If we were faultless we should not be so much annoyed by the defects of those with whom we associate.

There is a set of religious, or rather moral, writings which teach that virtue is the certain road to happiness, and vice to misery in this world. A very wholesome and comfortable doctrine, and to which we have but one objection, namely, that it is not true.

Do not make best friends with a melancholy sad soul. They always are heavily loaded, and you must bear half.

Children are excellent observers, and will often perceive your slightest defects. In general, those who govern children, forgive nothing in them, but everything in themselves.

Had we not faults of our own, we should take less pleasure in complaining of others.

Exactness and neatness in moderation is a virtue, but carried to extremes narrows the mind.

A good historian is timeless; although he is a patriot, he will never flatter his country in any respect.

All earthly delights are sweeter in expectation than in enjoyment; but all spiritual pleasures more in fruition than in expectation.

If we were faultless we should not be so much annoyed by the defects of those with whom we associate.

Little opportunities should be improved.

Nothing is more despicable than a professional talker who uses his words as a quack uses his remedies.

All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers.

Genuine good taste consists in saying much in few words, in choosing among our thoughts, in having order and arrangement in what we say, and in speaking with composure.

The more you say the less people remember.

All wars are civil wars because all men are brothers... Each one owes infinitely more to the human race than to the particular country in which he was born.

Had we not faults of our own we should take less pleasure in complaining of others.

Discouragement is simply the despair of wounded self love.

The greater our dread of crosses the more necessary they are for us.

Faith is letting down our nets into the transparent deeps at the Divine command not knowing what we shall draw.

How different the peace of God from that of the world! It calms the passions, preserves the purity of the conscience, is inseparable from righteousness, unites us to God and strengthens us against temptations. The peace of the soul consists in an absolute resignation to the will of God.

There are two principal points of attention necessary for the preservation of this constant spirit of prayer which unites us with God; we must continually seek to cherish it, and we must avoid everything that tends to make us lose it.

Pure love is in the will alone; it is no sentimental love, for the imagination has no part in it; it loves, if we may so express it, without feeling, as faith believes without seeing.

How rare it is to find a soul quiet enough to hear God speak.

Simplicity is that grace which frees the soul from all unnecessary reflections upon itself.

Good taste rejects excessive nicety.

Temptations are a file which rub off much of the rust of our self-confidence.

I guess I've always liked the idea of being an artist.

Gestating characters feels something like the mental equivalent of gestating a baby. In both cases, to create them you lose yourself. Or at least you reshape yourself to encompass them.

My dad's one true quest in life was for the Platonic ideal of peanut butter. And I remember one day he announced, with a look of utter transfiguration on his face, that he had found paradise on Earth in a jar with a yellow cap. And it was called Red Wing.

Similarly, it is argued that the culture of Islam is incompatible with democracy. Basically, this conventional perspective of the Middle East thus contends that democracy in that region is neither possible nor even desirable.

If I'm not doing something or working on something, I literally just sit in the room and think, which I don't think is productive. I won't go outside for days.

We live in a permanent state of bad faith, a mutual representation of ourselves to one another for the sake of remaining sane and following our biological imperative to continue as a species.

But I think what Liam said just kind of hit it spot on, that the people in the capital are brainwashed and such a disconnect with what's actually happening. They don't realize what if it was their kids that were being put into the games? They just don't have the mindset to have that kind of compassion for people.

There has to be a protagonist who has to overcome challenges, and there will be a race to finish.

Focus to unlock your genius.

Excitement in education and student productivity, the ability to get a result that you want from students, go together and cannot be separated.

When I was an actor, I was part of a team, which I loved. You are a part inside something which is larger.

So my one kid's 4, my other kid's 4 months, I'm 44, Barack Obama is the 44th president - it's all lining up nicely here.

Complacency is easy...and it is a deadly foe of spiritual growth.

I have a confession to make. In the beginning, I did not understand the Kate Moss phenomenon.

I prefer being a small fish in a big pond.

There are two problems for our species' survival - nuclear war and environmental catastrophe - and we're hurtling towards them. Knowingly.

Certainly, I look for different characters 'cause I always like to keep people guessing, and I also don't like to get typecast.

Acting is a matter of giving away secrets.

There is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving.

Before, I used to ask permission to my parents to leave the house. Now it's - I ask permission to my children to leave the house. They own the house.

I'm a writer. In Latin America, they say I'm a Latin-American writer because I also write in Spanish and my books are translated, but I am an American citizen and my books are published here, so I'm also an American writer.

I was blessed with a strong arm and a weak mind.

My mother was the greatest example to me of anyone I've ever known. She didn't have an easy life. I adored her. She worked hard all her life, and she was the one who set my values. She was quite an amazing woman, although she wasn't tough at all.