As we look over the list of the early leaders of the republic, Washington, John Adams, Hamilton, and others, we discern that they were all men who insisted upon being themselves and who refused to truckle to the people. With each succeeding generation, the growing demand of the people that its elective officials shall not lead but merely register the popular will has steadily undermined the independence of those who derive their power from popular election. The persistent refusal of the Adamses to sacrifice the integrity of their own intellectual and moral standards and values for the sake of winning public office or popular favor is another of the measuring rods by which we may measure the divergence of American life from its starting point.

All I wanted to do was write - at the time, poems, and prose, too. I guess my ambition was simply to make money however I could to keep myself going in some modest way, and I didn't need much, I was unmarried at the time, no children.

Paul Auster

Only a fool does not fear actors, but you can't beat them, and if you can't beat them, join them, as they say. As I've got older I've become very interested in that part of the work.

Lars von Trier

Success has always been a great liar.

Friedrich Nietzsche

If a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation.

Andrew Fletcher, Conversation Co

He who dares nothing need hope for nothing.

Source Unknown

...because I went to London on my own, and because I went to solved the mystery of Who Killed Wellington? and I found my mother and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything.

Mark Haddon

Fear is just not a part of my life - so much so that if it's involved in somebody else's life and they're close to me, I won't be around them.

Jeremy Renner

Liberty is God's gift, liberties the devil s.

Proverb

Science is the observation of things possible, whether present or past; prescience is the knowledge of things which may come to pass, though but slowly.

Leonardo da Vinci

Sense of humor is important in life, not just in clothing. How boring to live a life in beige.

Jean Pigozzi

America is a friend to the people of Iraq. Our demands are directed only at the regime that enslaves them and threatens us. When these demands are met, the first and greatest benefit will come to Iraqi men, women and children.

George W. Bush

The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way

Henry David Thoreau