“Opportunities fall in the way of every man who is resolved to take advantage of them.”

Necessity, oftener than facility, has been the mother of invention; and the most prolific school of all has been the school of difficulty.

The principal industrial excellence of the English people lay in their capacity of present exertion for a distant object.

Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book.

The great high-road of human welfare lies along the old highway of steadfast, well-doing; and they who are the most persistent, and work in the truest spirit, will invariably be the most successful; success treads on the heels of every right effort.

Self-control is only courage under another form. It may also be regarded as the primary essence of character.

For want of self-restraint many men are engaged all their lives in fighting with difficulties of their own making.

Work is one of the best educators of practical character.

The great leader attracts to himself men of kindred character, drawing them towards him as the loadstone draws iron.

Stothard learned the art of combining colors by closely studying butterflies wings; he would often say that no one knew what he owed to these tiny insects. A burnt stick and a barn door served Wilkie in lieu of pencil and canvas.

Men whose acts are at variance with their words command no respect, and what they say has but little weight.

Even happiness itself may become habitual. There is a habit of looking at the bright side of things, and also of looking at the dark side.

Enthusiasm, the sustaining power of all great action.

Make good thy standing place, and move the world.

There are many persons of whom it may be said that they have no other possession in the world but their character, and yet they stand as firmly upon it as any crowned king.

The great lesson of biography is to show what man can be and do at his best. A noble life put fairly on record acts like an inspiration to others.

He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery.

Music is another way of thinking, or maybe thinking is another kind of music.

Divorce can be crazy. Man, if you’re happy… Love is a beast, man. Hold on. Be prepared for any way it may go, and be honest.

I like to watch the way a model moves in my clothes, the way she gives them life, or if they are wrong, stillborn, the way her life rejects them.

The curt truth is that, in a deep secret way, the state of being beloved is intolerable to many.

When I was fourteen, my father decided to initiate me into the ways of manhood, and took me to the local whorehouse.

I think in some ways it’s better to have the people of the world on your side than the governments of the world, even if governments can be more effective in certain directions.

I flutter all ways, and fly in none.

Colonialism bred an innate arrogance, but when you undertake that sort of imperial adventure, that arrogance gives way to a feeling of accommodativeness. You take pride in your openness.