Patriotism ruins history.

And now, as I close my task, subduing my desire to linger yet, these faces fade away. But one face, shining on me like a Heavenly light by which I see all other objects, is above them and beyond them all. And that remains.I turn my head, and see it, in its beautiful serenity, beside me.My lamp burns low, and I have written far into the night; but the dear presence, without which I were nothing, bears me company.O Agnes, O my soul, so may thy face be by me when I close my life indeed; so may I, when realities are melting from me, like the shadows which I now dismiss, still find thee near me, pointing upward!

Charles Dickens

It is the dull man who is always sure, and the sure man who is always dull.

H. L. Mencken

I take photographs with love, so I try to make them art objects. But I make them for myself first and foremost - that is important.

Jacques-Henri Lartigue

Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature ... If the next centennial does not find us a great nation...it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.

James Garfield, 1877

When I was young, life seemed long and endless to me.

Marcello Mastroianni

Because I just like sports, I like athletics and I like competition.

Trishelle Cannatella

I once went to one of those parties where everyone throws their car keys into the middle of the room. I don't know who got my moped, but I drove that Peugeot for years.

Victoria Wood

When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it feels like two hours. But, when you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it feels like two minutes. That's relativity!

Albert Einstein

Winning is everything only when you have lost everything.

Humble

Who was this women?' asked Harry.'I dunno, some Ministry hag.'Mundungus considered for a moment, brow wrinkled.'Little women. Bow on top of er' head.'He frowned and then added, 'Looked like a toad.'Harry dropped his wand.Harry looked up and saw his own shock reflected in Ron and Hermione's faces. The scars on the back of right hand seemed to be tingling again.

J.K. Rowling

Praise or blame has but a momentary effect on the man whose love of beauty in the abstract makes him a severe critic on his own works.

John Keats

No one ever was a great poet, that applied himself much to anything else.

Sir William Temple