“In this age, the man who dares to think for himself and to act independently does a service to his race.”

A person should be free to do as he likes in his own concerns; but he ought not to be free to do as he likes in acting for another, under the pretext that the affairs of the other are his own affairs.

It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day’s toil of any human being.

A democratic constitution, not supported by democratic institutions in detail, but confined to the central government, not only is not political freedom, but often creates a spirit precisely the reverse, carrying down to the lowest grade in society the desire and ambition of political domination.

The individual is not accountable to society for his actions in so far as these concern the interests of no person but himself.

What distinguishes the majority of men from the few is their inability to act according to their beliefs.

Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.

I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them.

All good things which exist are the fruits of originality.

It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question.

A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.

The spirit of improvement is not always a spirit of liberty, for it may aim at forcing improvements on an unwilling people.

He who does anything because it is the custom, makes no choice.

Solitude in the presence of natural beauty and grandeur is the cradle of thought and aspirations which are not only good for the individual, but which society can ill do without.

The price paid for intellectual pacification is the sacrifice of the entire moral courage of the human mind.

A great statesman is he who knows when to depart from traditions, as well as when to adhere to them.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.

Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to try.

I like movies made by Spike Lee – doing those films out of the U.S., that is really daring.

I like to be daring and I like to be different. You think anyone out here looks like me? It’s pretty different, right?

Because you aren’t afraid to kiss the dirt (and consequently dare to climb the sky)

There is but one coward on earth, and that is the coward that dare not know.

Your love Should never be offered to the mouth of a Stranger, Only to someone Who has the valor and daring To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife Then weave them into a blanket To protect you.

Because that’s just the way it is, and don’t sleep on what you did before, you know, because it can not hurt you, but you can find yourself sleeping on something that happened in the past, but you dare to progress and there is always room for progression.

Don’t you dare take what I’m giving away more than willingly, for granted.