Ironically, Latin American countries, in their instability, give writers and intellectuals the hope that they are needed.

Every man has his follies - and often they are the most interesting thing he has got.

Josh Billings

I knew Ginny was lying about that tattoo.

J.K. Rowling

Freedom is a system based on courage.

Charles Peguy

Very young children eat their books, literally devouring their contents. This is one reason for the scarcity of first editions of Alice in Wonderland and other favorites of the nursery.

A. S. W. Rosenbach

It just seems awfully mean. But sometimes, the ends justify the mean.

Michael Scott

The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this, What is the use of climbing Mount Everest? and my answer must at once be, It is no use. There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behaviour of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. It's no use. So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.

George Mallory

The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude.

Julia Child

I became famous, I think, really because of the interpretation of other people's songs, way back when, and that's what I enjoy the most. And I'm a lazy bugger.

Rod Stewart

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.

William Shakespeare

The only foes that threaten America are the enemies at home, and these are ignorance, superstition and incompetence.

Elbert Hubbard

Our works are the mirror wherein the spirit first sees its natural lineaments, Hence, too, the folly of that impossible precept, Know thyself; till it be translated into this partially possible one, know what thou canst work at.

Thomas Carlyle

When I think of vision, I have in mind the ability to see above and beyond the majority.

Charles Swindoll