“Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression, and violence, and enjoy it to the full.”

Dialectical thought is related to vulgar thinking in the same way that a motion picture is related to a still photograph. The motion picture does not outlaw the still photograph but combines a series of them according to the laws of motion.

Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain – at least in a poor country like Russia – and his vanity begins to swell out like his tires. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect.

Where force is necessary, there it must be applied boldly, decisively and completely. But one must know the limitations of force; one must know when to blend force with a maneuver, a blow with an agreement.

The usages and methods of warfare are thus determined by changing circumstances and, therefore, they themselves can in nowise be eternal.

Communism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen.

Our party’s most outstanding mediocrity.

The dictatorship of the Communist Party is maintained by recourse to every form of violence.

Ideas that enter the mind under fire remain there securely and for ever.

The people will have the right to elect their representatives from a list of candidates [who have been approved by the Party].

Learning carries within itself certain dangers because out of necessity one has to learn from one’s enemies.

The pillars of Hercules of the United States are vulgarity and stupidity.

Technique is noticed most markedly in the case of those who have not mastered it.

Religions are illogical primitive ignorance. There is nothing as ridiculous and tragic as a religious government.

Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws.

In spite of the existence of the Soviet Union, however, the proletarian revolution during the past years has not recorded a victory in any other country.

In inner-party politics, these methods lead, as we shall yet see, to this: the party organization substitutes itself for the party, the central committee substitutes itself for the organization, and, finally, a dictator substitutes himself for the central committee.

There was the noise itself, which he thought of vaguely as the noise of classical music, sameish and rhetorical, full of feelings people surely never had

The world is full of little dictators trying to run your life.

Here I sit, alone at 60, Bald and fat and full of sin Cold the seat, and loud the cistern As I read the (Harpic) (Lysol) tin

An abstract style is always bad. Your sentences should be full of stones, metals, chairs, tables, animals, men, and women.

No Time For Goodbye is a deliciously smart thriller, full of surprises and perfect pacing. I’m jealous I didn’t write it.

In America most everybody who’s Italian is half Italian. Except me. I’m all Italian. I’m mostly Sicilian, and I have a little bit of Neapolitan in me. You get your full dose with me.

I believe you must live honestly and develop your abilities to the full. People who do this are the real heroes.

I absolutely don’t believe in anything. Full stop. Including luck.