“Get your enemy to read your works in order to mend them, for your friend is so much your second self that he will judge too like you.”

I never knew any man in my life who could not bear another’s misfortunes perfectly like a Christian.

The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d

The most positive men are the most credulous.

Amusement is the happiness of those who cannot think.

Do you find yourself making excuses when you do not perform? Shed the excuses and face reality. Excuses are the loser’s way out. They will mar your credibility and stunt your personal growth.

A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink of it deeply, or taste it not, for shallow thoughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking deeply sobers us again.

Every professional was once an amateur.

The vanity of human life is like a river, constantly passing away, and yet constantly coming on.

There is a majesty in simplicity.

He who tells a lie is not sensible of how great a task he undertakes; for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain that one.

Charm strikes the sight, but merit wins the soul.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always To be Blest.

In this commonplace world every one is said to be romantic who either admires a fine thing or does one.

Why did I write? What sin to me unknown dipped me in ink, my parents , or my own?

Conceit is to nature what paint is to beauty; it is not only needless, but it impairs what it would improve.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

Beautifully shot, impeccably paced, it was a clear, unrelenting look at the National Trust, its friends and enemies, and it makes you want to burn your passport and beg the Luftwaffe to have another go.

The true enemy of man is generalization.

for there is no folly of the beast of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men

Men weren’t really the enemy – they were fellow victims suffering from an outmoded masculine mystique that made them feel unnecessarily inadequate when there were no bears to kill.

Men are not the enemy, but the fellow victims. The real enemy is women’s denigration of themselves.

He passes through life most securely who has least reason to reproach himself with complaisance toward his enemies.

Courage, ne’er by sorrow broken! Aid where tears of virtue flow; Faith to keep each promise spoken! Truth alike to friend and foe!

I dread our own mistakes more than the enemy’s intentions.