Here is the difference between Dante, Milton, and me. They wrote about hell and never saw the place. I wrote about Chicago after looking the town over for years and years.

Man finds it hard to get what he wants, because he does not want the best God finds it hard to give, because He would give the best, and man will not take it.

George MacDonald

Pleasure that is obtained by unreasonable and unsuitable cost, must always end in pain.

Samuel Johnson

You have to visualize a second or two ahead of your car what line you are taking, what you are going to do, before you get there because it comes too fast.

Emerson Fittipaldi

The person who is master of their passions is reason's slave.

Cyril Connolly

A family is a risky venture, because the greater the love, the greater the loss... That's the trade-off. But I'll take it all.

Brad Pitt

The contract between the author and the reader is a game. And the game . . . is one of the greatest invetions of Western civilization: the game of telling stories, inventing characters, and creating the imaginary paradise of the individual, from whence no one can be expelled because, in a novel, no one owns the truth and everyone has the right to be heard and understood.

Carlos Fuentes

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.

Henry David Thoreau

Clearly spoken, Mr. Fogg; you explain English by Greek.

Benjamin Franklin

I think the saddest moment in my life just happened two months ago. My old nightclub partner passed away, Phil Erickson down in Atlanta. He - I owe him everything. He put me in the business and taught me about everything I know.

Dick Van Dyke

The legal battle against segregation is won, but the community battle goes on.

Dorothy Day

I should like you to remember two or three fixed principles which shine through all the history of mankind. The first is that mere bigness is not greatness. There is no dignity, no nobleness, in mere bulk. The true greatness of a nation depends upon the character of its ethical ideal and the energy with which it pursues it. I count it a peculiar good fortune for the American nation that it was conceived in liberty and intelligence and swaddled in order and justice, and that its early years were watched over by men who saw in such an organization the best hopes of the human race. But the baptism of the fathers does not guarantee the consecration of their children; and the republic can be kept true to its ideals only by the devoted efforts of each succeeding generation. Thus is it the privilege of the quiet scholar, who sees and speaks the truth, to shape from his study the policy of nations and the course of history.

Jacob Gould Schurman, Excerpt fr