His mother called such people ignorant and superstitious, but his father only shook his head slowly and puffed his pipe and said that sometimes old stories had a grain or two of truth in them and it was best not to take chances. It was why, he said, he crossed himself whenever a black cat crossed his path.

Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.

William Shakespeare

That man is the noblest creature may also be inferred from the fact that no other creature has yet contested this claim.

G. C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenb

The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired.

Gustave Courbet

Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy.

Henry Kissinger

The wise man bridges the gap by laying out the path by means of which he can get from where he is to where he wants to go.

John Pierpont Morgan

A man grows most tired while standing still.

Chinese Proverb

Intelligence is enormously sexy.

Frank Langella

It is a curious phenomena that God has made the hearts of the poor, rich and those of the rich, poor.

Vinoba Bhave

Memory can make a thing seem to have been much more than it was.

Marilynne Robinson

Any honest examination of the national life proves how far we are from the standard of human freedom with which we began. The recovery of this standard demands of everyone who loves this country a hard look at himself, for the greatest achievements must begin somewhere, and they always begin with the person. If we are not capable of this examination, we may yet become one of the most distinguished and monumental failures in the history of nations.

James Baldwin

There is an element of anger among women who've been raped. There's certainly a major element of humiliation. But it really does seem like a medical condition of shock and horror.

Nicholas D. Kristof

The irony is that you can't use real rain to make movies.

Greg Kinnear