When a wise man does not understand, he says: I do not understand. The fool and the uncultured are ashamed of their ignorance. They remain silent when a question could bring them wisdom.

There's been a slow death in a way. On the positive side, there are films getting into the Academy Awards that wouldn't have, but on the negative side, financiers are now dominant and making all the decisions. I can't count the ways a director's vision is compromised.

Lili Taylor

Winter reaches its peaknot when a great wind screamsfrom the top of its lungs, but when a lazy breeze whispers from the bottom of its heart

shivaraj konanavar

There is no more lively sensation than that of pain; its impressions are certain and dependable, they never deceive as may those of the pleasure women perpetually feign and almost never experience.

Marquis de Sade

The Pope? How many divisions has he got?

Josef Stalin

If you treat people right they will treat you right... ninety percent of the time.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Actually if a writer needs a dictionary he should not write. He should have read the dictionary at least three times from beginning to end and then have loaned it to someone who needs it. There are only certain words which are valid and similes (bring me my dictionary) are like defective ammunition (the lowest thing I can think of at this time).

Ernest Hemingway

All human things are subject to decay,And, when Fate summons, monarchs must obey;This Flecknoe found, who like Augustus youngWas call'd to empire, and had govern'd long:In prose and verse, was own'd, without disputeThrough all the realms of nonsense, absolute.

John Dryden, Mac Flecknoe

He that displays too often his wife and his wallet is in danger of having both of them borrowed.

Benjamin Franklin

[R]eligion was the race's first (and worst) attempt to make sense of reality. It was the best the species could do at a time when we had no concept of physics, chemistry, biology or medicine. We did not know that we lived on a round planet, let alone that the said planet was in orbit in a minor and obscure solar system, which was also on the edge of an unimaginably vast cosmos that was exploding away from its original source of energy. We did not know that micro-organisms were so powerful and lived in our digestive systems in order to enable us to live, as well as mounting lethal attacks on us as parasites. We did not know of our close kinship with other animals. We believed that sprites, imps, demons, and djinns were hovering in the air about us. We imagined that thunder and lightning were portentous. It has taken us a long time to shrug off this heavy coat of ignorance and fear, and every time we do there are self-interested forces who want to compel us to put it back on again.

Christopher Hitchens

Do not lose hope - what you seek will be found.

Neil Gaiman

I love 'Goodfellas' because it's a great movie - it's funny and there is action at perfect points. I just think Martin Scorsese makes everyone look really cool.

Booboo Stewart

There are some people whose opinion I value and respect and it would be very bothersome if I forfeited their respect. But the general public? I'm not preoccupied with the opinions of others.

Conrad Black