There is no greater mistake than the hasty conclusion that opinions are worthless because they are badly argued.

Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes: in the sense that almost certainly (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in this very imperfect one) both partners might be found more suitable mates. But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to.

J. R. R. Tolkien, Letter to Mich

Women's sexy underwear is a minor but significant growth industry of late-twentieth-century Britain in the twilight of capitalism.

Angela Carter

I'm very manipulative towards directors. My theory is that everyone on the set is directing the film, we're all receiving art messages from the universe on how we should do the film.

Jeff Bridges

The writer is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent of influence.

Don DeLillo

Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul? Man is a great depth, O Lord. The hairs of his head are easier by far to count than his feeling, the movements of his heart.

Saint Augustine

The Nobel Peace Prize opened up a door in my heart.

Aung San Suu Kyi

To take refuge with an inferior is to betray one's self.

Publilius Syrus

Plough deep while sluggards sleep.

Benjamin Franklin

Learn not only to find what you like, learn to like what you find.

Anthony D'Angelo

You can no more bridle passions with logic than you can justify them in the law courts. Passions are facts and not dogmas.

Alexander Herzen

No person was every rightly understood until they had been first regarded with a certain feeling, not of tolerance, but of sympathy.

Thomas Carlyle

The physical life of the scene is determined by whether the set squeezes people together or whether the set has an escape place in it.

Elia Kazan