If, in looking at the lives of princes, courtiers, men of rank and fashion, we must perforce depict them as idle, profligate, and criminal, we must make allowances for the rich men's failings, and recollect that we, too, were very likely indolent and voluptuous, had we no motive for work, a mortal's natural taste for pleasure, and the daily temptation of a large income. What could a great peer, with a great castle and park, and a great fortune, do but be splendid and idle?

My background is basically scientific math. My Dad was a physicist, so I have it in my blood somewhere. Scientific method is very important to me. I think anything that contradicts it is probably not true.

John Astin

In the long run men only hit what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high.

Henry David Thoreau

The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do they change with grace? Manage conflict?

Max de Pree

When someone leaves, it's because someone else is about to arrive.

Paulo Coelho

We will by conscious command evolve cerebral centers which will permit us to use powers that we now are not even capable of imagining.

Dr. Frederick Tilney

Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.

Flora Lewis

Always be a first rate version of yourself, and not a second rate version of someone else.

Judy Garland

The legal system is often a mystery, and we, its priests, preside over rituals baffling to everyday citizens.

Henry Miller

I auditioned for a solo in church and got it. I was about seven and I sang a song called, 'Jesus, I Heard You Had a Big House' and I remember people standing up at the end and me thinking, 'Oh, I think I'm going to like this.' That's how it all began. Sounds funny to say you got your start in church, but I did.

Kristin Chenoweth

I can't understand people calling themselves religious and being hateful. If a preacher is preaching hate, to fear God that's not religion, that's not helping humanity, that's organizing an army to defeat somebody.

Mojo Nixon

Virtue is not the absense of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate ting, like pain or a particular smell.

G. K. Chesterton, Tremendous Tri

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

Jane Austen