“Nature is a self-made machine, more perfectly automated than any automated machine. To create something in the image of nature is to create a machine, and it was by learning the inner working of nature that man became a builder of machines.”

A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority.

The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future.

We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.

To change everything, simply change your attitude.

Jesus was not a Christian, nor was Marx a Marxist.

When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.

Take away hatred from some people, and you have men without faith.

There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless.

The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when left to themselves never felt at ease in America.

Children are the keys of paradise.

Add a few drops of venom to a half truth and you have an absolute truth.

Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.

The education explosion is producing a vast number of people who want to live significant, important lives but lack the ability to satisfy this craving for importance by individual achievement. The country is being swamped with nobodies who want to be somebodies.

It is the malady of our age that the young are so busy teaching us that they have no time left to learn.

The creative mind is the playful mind. Philosophy is the play and dance of ideas.

Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.

No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.

There is nothing conservative about bailing out Wall Street. Likewise, there is nothing progressive about billion dollar loans to millionaires to build solar panels.

We must make the invisible kingdom visible in our midst.

You’ve got to jump off cliffs and build your wings on the way down.

Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down.

We built futures I’ll never get to visit. But I still have to watch them crumble.

I built these walls around me to shelter you from my hurricane mind. Now I must weather the storm alone.

I was built this way for a reason, so I’m going to use it.