There is a sacred horror about everything grand. It is easy to admire mediocrity and hills; but whatever is too lofty, a genius as well as a mountain, an assembly as well as a masterpiece, seen too near, is appalling.

A good listener tries to understand thoroughly what the other person is saying. In the end he may disagree sharply, but before he disagrees, he wants to know exactly what it is he is disagreeing with.

Kenneth A. Wells, Guide to Good

In civilized life, where the happiness and indeed almost the existence of man, depends on the opinion of his fellow men. He is constantly acting a studied part.

Jeremy Collier

Manners are more important than laws and upon them, to a great deal, the law depends.

George Bernard Shaw

Memory, joy, are intuitions; and even mathematical propositions become intuitions, for education produces natural intuitions, and natural intuitions are erased by education.

Blaise Pascal

Environmental concern is a little like dieting or paying off credit-card debt - an episodically terrific idea that burns brightly and then seems to fade when we realize there's a reason we need to diet or pay down our debt. The reason is that it's really, really hard, and too many of us in too many spheres of life choose the easy over the hard.

Jon Meacham

For me, getting comfortable with being famous was hard - that whole side of it, the loss of anonymity, the loss of privacy. Giving up that part of your life and not having control of it.

Michelle Pfeiffer

What are facts but compromises? A fact merely marks the point where we have agreed to let investigation cease.

Bliss Carman

I'm a competitive person and it is in my nature to try hard in every match I play. The only time I'm not competitive is when I'm playing against my mom.

Michael Chang

I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster, and leaves less room for lies.

Le Corbusier

Today the tyrant rules not by club or fist, but, disguised as a market researcher, he shepherds his flocks in the ways of utility and comfort.

Marshall McLuhan

I've discovered I've got this preoccupation with ordinary people pursued by large forces.

Steven Spielberg

It is always better to live the truth than to live a lie.

Cassandra Clare