“Man is an imitative creature.”

Thus Arm in Arm with thee I dare defy my century into the lists.

Be true, and thou shalt fetter time with everlasting chain.

A virtuous name is the precious only good, for which queens and peasants’ wives must contest together.

The worst of me is known, and I can say that I am better than the reputation I bear.

Heaven and earth fight in vain against a dunce!

Lose not yourself in a far off time, seize the moment that is thine.

Never the grave gives back what it has won!

Sorrows must die with the joys they outnumber.

O God, how lovely still is life!

To the fool-king belongs the world.

If you want to study yourself, look into the hearts of other people. If you want to study other people, look into your own heart.

When the wine goes in, strange things come out.

Ever building, building to the clouds, still building higher, and never reflecting that the poor narrow basis cannot sustain the giddy tottering column.

I am called The richest monarch in the Christian world; The sun in my dominion never sets.

It is not flesh and blood, but heart which makes us fathers and sons.

There is a nobility in the world of manners.

The real champions in life are so humble and gracious. They just continue doing what they do without all the posturing. If you’ve got the real thing, you don’t have to flaunt a loud imitation.

Since God made us originals, why stoop to be imitations.

The first thing about the angels that we ought to imitate, is their consciousness of the Presence of God.

The first 50 years of the cinema were absolutely great years. Original minds were at work establishing the ways to tell a story. And what is happening now is a copying, a pastiche-ing of what was done by great men.

Be yourself. Don’t imitate other poets. You are as important as they are.

You become a leader when you decide to be an original and not a copy.

Note that this journey is uniquely yours, no one else’s. So the path has to be your own. You cannot imitate somebody else’s journey and still be true to yourself. Are you prepared to honor your uniqueness in this way?

They’ve imitated me so good that sometimes I hear people copying my mistakes