He was so benevolent, so merciful a man that, in his mistaken passion, he would have held an umbrella over a duck in a shower of rain.

There is (as I now find) no remorse for time long past, even for what may have mortified us or made us ashamed of ourselves when it was happening: there is a pleasant panoramic sense of what it all was and how it all had to be. Why, if we are not vain or snobbish, need we desire that it should have been different? The better things we missed may yet be enjoyed or attained by someone else somewhere: why isn't that just as good? And there is no regret, either, in the sense of wishing the past to return, or missing it: it is quite real enough as it is, there at its own date and place

George Santayana, letter to Mary

Each new generation is a fresh invasion of savages.

Hervey Allen

I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you want --an adorable pancreas?

Jean Kerr

The one thing we truly don't ? understand about God, about Life, and about Humanity is that we are ONE!?

Timothy Pina

I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.

Alice Walker

Most people like to read about intrigue and spies. I hope to provide a metaphor for the average reader's daily life. Most of us live in a slightly conspiratorial relationship with our employer and perhaps with our marriage.

John le Carre

A friend who is near and dear may in time become as useless as a relative.

George Ade

Skip the religion and politics, head straight to the compassion. Everything else is a distraction.

Talib Kweli

I have to say when we talk about the treatment of these prisoners that I would guess that these prisoners wake up every morning thanking Allah that Saddam Hussein is not in charge of these prisons.

James Inhofe

Books are challenging and inspirational to me.

Amy Sedaris

I like photographing the people I love, the people I admire, the famous, and especially the infamous. My last infamous subject was the extreme right wing French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Helmut Newton

Is there any one maxim which ought to be acted upon throughout one's whole life? Surely the maxim of loving kindness is such: Do not unto others what you would not they should do unto you.

Confucius