“When the savages of Louisiana wish to have fruit, they cut the tree at the bottom and gather the fruit. That is exactly a despotic government.”

I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should seem a fool, but be wise.

In the birth of societies it is the chiefs of states who give it its special character; and afterward it is this special character that forms the chiefs of state.

In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of state shape its institutions; later the institutions shape the chiefs of state.

To succeed in the world we must look foolish but be wise.

A good writer does not write as people write, but as he writes.

You have to study a great deal to know a little.

There have never been so many civil wars as in the Kingdom of Christ.

Human laws made to direct the will ought to give precepts, and not counsels.

The severity of the laws prevents their execution.

Men, who are rogues individually, are in the mass very honorable people.

Slavery, properly so called, is the establishment of a right which gives to one man such a power over another as renders him absolute master of his life and fortune.

Liberty… is there only when there is no abuse of power.

Oh, how empty is praise when it reflects back to its origin!

Power ought to serve as a check to power.

If you would be holy, instruct your children, because all the good acts they perform will be imputed to you.

When we seek after wit, we discover only foolishness.

Unfortunately, every time there’s a budget crunch in New York, the Parks Department is usually the first to be cut. So they need all the help they can get.

Whether or not cutting my hair was the right decision, it empowered me.

When I do documentaries, my best information ends up on the cutting-room floor. People have trouble dealing with sexual honesty.

For years I had my hair parted down the middle in a ponytail, tucked down around the sides Well, I went and cut the bangs, and I’ve been wearing them ever since. They say it’s my trademark.

A lot of ideas get re-used and made part of new songs if the first version didn’t cut the mustard, and the stuff that gets left off usually contained the germ of something good but failed to reach a satisfactory state by the recording stage.

The key is to cut out the middleman and empower both doctor and patient with information about what things cost.

Of course it would cost something, but he was an expert in cutting corners; and when there were no more corners left he would make circles rounder.

A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow the corpse never stays put.