“We cannot teach children the danger of lying to men without feeling as men, the greater danger of lying to children.”

What good would it be to possess the whole universe if one were its only survivor?

Every artists wants to be applauded

I am not made like any of those I have seen. I venture to believe that I am not made like any of those who are in existence. If I am not better, at least I am different.

All my misfortunes come of having thought too well of my fellows.

If there were a nation of Gods, it would govern itself democratically. A government so perfect is not suited to men.

Those that are most slow in making a promise are the most faithful in the performance of it.

He who pretends to look on death without fear lies. All men are afraid of dying, this is the great law of sentient beings, without which the entire human species would soon be destroyed.

From this it follows that, the larger the State, the less the liberty.

Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.

To live is not merely to breathe; it is to act; it is to make use of our organs, senses, faculties – of all those parts of ourselves which give us the feeling of existence.

The first man, who, after enclosing a piece of ground, took it into his head to say, This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the true founder of civil society.

It is pity in which the state of nature takes the place of laws, morals and virtues, with the added advantage that no one there is tempted to disobey its gentle voice.

There is no evildoer who could not be made good for something.

My birth was my first misfortune.

I perceive God everywhere in His works. I sense Him in me; I see Him all around me.

The people of England regards itself as free; but it is grossly mistaken; it is free only during the election of members of parliament. As soon as they are elected, slavery overtakes it, and it is nothing.

I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love.

I think sports for kids is the greatest thing in the world because it teaches you how to share, about winning and losing and pressure. But I don’t think you should force your kid to become a professional athlete.

The truth is that since childhood I had cultivated an existential independence. It came from perceiving the adults around me as unreliable, and without it I felt I wouldn’t have survived. I cared deeply for everyone in my family, but in the end I depended on myself.

People get bent out of shape about the fact that when I was a kid, you could not drink out of certain water fountains. Well, the water was the same.

My kids are no different than anyone else’s – they tend to disagree with everything I say!

Your greatest self lies within the hands of your inner child- the you who used to chase their shadows instead run from them.

When I was a kid, we said that we were precluded from going to certain neighborhoods because of the color of our skin Now the neighborhoods are the neighborhoods of ideas, youre not supposed to be there because of the color of your skin.

My friend has a baby. I’m recording all the noises he makes so later I can ask him what he meant.