Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music.

It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little.

As a matter of self-preservation, a man needs good friends or ardent enemies, for the former instruct him and the latter take him to task.

Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music.

The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.

Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad.

The sun, too, shines into cesspools and is not polluted.

He has the most who is most content with the least.

I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.

The sun too penetrates into privies, but is not polluted by them.

What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.

We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.

I have nothing to ask but that you would remove to the other side, that you may not, by intercepting the sunshine, take from me what you cannot give.

Stand a little less between me and the sun.

I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands at the trough.

I do not know whether there are gods, but there ought to be.

I am called a dog because I fawn on those who give me anything, I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals.

Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards.

The mob is the mother of tyrants.

The great thieves lead away the little thief.

Wise kings generally have wise counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.

The vine bears three kinds of grapes: the first of pleasure, the second of intoxication, the third of disgust.

When I look upon seamen, men of science and philosophers, man is the wisest of all beings; when I look upon priests and prophets nothing is as contemptible as man.

A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.

Blushing is the color of virtue.

Man is the most intelligent of the animals - and the most silly.

It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.

It was a favorite expression of Theophrastus that time was the most valuable thing that a man could spend.

I know nothing, except the fact of my ignorance.

He has the most who is content with the least.

There is only a fingers difference between a wise man and a fool.

Being asked where in Greece he saw good men, he replied, "Good men nowhere, but good boys at Sparta."

When you use music to worship you are not attempting to entertain.

Pop music, disco music, and heavy metal music is about shutting out the tensions of life, putting it away.

When I did the record, I was coming off a time when my contract had been sold and the music industry had changed a lot. I didn't understand how to make records for big labels. I was waiting for a new kind of record label to emerge.

You've got to realize. In the western world, regardless of what color you are, what title the music is, it's all played by the same notes.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

Whether I'm doing music or I'm walking down the street or I'm in a record store buying a record or I walk into a comic store and I'm buying comics or having a drink with my friends, it's the same me.

When rock came along the lyrics and melodies became less important and it bothered me to think that perhaps they might not regain the value they have to music - they are music.

I want to promote poetry to the point where you got all the baldhead kids running around doing poetry, getting the music out of the way and having only words, the spoken word, and then see what happens.

There is no music that can't be used politically, but the motives behind the creation of that music can be non-political.

The kind of music or the kind of arrangements that I do, the kind of musicians I choose, is just what I like to hear.

If not for music, I would probably be a very frustrated scientist. It's one way to answer the question, 'What is the meaning of life?' I feel music answers it better.

Since I'm allergic to various things, the army wouldn't accept me during the war, and I got into the Office of War Information, which sent music to Europe.

My singing is my hobby. It's me and my brother. We just enjoy writing music.

I was determined to carve out a music of my own. I didn't want to copy anybody.

I have tried to make the music a bit easier for them to understand.

What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man.

That music and the lyrical aspects of Razorblade Romance is so personal to me that, now with me being grown up a bit and meeting new people and doing new things, it makes me look at the same things I was writing about back in the day through a different colored lens.