You know, this idea of going around the world imposing democracy by growing a middle-class, a trading merchant class that is independent of your faith, is a good notion, but we're all partially different - it's no good imposing systems on people that it doesn't suit.

Every book I've written has been a different attempt to understand something, and the success or failure of the previous one is irrelevant. I write the book I want.

Yann Martel

Effective science teaching calls for active contact with research and that teachers need to mingle with other scientists and to know what is going on in the field.

Alan Tower Waterman

Matilda told such dreadful lies,It made one gasp and stretch one's eyes;Her aunt, who from her earliest youth,Had kept a strict regard for truth,Attempted to believe Matilda:The effort very nearly killed her.

Hilaire Belloc, Cautionary Tales

I have had cardiomyopathy, which is a non-coronary condition and is in no way related to diet.

Robert Atkins

War never takes a wicked man by chance, the good man always.

Sophocles

Morning drew on apace. The air became more sharp and piercing, as its first dull hue: the death of night, rather than the birth of day: glimmered faintly in the sky. The objects which had looked dim and terrible in the darkness, grew more and more defined, and gradually resolved into their familiar shapes. The rain came down, thick and fast; and pattered, noisily, among the leafless bushes.

Charles Dickens

I think 'Tattoo''s a song that can go so many different ways. Some people think of it as a break-up song, but, for me, it's about somebody who comes into your life and really touches you - be they a friend, a family member or someone you're in a relationship with.

Jordin Sparks

She's kind of a walking poem, she's this perfect beauty...but at the same time very deep, very smart.

Johnny Depp

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.

Sir Winston Churchill

If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.

Confucius

Government is inherently incompetent, and no matter what task it is assigned, it will do it in the most expensive and inefficient way possible.

Charley Reese

Few persons have sufficient wisdom to prefer censure, which is useful, to praise which deceives them.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld