It is the sheer ugliness and banality of everyday life which turns my blood to ice and makes me cringe in terror.

The barrenest of all mortals is the sentimentalist.

Thomas Carlyle

America's downgrade may serve as a wakeup call for its policymakers. It is an unambiguous and loud signal of the country's eroding economic strength and global standing. It renders urgent the need to regain the initiative through better economic policymaking and more coherent governance.

Mohamed El-Erian

The people who make art their business are mostly imposters.

Pablo Picasso

I thought it was a wonderfully conceptual act actually, to fire a replica pistol at a figurehead -- the guy could have been working for Andy Warhol!

J. G. Ballard

Whenever I have bid a hasty goodbye to a loved one, I've always made sure that my record collection was safely stored away in the boot of the car.

Robert Plant

They whose sole bliss is eating can give but that one brutish reason why they live.

Juvenal

All of this is so insignificant. In the grand scale of things, there have been so many before who have been in this position. I'm just another one. Life is so short. It's like we're already gone, really, in retrospect.

Heath Ledger

There is a woman at the begining of all great things.

Alphonse de Lamartine

I always just wanted to be funny. I never really planned to be scary.

R. L. Stine

I had an idea of what I thought was funny. It's kind of based on how I am.

Jennifer Aniston

I'd love to sell out completely. It's just that nobody has been willing to buy.

John Waters

It has the permanent quality of literature.

Virginia Woolf