It doesn't seem to me that this fantastically marvelous universe, this tremendous range of time and space and different kinds of animals, and all the different planets, and all these atoms with all their motions, and so on, all this complicated thing can merely be a stage so that God can watch human beings struggle for good and evil - which is the view that religion has. The stage is too big for the drama.

It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.

Thomas Paine

A king is history's slave.

Leo Tolstoy

We always compare our labor with its results. We do not devote more effort to a given task if we can accomplish it with less; nor, when confronted with two toilsome tasks, do we choose the greater. We are more inclined to diminish the ratio of effort to result, and if, in so doing, we gain a little leisure, nothing will stop us from using it, for the sake of additional benefits, in enterprises more in keeping with our tastes.Man's universal practice, indeed, is conclusive in this regard. Always and everywhere, we find that he looks upon toil as the disagreeable aspect, and on satisfaction as the compensatory aspect, of his condition. Always and everywhere, we find that, as far as he is able, he places the burden of his toil upon animals, the wind, steam, or other forces of Nature, or, alas! upon his fellow men, if he can gain mastery over them. In this last case, let me repeat, for it is too often forgotten, the labor has not been lessened; it has merely been shifted to other shoulders.

Fr, Economic Harmonies,

We are all alike, on the inside.

Mark Twain

People, not just reporters, are more interested in politics than in government, so the actual issues wouldn't be something that interested them.

Calvin Trillin

I have heard of your paintings too, well enough God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another.

William Shakespeare

If I could define enlightenment briefly I would say it is the quiet acceptance of what is.

Wayne Dyer

Man's naked form belongs to no particular moment in history it is eternal, and can be looked upon with joy by the people of all ages.

Auguste Rodin

I would say my greatest achievement in life right now - my greatest achievement period is - and I'm still trying to achieve it - is to be a wonderful father to my kids.

Bo Jackson

The most violent revolutions in an individuals beliefs leave most of his old order standing. Time and space, cause and effect, nature and history, and ones own biography remain untouched. New truth is always a go-between, a smoother-over of transitions. It marries old opinion to new fact so as ever to show a minimum of jolt, a maximum of continuity.

William James

Life obliges me to do something, so I paint.

Rene Magritte

It's always well to be the smartest thinker, but is won't get you very far unless you're the plainest talker.

Source Unknown