The secret thoughts of a man run over all things, holy, profane, clean, obscene, grave, and light, without shame or blame.

Those who think the information brought out at a criminal trial is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth are fools. Prosecuting or defending a case is nothing more than getting to those people who will talk for your side, who will say what you want said.

F. Lee Bailey

Science fiction is not predictive; it is descriptive.

Ursula K. LeGuin, from The Intro

Almost the only persons who may be said to comprehend even approximately the significance, principles, and purposes of Socialism are the chief leaders of the extreme wings of the Socialistic forces, and perhaps a few of the money kings themselves.

Benjamin Tucker

One of the most considerable advantages the great have over their inferiors is to have servants as good as themselves.

Miguel de Cervantes

The object of most prayers is to wangle an advance on good intentions.

Robert Brault

The teacher must derive not only the capacity, but the desire, to observe natural phenomena. The teacher must understand and feel her position of observer: the activity must lie in the phenomenon.

Maria Montessori

I have just been all round the world and have formed a very poor opinion of it.

Sir Thomas Beecham

I believe the root of all evil is abuse of power.

Patricia Cornwell

We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet.

Stephen Hawking

Prediction in a complex world is a chancy business. Every decision that a survival machine takes is a gamble, and it is the business of genes to program brains in advance so that on average they take decisions that pay off. The currency used in the casino of evolution is survival, strictly gene survival, but for many purposes individual survival is a reasonable approximation.

Richard Dawkins

I am told that today rather more than 60 per cent of the men who go to university go on a Government grant. This is a new class that has entered upon the scene. It is the white-collar proletariat. They do not go to university to acquire culture but to get a job, and when they have got one, scamp it. They have no manners and are woefully unable to deal with any social predicament. Their idea of a celebration is to go to a public house and drink six beers. They are mean, malicious and envious . They are scum.

W. Somerset Maugham

My daughter is my passion and my life.

Tamara Mellon