The mind profits by the wrecks of every passion.

He mastered whatever was not worth the knowing.

James Russell Lowell

There is too much at stake for us to surrender to the politics of polarization.

Brad Henry

And that's when I first learned about evil. It is built in to the very nature of the universe. Every world spins in pain. If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.

Terry Pratchett

I always loved family holidays, and I had this vision and dream as a little girl of having a big family of my own.

Brooke Burke

Most people wouldn't know music if it came up and bit them on the ass.

Frank Zappa

I've written some poetry I don't understand myself.

Carl Sandburg

Of war and peace the truth just twist, its curfew gull it glides.

Bob Dylan

If you take the cameras out of the courtroom, then you hide a certain measure of truth from the public.

Lance Ito

The true greatness of a nation is not measured by the vastness of its territory, or by the multitude of its people, or by the profusion of its exports and imports; but by the extent to which it has contributed to the life and thought and progress of the world. A man's greatness is not estimated by the size of his body or of his purse; not by his family connections or social position, however high these may be. He may bulk large in public estimation today, but tomorrow he will be forgotten like a dream, and his very servants may secure a higher position and a name lasting possibly a little longer.A man's greatness is estimated by his influence, not over the votes and empty cheers of a changing and passing crowd, but by his abiding, inspiring influence in their bidden thoughts, upon their ways of thinking, and consequently of acting. That is why the Wycliffes, Shakespeares, Miltons, Newtons, Wesleys, and Gladstones of English history live, and will live, in everlasting memory, while lesser men are remembered only through them, and the crowd of demagogues, pretenders, and self-seekers are named, if ever named, only to point a moral, or adorn a tale.So with nations. A great nation is not one which, like Russia, has an enormous territory ; or, like China, has an enormous population. It is the nation which gives mankind new modes of thought, new ideals of life, new hopes, new aspirations; which lifts the world out of the rut, and sets it going on a cleaner and brighter road.

L. E. Blaze, Lecture at the D. B

I remember being in Atlantic City once when I was 18 or 19, and a sea of people were screaming and pulling their hair because I was there. It was weird. Nobody deserves adulation like that. I tried to explain it to my kids once. I said, 'Mommy used to be kind of cool, kind of like a Britney Spears.'

Genie Francis

I had lost faith in biography.

A. N. Wilson

'Shkoff' is to eat. 'Shkiaff' is to slap. Like, 'Gettouttahere I'm gonna give you a couple of shkiaffs,' or, 'Forget presentation, just shkiaff the food onto the plate.'

Nadia Giosia