza.

Despite everything, life is full of beauty and meaning.

Not every truth is the better for showing its face undisguised; and often silence is the wisest thing for a man to heed.

I had a sort of bad experiences as a playwright early on, when directors were putting in huge concepts that I didn’t intend, or they were stylizing something that was compromising the play

I think what we are confronting now is a new war of ideas. It’s not communism versus capitalism, but it is authoritarianism versus democracy and representative government.

The people to whom we minister and speak will not recall 99 percent of what we say to them, but they will never forget the kind of persons we are.

Self-discipline has a bigger effect on academic performance than does intellectual talent.